One day of Durban

We awoke with a motley crew, some of which had only slept thirty minutes or not at all due to their enjoyment of the Cape Town night life.  Shaddly, our loyal driver, took us to the airport where we checked in, got coffee and muffins, and shopped a little while we waited to board our flight.  Due to some serious sinus pressure, the flight was the most uncomfortable of my life.  It felt like my ears were bleeding as we descended.  My ears didn’t return to normal until two days later, so I was hearing impaired-- more than usual. 

Sweet hats from the world cup

I thought Nick and Quin would especially like these hats.  Too bad they were almost $50 or I would have brought one home.  You should figure out how to make them boys :)

From the back

We landed and made it safely to the backpacker in central.  It looked kind of like sketchier parts of Elgin, IL, a western suburb of Chicago, due to its overabundance of car garages and repair shops with more than enough guys hanging around.  Upon further exploration we discovered our luck at the prime location of an escort and massage business right around the corner.  Later we embraced the backpacker all the more when we found a healthy population of cockroaches in the room helping themselves to our breakfasts.   But, Taylor the bug woman (she took an insect class last semester which forced her to catch a large number of bugs, identify them, kill them, and mount them) checked most of the ladies’ bags and extracted the six-legged invaders.  I able to view our night as a character-building experience.

Some of the ladies feared for our safety, so they barricaded the door with a bed.

Aside from the backpacker, we visited the Botanical Gardens until the rain came, checked out some local art centers, made an impromptu stop at the Natural History Museum, and ended the day with TacoZULU a Mexican restaurant with a fusion of Zulu, the most prominent African tribe in Kwa-Zulu Natal (Durban’s province).  However, I didn’t detect any Zulu components of the meal.  I had a taco salad with a baked taco shell rather than the typical fried number, so I was very pleased.

The ladies traipsing around the botanical gardens

calming, eh?

butterfly :)

A close-up on some sweeeeet tree bark.

South Afrika!

A woman chillin' on a bench.  I though she looked nice.

TaAaAll trees at the Durban Botanical gardens

At the art center on the water

Pay attention dad-- this is a snipe.  After all those years of hunting, they were actually in Africa, not in the back yard or in alleys on Eau Claire's West side.  Whoda-thunk?

This is a male snipe doing his mating dance.  Fancy that.

 

My favorite part of the day was the surprise I found in my email inbox.  Mom had each cousin write me a little not from Wag’s Easter celebration.  One of my faves was, “Why did the herbivore eat the factory?’

Think. 

Think.

Think.

“Because it was a plant” haha!  Thanks Clint.

I felt so special that they took the time to write me a little note.   Thanks cousins!