Touching South Africa

So it turns out I found my way to say goodbye to South Africa, and it was sweet and it was poignant and it touched me, marked me... and that makes me happy.

There is this little place called Clarens, nestled in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains that mark a line between South Africa and the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Its become awfully popular as a tourist destination over the last decade, and no wonder, it's pretty much breathtaking scenery and small-town feel is a haven for artists, writers, young lovers, and happy families.

But I look at Clarens through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl, or at least that's the age I remember it with most clarity. My family used to spend most holidays in Clarens at the house that my father's business partner owned in the small village. I walked the dusty streets, attempted to climb the mountains, and made good and fast friends of the local children when Clarens still had only a single restaurant, a post office and a general store. We enjoyed Clarens in the summers when it was lush and green and warm, and we enjoyed Clarens in the winters when it was one of the very few places in South Africa to be blanketed in snow. But it was the autumns that were most beautiful, with the golds, reds, yellows and browns turning the landscape into an oil painting.

I remember how much I loved Clarens, it's beauty, it's scenery, it's energy that was almost magical. Even when we used to arrive after dark, my parents knew to wake me up if I was sleeping so that I could see the glowing sandstone outcrops as they towered high above - then I knew we had arrived. In my young mind anything was possible in Clarens, no dream was too big and no day was long enough... I fell in love with the earth, the land, and to this day I feel a spiritual connection to the place, which is why a short trip to Clarens with my parents and the children felt like a homecoming... and a home-leaving.

And it was magical. And it was cathartic. And it was a rare moment in the past six months where I was actually able to sit and really drink it all in... no - I am corrected. It was more like sucking the marrow from a bone... every. last. drop. I was able to sit on the patio in the evenings and know 'this is the last time' (in a very long time) - the last time I will enjoy such majestic South African sunsets, still warming my skin as the last of the light fades. I was able to sit by the poolside and watch my boys splash around in the kiddie pool and know, 'this is the last time' (for a very long time) that they will be able to enjoy water like this, with the sun turning their skin brown, splashing and shouting Look Mom! Look at me!

Aaaahhhh - Clarens was good to me and my family, as she always has been.