Searching for ‘Mma Ramotswe

(If you haven’t read the #1 Ladies Detective Agency series of books, this blog entry may not make any sense to you.  But you really should read the series, so let this be a inspiration.)

Even though the Botswana guidebook says there is absolutely no reason to go to Gaborone, the capitol of Botswana, we went anyway.  We had to see if we could find ‘Mma Ramotswe, ‘Mma Makutsi, and Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni.  Naturally, the first place to look was on Tlokweng Road.  We found several repair shops and a couple of car dealers, but there was no sign of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors.

Having had no luck in Gaborone, we went to Mochudi, where ‘Mma Ramotswe’s people are from.   Mochudi is, according to our guidebook, home of one of the preeminent museums in Botswana.  With a chance to see ‘Mma Ramotswe, as well as visit a fascinating museum, how could we go wrong?  Unfortunately we still did not find ‘Mma Ramotswe, though we looked carefully into every tiny white van that we saw.  We did, however, find the museum.  It was, let’s say, “unusual”.  The following pictures are two of the museum’s more interesting exhibits.  (Actually I wasn’t sure if these were exhibits or were just left over from the previous occupants of the museum building.)

Despite not finding ‘Mma Ramotswe in Mochudi, we did find one of the more interesting businesses I’ve seen on the trip.

In a final, desperate attempt to find ‘Mma Ramotswe, we checked into the President Hotel “on the mall” in what passes for the center of Gaborone.  This is, you will remember, where ‘Mma Ramotswe brings all her important clients for tea when she wants to interview them.  The first room we were assigned had an unusual problem – it had no cold water.  What came out of the “cold” tap was very, very hot water and what came out of the “hot” tap was scalding hot water.  Ralph kept jumping in and out of the water as he tried to take a shower and still he was a bright pink by the time he was clean.  I went down to the desk to report the problem and, though they were clearly dubious, they said they would send the maintenance guy up right away.  Surprisingly, the maintenance guy actually came right away.  Ralph had gone to the bar at this point, hoping to cool down with a beer after being nearly parboiled, and I was left in the room to tell the maintenance guy what was going on.  I will remember for a long time the moment when the maintenance man flushed the toilet.  His smirk (“What nonsense is this crazy lekhoa tourist talking?”) turned to shocked surprise as the toilet tank filled up with near boiling water.  We were moved to another room, apparently the only remaining vacant room in the hotel.

All we really knew about ‘Mma Ramotswe’s appearance was that she was a traditionally-built African lady.  It turns out there are a lot of TBAL’s, as we started calling them, in Gabarone.  In particular, the dining room at the President Hotel seemed to attract TBALs by the dozen, presumably for the all-you-can-eat dinner buffet.  The President has responded by pricing the buffet dinner at $16, one of the most expensive meals we have had since we left the U.S.

In the end we did not find ‘Mma Ramotswe in Gaborone.  But once again we definitely got off the tourist track and saw a little of the “real” Africa.  I found the Batswana to be friendly and easy going, much more so than the South Africans or the Basotho.  I enjoyed my 36 hours in “Gabs”, as it is known, but I think I agree with the guidebook – there’s really not much of a reason to visit.