They say that our smell remembers the best. Perhaps that’s why elephants don’t forget anything, why, with that big ol’ snout of theirs. Then again, I’ve never really believed that in any case. How could we really know whether elephants can remember any better than bees, lemurs, or the likes of us? But regardless, I’m always amazed at how precisely I remember a smell, and returning to a place that’s brimming with nostalgia and ancient memories occasions many remembrances. Every place has its smell, whether it be Colorado’s wonderfully aromatic crisp air or Los Angeles’ warm, smoggy, muggy cocktail. After arriving at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo airport I passed by a bakery and instantly its unique and unmistakeable scent took me back to the mornings my mom would take me to the bakery at Florida Center in Johanessburg when she was preparing a talk. It’s amazing to me the lucidity of this smell so many years on, and how it is so tightly bound to the memories of that place. Another wonderful and distinctive South African smell, believe it or not, is the smell of burning fields. South Africans regularly burn the fields to prevent fires from getting out of control and this scent in the air is wonderful. It’s something akin, I’d say, to the first whiffs of cut grass in the Spring in Colorado.

I’ve also gotten to experience a host of other nostalgic pleasures: Rooibos tea, Appletiser, a Koeksuster (a delicious honey confection), cooing calling doves, animal carving napkin holders, marmelade, fruit squares, and more.

I’ll write about this more later and try to add a photo, but briefly, I saw my dad yesterday and he is doing very well. The third day after surgery he experienced a real upswing and was very lucid and positive.

That’s all for now. I gotta run.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 20th, 2006 at 1:45 pm and is filed under south africa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.