The Richest Man in SOWETO.

What started as a ¨Where do we want to watch the Opening Game?¨, Eric & I were bordering on satying at our hostal & saving up energy for the Arg vs. Nig Match the following day. We were talked into joing a group of miscelaneous foreigners to attend a Fifa Sponsored ¨Fan Zone¨. What we initially envsioned as a mainly tourist attraction with over-priced food & drink turned into something uniquely Sowetan.
We were driven as a surprise 1st to Soccer City for what turned out to be a drop-off point for the hostal manager Mama Fefe. Catching a seperate bus from stadium en route to Soweto stuck in traffic Eric commented, ¨This was a really bad idea!¨
Upon arrival at the Fan Zone, a black sea of mass blowing ¨Vuvuzelas¨, earplugs are a life saver. There was one 30 meter screen for the entire community, somewhere between 30-50 thousand a rough estimate. Some experiences are indescribeable. I´ve never had so many people grab me & then motion, ¨Can I have one, (Foto)?¨ or ¨How´s it?¨. Within the norm of extreme poverty & lack of education of the Black South African, makes up for in sincerity & genuine curiosity. The 1st half I surely thought that Mexico would grab the lead. During halftime I wondered around & snapped pics of kids who had climbed into trees, to atain amore relaxed view of the on TV Screen. There was a magnetic energy that one subconciosly felt would will South Africa to victory. Having traveled the world & comparing to soccer crazed Brasil & Argentina, even a Brasilian friend Tadeu (a Corintians supporter from Sao Paulo) described it as, ¨I´ve never experienced- seen anything like this¨, it was deafening maddness!
As the final whistle blew capping a a 1-1 tie between South Africa & Mexico, the sun had just but all dissapered & the open grass space turned into an even-more joyous mayhem with fireworks, glowing lights, screeching cars, little space to maneouver ,& Kwaito music thumping from every automobile. Crossing a road to catch a Mini Bus out of the Chaos a young boy shouted, ¨Welcome to Fucking Soweto!¨ That struck a strong chord of reality.
As we partitoned a mini-bus to deliver us westerners back to our calm suburb an hostal in Emmarentia, our van driver asked if he could stop for some ¨Juice¨ - Gasoline. The gas station had the open atmosphere of a Kwaito dance fest, & turned into something of a comedic 20 min delay. While wearing earplugs throughout the entire Soweto Experience, I can´t compare the rawéxperience as something other than a complete over-stimulation of energy. While taking over 200 fotos, no photo can truly sum-up the experience of feeling on a humanistic level, the Richest Man in Soweto. People with relatively nothing materialistically, shareing what little they have, wether a hand shake or a South Africa hat. I had a hard time sleeping I for the next 2 days to give an idea of fow intense the energy was.
Somebody old me afterwards that when jumping on the 2nd bus to Soweto a Mexican was so excited to be arriving at the stadium, that he accidently dropped his ticket ubknowingly, a South African picked it up & dissapeared into the mass.