Fourth of July, YUP!

The Fourth
So my winter holiday started with a bang. After some World Cup action in Bloemfontein I went back to my site to tie up some loose ends. Before I knew it my favorite expat holiday was almost upon me. The original plan was to have a big 4th party at my friends house down in the lowlands, but that fell apart. So we decided to have the bash up at my house. To celebrate the red, white and blue I decided it would be great to get a fariki (pig). Disclaimer: There is no way I can possibly describe the blood, sweat, and tears that went into obtaining this pig, trust me. Unfortunately getting a pig last minute in my village is tough so I went off on an adventure to the camp town to procure one. My friend’s host mother raises pigs so I figured I could get one from her. Upon arrival she informs me that the recent snow killed all four of her piglets so she didn’t want to sell her remaining ones… err. She told me of another house that had some pigs for sale. She woke me up at 7am to go to look at them only to find that they were to small and overpriced, back to the drawing board. I interrogated her some more and she informed me of a man who was selling a pig on the other side of town. This guy had a medium sized pig for a decent price… now we are getting somewhere. I told him that I would purchase the pig if I couldn’t find a bigger one. He complied and said he would take the pig out of the sty and start giving it some feed to start plumping it up. This is where things get crazy. A man jumps into the stye with a lasso and starts tying the thing up. The pig is squeeling like a banshee, rather ear piercing. Now imagine that the pigsties are made out of rock with no doors. He proceeds to grapple with the beast and throw it over the wall, ouch! The pig comes untied and the ntate (father) is having a hard time getting it under control. The ‘me (mother) gets fed up runs up to the pig, grabs it by the ears, puts it in its place, and ties it up like a rodeo pro, I was impressed. So the journey continued to try to find a bigger pig. I met another ‘me who worked at the school and raised pigs their. She had a real prize winner to sell me, this thing was a beauty, but to pricey. I gave it serious contemplation, but just couldn’t do it. I went back to my friends house again just to look at her ‘me’s pigs again, wishing I could just take one of those. They were perfect, but as I said due to the piglet infanticide and pregnancy of the other pig those were not options. Then I spied a perfect sized pig that belonged to the house next door. It was the right size, that was the one I wanted! Ooops another road block…. Let me explain. In Lesotho the Cows and sheep belong to the ntates (men) and the pigs belong to the bo’me (women). I talked to the father who owned the pig and told him my sad story about wanting to celebrate the 4th. He told me he could not sell the pig without his wife’s consent, but that he would if he could. After about an hour of bartering I told him that I could replace his pig with a smaller pig and throw him some rands to make up for the difference. After a long conversation with his daughter and phone call to his wife who was in Maseru he caved in and we made the deal! Now to get the pig from the other side of the village and deliver it to this ntate. Now I have transported several nku (sheep) since I have been in Lesotho and they are easy. I had to pay this other ntate a buck to help me move this thing across the town, way to get the villagers attention as its squeeling the entire way. Everyone was laughing as they watched the lahkua sp? (White man) tap this pig on the but with a stick. Anyway mission accomplished. Anyway the bus was coming so I had to hurry up. We went through the same fiasco getting this bigger pig out of its sty. Went through the same fiasco getting it to the bus stop as everyone stared in awe at me trying to wrestle this pig down. Finally the bus came… this is the part I was waiting for. So the bus has a few small compartments underneath. Perhaps we can put in there? For a few dollars the driver didn’t seem to mind. Imagine myself trying to lift up this pig with a few strangers I recruited and jamming it into this little compartment. Sorry PITA, not really the best situation I know, but TIA. The funny part was that it was more expensive for the pig to travel back to my site then it was for me. After a couple of hours we made it back to my village. Time for the last leg of the journey I thought. Well you imagined it correctly, as soon as we opened the hatch this thing jumps out and starts running around all over the place. Luckily some of my police officer friends saw me in distress and ran over to help me. Its only a 5 minute walk to my house, but this time it took well over 40 minutes… pigs are stubborn. We finally made it back to my house, tied it up to a post, and relaxed. At this point I didn’t need to convince myself that I deserved a cold beer.
The next day my friends and I woke up to finish our business with the pig. Dad, lets just say good ole’ Billy Gruehl would have been impressed with the haste we made of skinning, cleaning and dressing this thing! After that we had to head down to the dam to catch the boat we charted. People don’t believe me when I tell them I have one of the most beautiful sites in PC. We sailed from my village on the reservoir of the second largest dam in Africa. The water was dead flat and the views of the mountains were stunning. We hung a huge American flag from the canopy and cruised for a few hourse to another village, ate lunch and then returned. When we got back the sun was setting and it was time to start the brie. That day while we were on the boat my welder friend made me a roasting stand for the pig, so freaking cool. (See Picture below) We had a true USA pig roast in the mountains of Lesotho, it was awesome. The next morning we woke up and made eggs, home fries, and pulled pork for breakfast it was great. I even had a few Budweisers I brought back from SA that I shared with my friends. If we were just watching some NFL I would have felt right at home. It truly was a great way to spend a great American holiday abroad! Thanks to all of my friends who came and for mom and dad who helped out with the pig. Members of PC Lesotho ED 10’ thank you! Hope you enjoy the pictures, in a few days I will post another blog about my trip to MOZAMBIQUE RAWR!!!!!