Day 17

Very much still inebriated from the night before today we had two professional visits to the Volvo plant and the SAB Miller brewery.
The volvo experience was marked by several eye opening facts and one comical statement made by my fellow intern Antonio Spano.
First the facts about the current state of HIV/AIDS among drivers is 80% and the company literally has to train 2 people for every position because drivers will perish at an average age of 50 years old! This is nearly 27 years earlier than americans, scary. Also the natal province of South Africa posts the highest rates of contamination with nearly 50% of people living there are infected with the disease!

The presentation switched English business man who is head of the branch to a South African fellow who does the banking, the accent threw some of us off. The poor man was mentioning how the business profits are given back to "shareholders." He spoke in a strong africaans (A hybrid form of Dutch) which was hard to make out even in the front row. Antonio was sitting in the front, but apparently was having such a hard time understanding that he asked a clarifying question; "Excuse me, but are you saying Shit Holes?!" The room immediately burst into laughter and Hugo apologized for the comment. It was an unforgettable moment of the trip and the day, so hilarious.

Next we went to our much anticipated visit of SAB Miller Brewery. The brewer of Castle Beer and its by-products was pretty fun. They taught us about the history of beer and as a reward at the end of the tour we each received two free beers of our choosing. What a deal for 20 rand. Lunch was enjoyed out in the patio. I had a very good south african sausage and some meat pie. I have noticed that this culture is very much into their meats, as I have yet to have a meal which didn't have meat in it.

We then split up some of us went to the Apartheid museum, and Soweto; some went back but Fred, Pat and I went to the Gold Reef City theme park for 3 hours of childhood fun. We were very efficient riders and rode 7 coasters a total of ten times. The park had a coaster where your feet dangling as they whip you in 2 loops and several cork screws. Sooo fun!

It was back to Pretoria for a wild night. I have been drinking wine as much as I can down here because the climate is so perfect for growing grapes. I'm very much looking forward to our trip to Stellenbosch, which is South Africa's prominent wine land.