The sun is back this morning and it’s shining on the South African farming community’s most important event  by far – Nampo, a huge yearly fair showcasing  anything to do with farming and country living. A rainy day would have spelled disaster, as it’s an open-air event  attracting visitors from both South Africa and abroad by the tens of thousands.  We could not miss it. Nampo is held in Bothaville, a sleepy little town in the farming  Free State province, which  once a year for five days is overrun by a noisy and colorful crowd.  And since the roads leading there can’t keep up with the invasion, the lucky farmers that can afford it  fly over to Nampo with their own private plane or chopper. A section of the parking lot (a large field) is reserved for the small, and not so small, aircraft of the privileged who get to escape the traffic jams. In between the farming machinery, the cattle, the seeds and fertilizers, the food from the Boer tradition and the outdoor equipment, side by side with gardening tools and kids’ clothing, all kinds of weapons are proudly displayed for the joy of the South Africans who are legally entitled to owning them (and actually do wear them around, even here at Nampo). It’s such a fascinating place that we attend two days in a row. And feel rather sorry when we have to go…