The LETOFE Festival and parking Tetris exit

Morning is slow, sleeping in until about 10:00AM and hanging out at Stephanie’s place.  Paul catches up on a few work related items, taking advantage of the Wi-Fi.  Steph makes an early run to the mechanic to get her brakes replaced in anticipation of our upcoming driving.  

We tuck into a leisurely breakfast of eggs, toast (from Steph’s hysterical toaster that makes zebra toast that’s either burned or untoasted, in stripes…well, really only three stripes – charred, untouched, charred), caramelized onions, and beans.  

Steph had also gotten us all tickets to the (10^th annual) Lesotho Tourism Festival (LETOFE), which supposedly starts at 2:00PM, but we were forewarned that it would likely get going much later given “African time” – which had been described by a friend as “making Hawaiian-time look like Wall Street”.  We drive out to Thaba Bosiu, where there is a cultural center at the base of the table like mountain where King Moshoeshoe, the founder of Lesotho, held off attacks from rival tribes in a key battle in Bosotho history.  We get there a bit after 4:00 and find a nice spot against a low banner fence which serves as a chair back for our lawn seats.  As we and they drink more, we get to know our nearby “new friends” – Pearl and ______.  

The first few hours are mostly sound checks and recorded music and the live bands don’t start until after 6:30, but there’s a great variety of artists – mostly from South Africa, but some from Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.  Don’t know any of the bands, but hear some great tunes.  We take turns running for more drinks & food or bathroom breaks, and proceed to get pretty hammered as the evening goes on.  

Finally at around 11:30 or so, we decide to head home, and as we walk to the unpaved parking area we see an immense traffic jam on the 2 lane road headed to the festival of people just arriving – or waiting on parking and entrance.  Apparently it is now about to really get going, and run to the morning!  

When we get to Steph’s 4-Runner, it is totally parked in by any normal standards.  But given the prospect of waiting until 6:00AM for the owners of the blocking cars to return, Edward and Paul act as guides for the intrepid and skilled Stephanie who, despite major consumption, backs up the SUV and squeezes through a slalom of randomly parked cars in a hilly lot.  Amazing escape!  Then back to Maseru and off to sleep.