Africa

Africa is a different place.  It was an amazing experience getting a sense of the place first hand.

We experienced it from a country – South Africa – where the African culture is cut with large doses of European culture.  Which makes it easier to take, like sugar with medicine or something like that.  But, regardless of how we experienced Africa, I came away with some powerful feelings about the place.

Africa smells different.  It’s earthy and smoky.  I smelled it in the food, the wine, the people, and the air.

Africa looks different.  It’s ragged, raw, and powerful.

And the vegetation is different.  It’s greener and browner all at the same time.

It’s not a comforting place, at least not for me. 

It’s not that I wasn’t comfortable there.  I was very comfortable. 

But Africa’s a hard place.  A tough place.  A dangerous place.  Life seems to mean less there.

I heard from people before we went that you fall in love with Africa and want to keep going back.  That wasn’t my experience.  We will go back and experience more of Africa, but we are not rushing back.

To me Africa is that big male lion we saw with his mouth wide open.  Amazing and awesome, but terrifying at the same time.  It requires respect and distance.  And that’s what I am giving Africa for a while.