“Christmas Eve” or “Escaping Disaster”

Merry Christmas everyone!

Spending Christmas in Lesotho was very UNchristmassy. As a matter of fact, our car broke down that day. This time, we didn’t hit a pothole but heard some worryingly scraping noises when breaking plus, the whole jeep pulled strongly to the left side. Of course, we were driving down some 2.000m slope at that point But we made it to the next lodge in tense silence and once more, jacked up the Pajero. I can honestly say that I learnt a lot about cars this trip… With Michael on the phone and ten locals watching us, we finally found the root of the problem: 1(!) single screw was missing. But an important one: FYI, wheel suspensions only consist of two big screws per tire and as soon as one is missing, the other one could fall out shortly after. You can imagine that the resulting loss of control could lead to a rather nasty accident. Not a pretty thought. Lucky us.

And we were even luckier to have such a good friend in Michael: He and his son Timmy came to our rescue the same evening and brought us the spare part. Which is pretty amazing considering the fact that it was CHRISTMAS EVE!! So in fact, our Christmas was spent together on a campground eating Macaroni! Later, after Michael and Timmy had left, me and Sebastian set up our – very beloved – roof tent, opened some beers and watched shooting stars in the most impressive night sky I have seen since the Australian outback. Seriously, it was pretty magic.

sunset over the valley

Cheers! Merry Christmas!

The next day, I woke up with a big smile on my face: IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY! And keeping in mind that we could have died the day before, my mood was exuberant. We enjoyed our morning porridge in the sun (catching a medium-severe sunburn) and then set off to the Semonkong area. Again, the drive through the green tablelands left me drooling and the final view over various deep gorges and the Maletsunyane Waterfall was breath-taking! Actually, we were planning to go out for dinner that night but of course everything was crowded and expensive (you kind of forget about Christmas at 25degrees…). So we went back to the car, grabbed the Save80 stove and cooked the most delicious candlelight Pasta right in front of our little apartment. Sometimes, less is more.