A trip down the coast

Back to the weekends away, Ellie and I headed off this weekend with some of her LHR colleagues – Veronica who is South African, and a grand collection of Australians, two of whom are interning at LHR as well – Divia and Sandra. V. picked us up on Saturday morning and after a quick stop at the shopping mall, we were on our way south to the Hibiscus Coast. It is a beautiful area – lush vegetation, a fair number of beautiful houses and of course the beaches. We were headed to Umzumbe and the Mantis and Moon Hostel. Now I have to say when we arrived at the hostel, with Sandra there to greet us, I felt like I had been transported back in time to some of my more back-packer type trips. And this was everything you would expect from a hostel run by a bunch of surfers – laid back and more on the side of disorganization than organization. Once we had established that we did in fact have a reservation, and no, we didn’t think the three of us could stay in a double bed, we were taken to our room – 5 beds: 3 of the beds would be occupied by us and one by some random Italian. Meh. Pretty sure he said about 10 words to us for the entire two days. His priority was clearly surfing. We quickly changed and headed down to the beach for some sun time. The beach and water were beautiful. I maintain that it was some of the clearest and (my jump in logic) cleanest water I have ever swam in. Ellie told me I should go to the Caribbean more often. But I’m not convinced that any water could be much better. Just a bit further off-shore is Aliwal Shoal thought to be one of the best dive sites in the world. Regretfully, I don’t scuba dive. I read instead. It was a great bit of time in the sun, and just before we were planning on heading back to the hostel, we thought one more dip would be a good plan. V. and I were right in and then I noticed a very pretty thing on the water – definitely organic not garbage. I asked V. what it was. She said “Blue bottle!!!!” and we very quickly tried to exit the water. As some of you may know this is not my first run in overseas with jellys of some type (oh adventures in Italy…), but I am still a prairie girl and not well versed in the various jelly fish of the world. I do know though that blue bottles are very bad (South Africa knowledge) and you should get out fast. Luckily neither of us got stung. The very lovely South African family with their beach stuff set up next to ours made some jokes about going in the water again. Annoyed to realize that somebody in their party had been stung, but they still chose to watch us get up and head into the water. Thanks. Very hospitable of you. That was the end of the beach day.

Back at the hostel we got ourselves ready to head out on a booze cruise (classy, I know). The cruise would leave from Port Shepstone about 30 minutes down the highway. We would have snacks and dinner provided. It seemed like a great idea. So, Ellie, V., me and the Aussies headed out in a taxi. When we stopped to pick up some beverages, the driver turned around and asked V. if she knew where we were going. Not a good sign. We eventually arrived at a restaurant that appeared to have a boat launch. But no boat. Hmmm. So Sandra (the organizer that she is) phoned the captain. This is when V., Ellie and I found out the captain’s name – Rooster. Another not so good sign. We apparently needed to be at the next driveway down. So off we go. After a little drive we see this very disheveled guy at the top of a drive way. This must be our captain. So, Rooster. We are told our boat is down there, but we should stop at the loo before we head to the boat, as it’s not so easy for girls once we are on the water. Then I catch a glimpse of the boat. You’re right, it would be difficult as the boat is pretty much a little barge with benches on either side and a make-shift table down the middle that isn’t actually secure to anything and therefore shift easily. We are introduced to the rest of the crew – Rooster’s brother and some other random. Rooster's brother reminded me of Hugh Grant’s roommate in Notting Hill. You know the one. I think his name was Spike in the movie. This would be the brothers... We sit on the benches and are told we are going to have to wait for about 15 minutes until the tide is in further as right now we are stuck in the mud. We spent the next few hours traveling up the river (well kinda – the word travel may not be appropriate for the limited distance we covered), getting our “dinner” at the restaurant that our driver had originally stopped at, listening to very poorly told ghost stories, some getting off the boat to swim in the river while others chose not to, and having some wine in order to ensure that the name booze cruise had at least one appropriate term included. Now, as much as it was a slightly weird experience, I think we all still had fun. I enjoyed the dogs that also joined us on the boat.And it was good to get to know V., Sandra and Divia a bit better. But, I must admit, I wasn’t particularly disappointed when we disembarked the boat and headed back to the hostel.Sunday – yeah snorkeling!!! I have been wanting to go snorkeling for quite some time, either at Aliwal Shoal or Sodwana Bay, both hot spots of diving, but I figure the snorkeling must be pretty good too for those of us who have difficultly with regulating the pressure in our ears. So, plan was to head out snorkeling and then have the afternoon at Oribi Gorge. Stop at the front desk of the hostel – oh, you can’t snorkel today, the waves are too big. Boooooo. I was disappointed. I was already to go and see the wonders of Aliwal Shoal, but no. Not to be. In general this ocean has been a big old disappointment – blue bottles and too big of waves, the end of my surfing and snorkeling ambitions. Ergh. So instead the five of us went out to grab a very nice breakfast and then on to Oribi Gorge. We had planned on doing some hiking, but I think we ended up with some poor instructions and the only ‘hike’ we could access was a 170m walk to the edge of the gorge. So we took pictures. Still a pretty impressive place.Ah well, we went around to the various viewing points and got to see some of the adrenaline activities you could do, but nobody in our group decided to do anything. This guy did though - see him in his red shirt?I think we all decided the suspension bridge was a sufficient adventure. Ellie and I are saving up the adrenaline for next weekend (so look forward to that blog posting). After touring around the gorge we headed back to the hostel to drop Divia and Sandra off and then stopped in at a local pub that was having an open mike afternoon. It was pretty entertaining, particularly the lady and gentlemen with the metallic shirts (kinda reminded me of something Abba might have worn, but not quite). And to top it off, Rooster was there.

Anyways, it was a very nice relaxing weekend that took me back to some of my earlier life adventures and made me realize that I might be getting a bit old (but more about that in two weeks).

Back to Joburg

This is a little late, but I have to say, I wasn't particularly motivated to write about my weekend in Joburg. I may have had a bit of a food comma going on as well because I think that is primarily what we did all weekend - eat. I had to be in the LRD Joburg office for some traiing on Monday January 23, so decided to make a weekend out of it. Ellie decided to join me. We arrived Saturday around noon and met Joseph at his house and then headed off to 44 Stanley for some lunch - yummy yummy. Then it was off to Neighbour Goods market, but we were too late and they wouldn't let us in, even though we could hear there was still lots going on inside. Fail. But we just so happened to run into Georgina, Sean and Dustin, fellow CBA interns, so had a good chat with them.

We stopped off at Rosebank mall. I was trying to get my bangs (fringe) cut. We popped into one salon that was open. I asked the girl how much it would be to cut my fringe. She said, oh we don't charge for that, but we don't really do it either. What? I didn't understand. Neither did Ellie or Joseph. So my bangs are now quite long and are generally being pinned back as they have still not been trimmed. We stopped for drinks.

Mine was the most impressive.

For dinner we went to D6, a Cape Malay restaurant, with a friend of Joseph's. The food was quite yummy. But really the dessert was what really won the prize. Best milk tart I have had. And I have sampled a fair number of milk tarts since arriving in South Africa. We then headed off to a club where we were entirely underdressed. Well, actually the problem may have been that we were overdressed in the sense of way too covered up. But the people watching may have been the best people watching I have ever experienced. Ellie told me I have to be careful; apparently my facial expressions show exactly what I am thinking.

Sunday we were treated to one of Joseph's amazing breakfasts and then headed to Arts on Main where we had a great chocolate cupcake and were enticed by some of the other wonderful food. I feel like Arts on Main is more about food than arts, but whatever.

Sunday evening we headed to Pretoria to see fellow CBA intern Sarah. She and her house mates have a wood fire pizza oven in their yard and had not tried it out yet. So, on Sunday evening we all went about making our perfect pizzas and I have to say, mine looked (and tasted) pretty perfect (this is a pre-cooked picture, don't have a post-cooked picture because I ate it).

It was a great evening with great company and really wonderful to get to catch up with Sarah.

Monday I joined Joseph at the LRC in Johannesburg where we attended the Candidate Attroney's training. George Bizoz (who you should learn a little more about here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bizos) chatted to us about the history of the organization and the fight to ensure that the indigent people of South Africa have somewhere to turn when in need of legal assistance. We took a field trip to the Constitutional Court and then had some skills training, which is always a good little brush up. Then it was off to the airport and back to Durban. See, most of the weekend was visiting and eating.

My Durban beachfront

Yesterday morning I went for a run. I have to admit this is not a particularly normal occurance. I try, but in reality my morning runs only happen on occasion. Ellie on the other hand is a committed morning jogger. So even though I am a pseudo jogger, while on my run I got to thinking about the Durban beachfront. The beachfront has become very much part of our lives here. We live right on the beach and every morning get to wake up to the beautiful Indian Ocean. And every night (or at least most nights) we see the ships anchored out in the bay awaiting their turn to enter the Durban harbour. But the beachfront has also been the place that has offered up question upon questions about the current situation in South Africa - from race relations to crime to infrastruture development. So I thought I would offer you a little tour of our beachfront and some of the thoughts, questions and answers that I have had. This picture was taken this morning from our balcony. Down there, that's the promenade. The promenade is one of those many things built in preparation for World Cup 2010. At one end you will find uShaka a slightly strange experience including an aquarium and a water park. At the other end, the Blue Lagoon where the river joins the ocean. And somewhere in between the Stadium, Sun Coast Casino and our apartment.

As you can see - morning is pretty quiet around here. There are a few groups out - the surfers (although not so much this morning, bad waves apparently). Their cars usually fill this parking lot around 5:30 and they make a beeline for the ocean. The police are out. It seems that their patrol shifts start somewhere around 6:30 or so, if you are out before that, you are unlikely to see police. Next group are the walkers and joggers - they populate the promenade. It's not busy and on weekdays you can run without having to sidestep. Weekends are a slightly different story, but earlier mornings are still quite lovely to run or walk. Oh, and on weekends throw in a smattering of kids on bikes, scooters, little ride-em push scooters, skateboards, really anything with wheels.

And on all days there are the bathers. And by this I don't mean swimmers. I am making an assumption that most of these people are homeless, but that may not be true. They may live in conditions without access to a shower. They may be people from rural areas in Durban for certain periods of time in order to access the local economy. But whatever they are and wherever they come from, they take this quieter time at the beachfront to use the public showers, quietly going about their business. Each of these groups seems to go about their use of the beachfront without too much interaction with the other. It's a fairly quiet place to be and I must say one of my favourite times, before the crowds arrive.

Here is where race comes in. I have to give a little explanation here. Unlike at home, race is part of peoples' vocabulary here. Generally in South Africa there are 4 categories: white, black, Indian and coloured, as much as people don't say it, it is carried over from the days of apartheid, but now stating what someone is doesn't seem to be such a big deal. As clarification, coloured means people of mixed heritage here. Often the mix of black and white goes back so far that coloured people won't be able to tell you at what point their family was not coloured; when the joining of black and white took place. Kind of like Metis in Canada I guess. The numbers of coloured in Durban is not very large in comparison to other groups or other areas of South Africa, so I probably won't say too much about that. Ok, the beachfront in the morning. At 6 when you are out on a run, most of the other people look like me - they are white. The white people are the joggers and the surfers. That's not to say there aren't other races in these groups, but they are predominantely white. They run in groups or individually. The groups are often gender specific, but sometimes you see a couple going for their morning jog. The walkers are predominately Indian. Although there is a cross over between joggers and walkers with white walkers and Indian joggers, the majority of joggers are white and the majority of walkers are Indian. For the walkers, there seems to be a much more family element, often what looks to be husband and wife walking along, often hand in hand. But there are also groups of women walking along, or two men chatting away. The many religions are also very evident here. There are some women in their abayas and niqabs and others in workout wear just like me. My favourite was yesterday a woman in an abaya and niqab with a Tilley hat on - at some level reminded me of my grandma and completely not in other ways. And then later in the day you will see Zulu people collecting the sea water. Sea water is used in traditional medicines and for strengthening of the body. They will collect the water in large pop bottles, and other plastic bottles. It took awhile for Ellie and I to figure out what they were doing, but finally asked somebody. Back to the morning. The police and the bathers are made up of predominanately black people. Although there are also a fair number of Indian police officers. The police walk in pairs. To me they often seem to be lost in discussion, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt, they are patrolling. The bathers are often alone, individually using the public facilities. At this hour of the morning, the mix is strong. You look around and the diversity of South Africa is there. It is not proportionate to the actual mix, but the mix is there. On to the late morning and afternoon. Can't say much about the weekdays when I am at work, but on weekends a clear shift takes place in the late morning. The beaches fill up. The surfers and joggers go home. This was taken awhile back, but now, that beach would be right packed. It's summer here and it is hot. The minibus taxis arrive from areas further away from the beach and the demographic of the beachfront shifts dramatically. The white people are generally tourists now, not locals out for exercise. Possibly a function of the heat, but I don't really know. The people swimming are predominantely black or Indian. The promenade becomes packed with people. The noise level increases dramatically. The very skilled sand-sculpture makers are now out. And as for race, I am now a distinct minority. During the afternoon, just up from the promenade are the traders. Aimed at all the tourists and you will pretty much only see white people stopping here. Visitors from foriegn lands looking for their little (or big) piece of Africa to take home with them. The South Africans, they just walk by. Sometimes glancing down, but this is for the tourists. The vendors, also often from other places. They have come to South Africa to make a better life. Leaving places like Zimbabwe or the Congo. But at this time of day, the majority is black. At the beach, on the promenade or wandering along the adjoining streets. By the time night falls, right now just after 7, the shift has been made again. The joggers and surfers are gone. The visitors arrived by minibus taxi are gone. Right across the street from us, it's still busy, but that's because we have some restaurants and such. But anywhere else on the promenade, you would be hard pressed to find a person. The sun goes down and people retreat from the beachfront. Other places I've lived, this is still a time that you can go walking, enjoying the respite from the heat, but where it is still pleasantly warm. At some level you would expect to see young couples walking hand in hand. But not here. At dusk, you leave the beach. You go inside. Whether to your home, a restaurant, or what have you. You go inside. On the weekends, things are a bit different. It is still busy by us, but it is the area around the restaurants. Families are out and about, but stick closer to these little enclaves. And here, a distinct demographic element - the families are almost entirely Indian. There is the odd black or white person, but it is now the time where the Indian people become the majority. Again, I don't know why for sure, but I think it has something to do with the demographic of the people who live on the beach near us, there is definitely a large Indian contingent right here. Durban's beachfront is a beautiful place. My favourite time is the morning. I don't know why. I tell myself it is because it is the quiet time at the beach, still warm and sunny, but not the afternoon heat and humidity that I struggle with. But I also have to ask myself if it has something to do with race. The time where people who look like me are in the majority. I don't know and at some level probably don't want to know. But I hope that regardless, I will continue to enjoy living in such a space for my time here. And take it as an opportunity to think, ask questions and hopefully get a few answers.

Back to the mountains, just very different ones from two weeks ago.

Back in South Africa. After a quick-ish sojourn home, a stop in Ottawa, and a stop in Frankfurt, I was back in Durbs. I was welcomed by heat and lots of it. After two days back in the office, I needed a break (I know - life's not too bad here). Ellie, Cesar and I headed away from the coastal humidity and to a place that I love - the mountains. Slightly different than the Rocky Mountains I was skiing in two weeks ago with Mom, the Drakensbergs are pretty fantastic. In fact, fantastic enough for Ellie and I to be making a return trip. We had been up earlier in our time here and loved it. Ellie decided that it would be a great trip for Cesar's last weekend in South Africa.

I was super excited by the decision because it meant we could tick off one more thing on my "what I want to do in SA" list. I wanted to go on a canopy tour. Apparently this form of 'eco-tourism' was developed in Costa Rica, but it has been an easy adaptation to the forests of South Africa and I was stoked to head up into the trees. After the requisite safety talk, my explanation of my phobia to our guide, getting fitted with gear (including a lovely hairnet), a quick trip in the back of a bakkie, we were on our way...I have to admit, I was a bit nervous on the first zipline, but the kid who went first made it look pretty easy. I quite enjoyed myself after that. My photos are generally of Ellie as she was in line just after me, so lots of Ellie photos. The footbridge reminded me of the bridge that I would have put between my two tree houses had I grown up somewhere that had trees that you could put tree houses in and had my dad built me a tree house (all he ever did was let us believe that the shed that he was building was going to be a playhouse. It was not, it was a shed). More photos of Ellie. We were having fun. You can see a beautiful waterfall behind her...

That, down there, is where that waterfall stopped falling.

I quite enjoyed some of the flora around. I avoided the fauna. And luckily even when our assistant guide saw one of my enemy species, she took into account my previous explanation and didn't tell me until we were back at the office. This is the kid who was first in our group. I was playing with my camera setting. I enjoy the fish-eye function. We had a good adventure. Definitely fun. Afternoon adventure - hiking in Monk's Cowl park. Ellie is learning how to do jump photos.

It seemed to be threatening to rain all afternoon, but it turned out to be fine and provided some very beautiful moments. These are my favourite trees here. It is called the mountain cabbage tree. I like it in spite of its name.

Oh, our hike we went on was to a falls. They were amazing and beautiful and spectacular and no photo does them justice. I forget their name. Finally, as we were leaving the park, the 'real' mountains decided to reveal themselves. We had dinner at a lovely spot just down the road from the Drakensberg Boys Choir. Unfortunately they only have concerts on Wednesdays. and it was Saturday. But the meal was good. I decided on the chicken skewer. It was the strangest thing I have seen. It came out hanging from a contraption, instead of being laid across the plate, it was hanging. Whatever, it was yummy. Day two in the bergs took us to Giant's Castle. Ellie had wanted to see the rock paintings here because apparently they are quite impressive. It was raining. This bird didn't seem to mind. I minded.

But once you were under the shelter of the over-hang, where the paintings were, it was quite a nice day (minus the mosquitoes). The paintings were impressive and I learned a lot more. Apparently they date back between 200 and 3000 years (ah carbon dating). Often there will be layers of them as the San people believed that if you drew over another painting, you took the 'good-vibes' of the previous painting with you on the hunt. It ended up being a decently nice day as we walked back to the carpark and headed home. Another successful weekend in the bergs. Oh, I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills... Oh yeah, we almost hit a jackal on the drive home, but we didn't. But it was a jackal, first one I've seen. Until next time!