I decided to stay an extra day in the Panorama Route, which I truly regretted the next day, but there were some sights I hadn’t yet seen and in the end I did have an interesting time of connections and insights, so it was worth it. I’d been staying at the Mac Mac Forest Retreat, as you know, and just down the road were the Mac Mac Falls, which I was keen to visit. It fitted in with my “all things Mac Mac” theme that I seemed to have going because, as a fun coincidence, I’d arrived in Mpumalanga with a delicious homemade macaroni cheese that my friend had made for me as padkos, and of course we now call that recipe Mac Mac Roni.
When I arrived at Mac Mac Falls I was met by Karlien who needed the R25 entrance fee from me. She looked into my car and asked “Where is he?” I was confused and asked her what she meant. She struggled to articulate and was using her hands to try to explain, but I had an idea and asked her “Are you asking why I’m alone?” Yes, that’s what she wanted to know. I was about to give her some glib answer and drive in but, as I looked at her, I saw some wisdom in her eyes that took me completely by surprise, and I found myself explaining some of my existential crisis and the necessity to heal my wounding before I can move on with my next life’s purpose. I was doing it through this solo trip, I explained. “Does that make any sense? Do you understand?” I asked her. She looked at me for the longest time and I could see in her eyes that she, without the language to conceptualise what I’d just shared, knew on a deep level where I was coming from. She said she understood, and I thanked her for asking. I was thankful, because I hadn’t for a while thought about why I’m on the road. It was good to revisit and hear myself say the words and to feel if they are still true or not, because I realised that the reasons for drifting have slowly shifted over time and kilometres. I realised that I no longer feel alone, without my family.
I had lots of food for thought as I sat high above Mac Mac Falls appreciating the beauty of the cascading water. My health had taken a dive after the storm drama so I’d plonked myself on the ground to rest and was peeping through the railings to get a good view. But there was this butterfly that was flying in my face and demanding my attention. I was sure it was the same butterfly that had been in my face a few days previously, it looked exactly the same, and what were the chances of that. It seemed to be saying “Listen to me! I have an important message for you.” and I was saying “I know, but speak up little wise butterfly. Speak up.” But of course I don’t speak butterfly so I’ll never know what wisdoms passed me by. I do think when a creature lives for only a few weeks the pressure to learn all of one’s life lessons, condense these learnings into a short synopsis for sharing and then teach a random human to communicate beyond language, must be immense. It certainly puts my human struggles into perspective. I also watched some birds flying in the valley below, being very flirty… but then they flew closer and closer to the waterfall, and eventually just disappeared from sight. I was wondering if they’d made a mistake and if birds also perhaps qualify for Darwin Award nominations, or if as a couple they were bored and trying to spice things up a bit. It’s not the worst way to go. Flying and flirting and then being annihilated by a beautiful waterfall. But then I saw them flying out from behind the water so… birds know what they’re doing, I guess.
On the Panorama Route, at every sight seeing spot there are local artists and vendors selling their wares, which are really good quality and decently priced I think, and it was the same at Mac Mac Falls. I’m on a strict budget so I’ve had to put in place some spending rules, which sometimes have to be creative and a bit pretzelly to hold the guardrails in place, otherwise I would buy it all. I’m the tourist they target. I love little interesting carvings and beautiful cloths and I’m on the hunt for a drum. It’s a problem for me, hence the rules. My very creative rule for the local crafts was based on solid research and the sneaky psychological ploy used with toddlers to empower them, by giving them a choice between two things they probably don’t want, but the power is in their hands to choose that unwanted thing. I don’t know anything about parenting but I decided to trust the theory and apply it to my inner child tourist. Being a Libran though, too many options overwhelm me and I usually prefer a choice between just one and nothing, which is still a choice in my toddler head, and so my rule was this: I could buy something as long as it was an owl. Because I’m owl-crazy and also my (not good as it turns out) research showed that the vendors in this region do not sell anything owl-related.
I had managed to navigate many, many craft clusters so far and was very confident that I would be buying nothing at Mac Mac Falls, but an artist named Thomas had for some reason carved an owl… and so Karly the wooden owl joined my travelling menagerie of little cute creatures. My new research showed that I’d reached the point in my travels where owls were now being carved and sold. I have a new rule now… I can withdraw paper and coins, but I’m only allowed to spend it on food. Cue the macadamia and sundry nuts vendors… which my shoddy research hadn’t yet discovered. Needless to say, this vegetarian’s budget is completely blown.