Splishy Splashy Fen

*Written on Tuesday*

There is currently a queue of about 100-200 people waiting at the clinic, just to pick up their files and then see the doctor or get medicine or whatever they’re here for. Taking this rare lull to update about the epic Easter weekend that I’m very sad to see end.

Thursday Lauren and I headed with friends Theresa and Brian about 5 hours east (I think) of Joburg to stay with her aunt and uncle who live en route to Splashy Fen, the awesome and amazing music festival we went to. I was reminded of both Ireland and the Basque region of Spain- so many rolling hills, lush valleys, absolutely gorgeous green fields. Friday we set out for Splashy Fen- the oldest musical festival in SA. There were hundreds and hundreds of campsites scattered throughout the valley where the festival is- we managed to run into the rest of our group and set up camp- please keep in mind this is the first time I’ve ever camped and I’m not one for bragging or anything, but I’m actually a pretty good camper. A happy camper, if you will.

There was a group of about 22 of us, though not everyone stayed the entire time. Thank goodness the weather was superb and sunny, so we got to explore the river/dam that was right near the music festival, though I thought my feet were going to fall off it was so ridiculously cold. The first day, Friday, we spent lounging under the main tent, listening to some ska and reggae music and then had a braai in the evening before dancing to amazing South African bands like Veranda Pandas, and Zebra and Giraffe.

Saturday was another beautiful day, and we spent some time chilling by the river before checking out a lot of the neat artsy fartsy tents, selling everything from tie-die shirts to feather hair wraps, disgusting looking socks, tarot readings and much more. The music was fantastic- the best thing about the festival was just the freedom to go check out bands whenever and then to relax at the camp site playing cards and checking out the gorgeous mountain views. 

Sunday was most of the same, including a much needed shower to try to get the layer of dust and dirt that seemed to be a permanent part of my skin. We released Chinese lanterns at dusk, which was gorgeous, and all of us went on this giant inflatable slide a few times, maybe pushing some children out of the way in our excitement, whoops. There was a drum circle we checked out that was part f the Tribal Village, which was mostly comprised of old hippies wearing bandannas and playing awesome music.

The festival mainly ended with all of us at Dance Valley, which was the LOUD dance hall that was literally skipping distance from our campsite and kept us up, to the point where we all probably only got about 3 hours of sleep a night. It was amazing- the dancing part- and I was just so happy to have the festival experience that I didn;t mind being woken EVERY MORNING at 6 AM by a group of rowdy dudes blasting “Born to be Wild” about 3 times in a row.

 An amazing, wonderful, musical, nature-filled weekend where I got to meet some wonderful new people. I’m so so glad that I went, and so glad that my time here in South Africa has allowed me to grow and to say “yes!” to so many new experiences and opportunities that I might not normally say yes to, because its been those experiences that have really shaped my time here. I felt like a kid at the end of summer camp when we left really early on Monday morning- so sad to say goodbye to our group, to Splashy Fen, and very sad to have another 7 hour car ride back to Joburg. All in all, wonderful Easter weekend! Eggcellent!