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From: Anna
T1: swazi
Category: Where to Stay
Date: 19 May 2008
Myself and four friends stayed with Myxo over Easter '08. We were looking for some place exclusive and off the beaten track. As well as this, I found that it was probably the most intense cultural traveling experience any backppacker hopes for. He took us to the market downtown, taught us some sisSwati over breakfast and set us off to chat with the stall owners. We spent the rest of the day and night in a typical Swazi village in the mountains. We stayed in Myxo's camp, where he's built a pre-primary school. The day we were there, there was a community celebration on; they were given permission to built a cattle dip, magistrates and councellors held a meeting, three cows were slaughtered and we were presented with the liver. The locals were so welcoming to us, we explored a neighbouring camp that evening and Myxo told us more about village life in Swaziland. Everything - the food we ate, the mud huts we slept in, the friendly faces, everything was a 'best of' for me. I never felt like a tourist, i felt like a visitor but never like I was being paraded around like an ignorant tourist. I've already recommended Myxo's to friends travelling in Swazi, but to those of you on the net who are looking for a clue in the dark, this is a welcome break from sitting around hostels with other backpackers. It is definitely time well spent and I'd go back if I was in the area again.