Villa Calla Umhlanga Rocks

I'm spending 2 more nights in Durban with a nice couple I found on couchsurfing.org. Margaret is an environmental consultant working on transportation issues for the city of Durban, and Gavin is a professional clown. They've given me a private guest room and various rides around town, which is great because public ...

... the glam, the dilapitated areas, part of this world was abstruse, something I knew existed but didn't expect to find out on the streets like this.

Back at the project I was severely reprimanded for going off by myself. I was told an observant market guard had followed me for as far as he was allowed - a fortnight ago a tourist was killed on those very streets, no one tried to help her. So much for safety in numbers.
I still had a lot to learn.

... Observe the skill and artistry that goes into building their huts, making pottery, brewing beer and crafting bead-work and baskets. During our visit we were more than a little disappointed after all the hype we felt the village was a tourist trap with little educational value. They presented us with a story of love and marriage that was ...

South Africa is really... white. Durban is dangerous at night and there
is a huge mall. They have blackouts every day for two hours at two in
the afternoon, and even the malls shut down.

... on the flight, and he shakes his head. I am not getting on the flight. Its too late. ****! At this point, I was looking a little defeated. He said to me that he could put me on a flight two hours later. I agreed and thanked him. Then he said that he was upgrading me to Business Class for "my inconvenience". He told me to go to the "Executive lounge" and have some free beer and relax. Not too shabby! I ...

... han hade fatt ett dran av oss pa akuten. Operationen gick bra, han kan nog overleva om han inte far blodforgiftning pa IVA. Men nu nar jag jobbat nyarsnatten ocksa, bleknar intrycket av juldagsnatten. Jag hade knappt kunnat inbilla mig denna standiga strom av skadade patienter. Vi (teamet pa akuten) tappade **** och kontroll nar det vid 05-snaret var slut pa britsar, filtar och lakan, droppnalar, sprutor, sterila set for ...

... laughs but it hasn't been the same without Shaun! We've even been doing cartwheels on the grass outside the flat, we've been crazy enough that Fiona has now got her belly button pierced, Kirst's added to her collection of tattoos and as for me, instead of getting my tongue pierced like I wanted to, I got the top of my left ear pierced! It was flippin sore but I managed it... The guy pierced it with a needle so it ...

... not bore you with the politics. I arrived in Durban gutted because I had not managed to convince anyone to come with me on a day tour to Lesotho (pronouned Les-oo-too), most who were going that way wanted to spend more than a day. I arrived at 10 o'clock, tired and a little cranky to find a note left for me by the company I'd been pestering for the last week to see if any other people has booked onto the tour, and sure enough, three young British lads ...

Seeing as it was getting awfully cold in the mountains, Kelly and I decided to make a run for the coast. We had heard that Durban was having nice weather. It's a city of about 3 million on the Indian Ocean that I had never heard of before we got here. It's got a sub tropical climate so I would suppose it's a lot like Florida. Except for Cubans, they have Indians. After a fairly long day of driving, we finally arrive in Durban. I'm still not used to driving on the ...

... leave me in a state of shock!). Being in the township areas felt like being in a different place altogether. This was more like what I remember of Africa, yet it was so close to such a developed city. It was good to be there. I blended in by colour, unlike John, but when it came to the language and culture it was he who had the upper hand. I have had a number of people walk up to me and wax lyrical in Zulu before they notice the blank look on ...