Good Slice in Good Hope
This post appeared first in National Geographic Traveler’s blog, Intelligent Travel.
Talk about off the beaten path.
I’ve been working in Alexandra township (Alex) in Johannesburg, South Africa for a week now. Approximately 1.5 million people live in the four square kilometers that comprise Alex. Most of these people are South African, a growing number are Nigerian, Mozambican, or Zimbabwean immigrants. I have yet to see another white person.
This is probably a result of Alex’s reputation as a crime haven. Guide books tell you not to roll down your car windows. They tell you that you need to visit townships like Alex as a part of an official tour. Beware car jacking and smash and grab theft, they say. Don’t stop your car in busy areas. Definitely do NOT flash camera equipment, cell phones, money, etc.
I was understandably nervous, therefore, the first time I was driven into Alex. My window was definitely up all the way. I removed my wristwatch and stowed it in my camera bag which I kept hidden in the trunk. My cash, credit car and ATM car were in my front pockets.
Paved for the first time about a decade ago, Alex’s tiny streets are arranged in a neat grid between the shanties that house a vast majority of the residents. Cars creep up over the curbs and park at varying angles on the sidewalks. Mostly flat, road-dirtied soccer balls dance from foot to foot, bounce this way and that and ricochet off walls, cars and passersby balancing food from the market on their heads.
Our car flows through this human river at its pace, a walking pace. Our driver’s window is down all the way within minutes as an old friend leans into the car to say a warm hello to all of us and invite us to her place for tea. The life and vitality in Alex is unlike anything I have ever seen. Yes, I may as well be ten feet tall for all the stares I receive but they’re almost always accompanied by warm smiles.
We walk the streets now with our camera equipment and are propositioned regularly by aspiring actors who’ve heard about our movie and want to be in it! Good thing too or else, among other reasons, I wouldn’t have been able to provide pictures as salivating as these for this post!
Get a load of that sandwich. Have you ever seen anything like quite so towering? Quite so colorful?
This is courtesy of the best place for eats in Alex––the Good Hope Restaurant. In South Africa it’s called a slice. This particular version costs 13.50 rand ($1.75) which you just can’t beat. As you can see, it’s damn popular.
Welcome to Alex.
