Quarters Durban

... an African would be someone indiginous to the country here, so basically blacks and coloreds, which btw it is ok to call people here their color. It isn't rude or offensive like it can be in the states.
Anyways we began by the beach then took a drive up to the wetlands where I saw beautiful plants and way too many bugs. Afterwards we went to the mangrove forest which was really cool. they are ...

... that I haven't met a lot of white South African so far. The only ones I saw were having a brunch in a restaurant I had my breakfast. By the way it was an absolute nightmare trying to find a place to eat that was not KFC, McDonald’s, Nando’s, Chicken Licken bla bla bla. It is sad to see that they have the same **** as we do. Eventually I spotted a restaurant that did not belong to some sort of chain but once I sat down and looked at the menu it was very much ...

... did not look like a tramp just lying in garbage – bizarre!


We drove through a place called Mthatha in the Homelands I think. It looked a lot more like what you’d expect Africa to look like. The place was heaving with people and it was very run down.


We arrived in Durban at about 9.30 (a German girl from the bus was stopping there as well) and my first impression was not great ...

... elephants from very far away

It was very difficult for Suzan and me with Sophia and the cold weather, compounded by the wind chill created from the open sides of the vehicle and a tired Sophia huddling in blankets in our lap without any animals to entertain her. The lack of animals, cold weather, and rough roads had me thinking this was the first real mistake of my itinerary, and after awhile I wanted only to get back to the bus where we could be ...

... with your hands. The food was absolutely gorgeous ~ pap (maize) and vegetables and eating with your hands is easier than I thought it would be. After lunch the local children came into the house and sang and danced for us. We, of course, were dragged kicking and screaming by the children to try the dancing ourselves and had great fun with the children. Then it was time to hand out the chocolate ~ which was madness!! and headed home. The hostel was good ...

... map. We saw the massive market area, with permanent stalls set up along the pavements, and eventually dropped down to the marina. Here we tried to find the boat tours we had heard about, but a wrong turn led us to the Bat Centre instead. Surprisingly this had nothing to do with bats (a useful detail left out by the hostel staff), but was instead a centre that supported the performing arts for the area. We had a little look around and stopped for a ...

... also went. I met several gentlemen and a couple from the Netherlands, a pilot from Germany who flies for Lufthansa, and a couple from the United Kindgom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Swellendam is the country's third oldest town after Cape Town and Stellenbosch. It was founded by the Dutch in 1742 and named after the governor and his wife. On Tues. morning, we into town ...

I sprang out of bed at 7am, all refreshed from a good night sleep. There is only one important thing on the agenda today... Clean underwear. Its been a number of days since I ran out of clean clothes and things are starting to get a bit desperate. So I headed down the block to the laundry place recommended by the hostel owner. Within two hours, I was back to being my clean and tidy "urban boy" self. I even used fabric softener in my ...

... was a beautiful route through a region called the garden route.Finally I arrived in Port Elizabeth; I was tired, the rain was coming down, and I happened to be put with the loudest, most persistant snorer I have ever heard. But next day I had it all planned to go to a lion park called seaview where they let you handel the baby cubs - very exciting; but the weather scarpered those plans too. I tried a walk round the sea front, but the weather drove me back ...

... into the active spirit of things, we decided to sign up for a surfing lesson the next morning at 8am. Unfortunately we had a few too many bevvies the night before and Melissa failed to make an appearance at the surf lesson, but have-a-go Gerry decided to... well have a go. Surfing is BLOODY HARD, but i managed to stand up on the board a few times and i am now hooked :)