Jesus Loves Evolution

Yep - i'm back once again (for the renegade master)! You love my regular updates, i'm sure! I'll start off with a confession - forgive me for my sins - i lied to you yesterday. Not one of those horrible big lies i was on about in the introduction to my quest... but a little one, and it really was innocent, i swear!

Ok, what am i banging on about? Well... i didn't go to the Cheetah Sanctuary today. I know, i'm sure a bad person. Owing to some scheduling things, we switched the days around, so today we did what we were meant to do tomorrow, and tomorrow we'll do what we were meant to do today. Confused? Good, so let's begin.

Today we ventured out to a place called the Cradle of Humankind. Yes, this was my geeky day where i get to indulge in my biology loving side. And i'm not talking about my appreciation of the female form here. Though i did see a few females... very skinny... in fact... they were just skin and bones - but without the skin. You getting an idea of what the Cradle is? If not - i'll spell it out for you. The CoH is where they found masses of ancient human ancestors remains. I'll try to keep this paragraph lay so you all understand it, but it's where they found skeletal remains of Australopithecus (which is a topic i did my 3rd year dissertation on) - so naturally, this was right up my alley! Not in that way though... i don't swing that way...

I even got a chance to lead the group for a while, extolling my knowledge of human evolution to the group of Americans we were with. I like to establish myself as a font of intelligence, so i thought i'd lay out my knowledge. Too bad it meant i got talked to a lot! Now, i loved California, and the Californians... but these?! Oh. My Goood. It was like the "Dayyyymmmnnnn" girls of last year. Except these girls were all about 12 and accompanied by over-encouraging parents. About 30 of them in total. Jesus. I shouldn't take the Lord's name in vain... as they were all choir singers. Oh great. As long as they don't start singing. Oh... wait... they did...

Yes, despite being 500m underground in a cave network, the kids sung. Before that i managed to stumble and tumble my way down the caves. Damn i love my nightblindness. They claimed it was well lit... and by the same token Nuneaton is known as the jewel of the Midlands - the Gerrard's Cross of the place! I've seen more light eminating from my own rear than in that cave. Pah! Ah well, Vijay guided me down there, so all was well, and i didn't break anything, just a scrape or two!

Anyway, back to these chumps. We got down to a massive cave and guess what - it's time for a sing song about the glory of Christ. This is JUST what i want in a subterranean cave that's pretty unstable and bloody dark. JUST what i wanted!! So they start singing, and in typical yank fashion were "giving it some" with hand waving and warbling. Admittedly, some of their harmonies were pretty damn good, but it wasn't the best place for it! Some dude said "you're in for a treat now guys" - really? A treat? So where are the bevvy of beauties? The funniest thing though is that apparently the kids are going to sing in Soweto this week.

So, that may make little sense to you, as Soweto is merely a word. I'll explain briefly, although you can look up Soweto in wikipedia or on google. The place is a district of Johannesburg renowned for its poverty and violence. It's very much a black community where whites haven't been welcomed for a long time, though i'm informed that it's gradually shifting. However, i don't think 30 yank 12 year olds singing about the glory of God is going to solve their problems, do you? They were singing about poverty etc etc. The irony is delicious. If this choir had given their airfares to Soweto it'd have done much more good than this! I'm sure that songs will put food on their tables... for sure. Ha!

What makes it even more ironic is that we were in these caves to see remains of ancient hominids - you know, a sign of evolution? So to contrast that with a load of hardcore Christians was pretty funny. Surely the two don't make good bed fellows!? Ah well, each to their own. Vijay and I just hummed the theme to Jurassic Park, which we've been doing since safari for some mental reason. On that note - to our safari brothers and sister - we miss you guys! Though, not as much as you miss us - of that i'm sure ;-)

So, essentially, we saw lots of really awesome stuff today. I won't gush about it all as it'll go over most of your heads (not to patronise you - but you'll be bored!) - let's just say that it was really rewarding after studying it at Uni for so long. Ah, biology, my one true love... well... along with you ladies ;-)

And with that, that's the end of today. Tomorrow we WILL be going to the Cheetah Sanctuary! Hurrah!! It's just really sad to think i have two days of this trip left. It's been so so amazing and eye opening. If you've been to South Africa and just gone to Cape Town / Jo'burg, then you've not been to this country. You really haven't. But i'm getting ahead of myself... i'll save that up for my wrap post at the end where i'll rant and rave. Much like normal really i guess!

For now... that's it. Take care folks, and don't worry - you'll all be getting a massive dose of me in person in the very near future. You lucky swines!

Much love,

Aaron! x