The following blog post was written on the evening THE 4th OF JULY (there will be no fireworks). Due to technological restrictions it was posted at a later date.
Today is the 4th of July and I strongly believe that we saw something a heck of a lot cooler than fireworks…although we did have to work for it!
This morning, after a brief Sesotho lesson, we left for Morija (More-eye-ja). Once there, we visited the museum and had a talk with Stephen Gill, the author of one of the books we read in preparation for our trip. It turned out to be fantastic. An ex-Minnesotan, he came to Lesotho in 1979 with expectations to be here for 3 years and return to work in the field of American diplomacy. He lived in the mountains for 10 years and has been the last 20 in Morija. He is a real expert in Lesotho and it was great to be able to speak with him. One of the most interesting thing I thought he said was how the Lesotho people do not have expectations for the government, nor to they wait for the government to help them with anything. Much of what Besotho people want to happen they make happen for themselves. Although this sometimes causes confusion, for the most part the culture seems to emphasize a sense of personal and commuity responsibility.
After a wonderful (seriously wonderful) meal of curry chicken and steamed bread, we walked to the dinosaur footprints. There is actually a dinosaur called the Lesothosarus, which was a 1 meter long bird-like dinosaur who left his footprints in the side of a stone high above Morija. I will admit that you could feel the thinness of the air and we required several stops along the way, but each stop was also met with some of the beautiful views imaginable. Steeping rolling hills as far as you can see, the colors we would associate with autumn- a reddish-brown, orange, gold, and the sparkles of the water.
It took about 50 minutes to reach the top, there wasn’t a sign or anything to indicate we had arrived…but the footprints were clearly visible-proving that we did make it to our destination. A few people were a little nervous about the incredible height we found ourselves at-but not nervous enough to miss out being in the picture that documented our successful hike.
Tonight we will have another fantastic meal, but not evening speaker because he became ill and had to cancel…which meals we will start our nightly ritual of sitting around a fireplace laughing at ourselves and each other a little earlier than normal. Lesotho life is grant.
Happy Independence Day!
Today is the 4th of July and I strongly believe that we saw something a heck of a lot cooler than fireworks…although we did have to work for it!
This morning, after a brief Sesotho lesson, we left for Morija (More-eye-ja). Once there, we visited the museum and had a talk with Stephen Gill, the author of one of the books we read in preparation for our trip. It turned out to be fantastic. An ex-Minnesotan, he came to Lesotho in 1979 with expectations to be here for 3 years and return to work in the field of American diplomacy. He lived in the mountains for 10 years and has been the last 20 in Morija. He is a real expert in Lesotho and it was great to be able to speak with him. One of the most interesting thing I thought he said was how the Lesotho people do not have expectations for the government, nor to they wait for the government to help them with anything. Much of what Besotho people want to happen they make happen for themselves. Although this sometimes causes confusion, for the most part the culture seems to emphasize a sense of personal and commuity responsibility.
After a wonderful (seriously wonderful) meal of curry chicken and steamed bread, we walked to the dinosaur footprints. There is actually a dinosaur called the Lesothosarus, which was a 1 meter long bird-like dinosaur who left his footprints in the side of a stone high above Morija. I will admit that you could feel the thinness of the air and we required several stops along the way, but each stop was also met with some of the beautiful views imaginable. Steeping rolling hills as far as you can see, the colors we would associate with autumn- a reddish-brown, orange, gold, and the sparkles of the water.
It took about 50 minutes to reach the top, there wasn’t a sign or anything to indicate we had arrived…but the footprints were clearly visible-proving that we did make it to our destination. A few people were a little nervous about the incredible height we found ourselves at-but not nervous enough to miss out being in the picture that documented our successful hike.
Tonight we will have another fantastic meal, but not evening speaker because he became ill and had to cancel…which meals we will start our nightly ritual of sitting around a fireplace laughing at ourselves and each other a little earlier than normal. Lesotho life is grant.
Happy Independence Day!
3 comments:
It must have been neat seeing someone from Minnesota. Just think, he has lived in Lesotho as long as you have been alive!
Its so amazing to have an information that Lesotho had dinosaur but any way I now agree because pictures of footprints are clear! so what problems did u encounter
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