Durban

Geoff came to get us at Tembe and drove us to Durban. As we approached Durban we came closer to the coast until the beautiful Indian Ocean was crashing on the sandy shore. We passed golf courses and a stunning stadium that was built for the World Cup of something-or-other (soccer/footie?). We crossed the Umgeni river and turned left into the more 'ordinary' Durban - not so spectacular.

Geoff found our B&B and the housekeeper, Beauty, showed us to our room. It was in the original part of a nicely restored home. The room was small but lovely. Within 2 minutes of unpacking, Beauty came to ask 'Boss Ina' if we would like to look at a larger room in the new section. It was much larger and though it didn't have a ceiling fan we moved. (The benefit of a ceiling fan for us is that we don't have to turn on the a/c.)

We were near Florida Road, an upscale, hip, happening kinda place. We went to a Thai restaurant where the food was delicious but not much more Thai than I am. Our waiter's name was Freedom. I thought perhaps he was born in 1994, the time of the first democratic election, but in fact he was born in 1988 - an indication of his parents' hope and optimism?

African names: Another woman we met was named Buyisiwe (Buyi for short. Sounds like Bwee). She explained that she was born after her mother had miscarried a daughter and that her name meant a gift returned (not returned to the store or re-gifted!). Maybe a gift restored is more accurate.

Other common names: Blessing, Precious, Hope. An odd one was the guide trainee at Tembe - "Sorry"! Maybe he was a late life surprise baby?

A new party game: What abstract noun would you use to rename yourself?

Old Children's Hospital

We took a city tour in a double-decker bus. We saw some typical British colonial buildings, some rather beastly 1960's, 1970's brick apartment buildings, an abandoned, crumbling, 19th century children's hospital that I think is waiting to be restored. Most of the buildings on the sea front show all the wear of intense sun, salt air and natural sand blasting.

There is a large, well-protected inner harbour without which I think Durban would be only another seaside village. There were cruise ships and commercial ships in the harbour. The tour guide took pains to explain something about the importation of cars to us. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of new cars inside the port
area - "none of those cars are available for South Africans etc etc" It seemed an important politico-economic issue to him.

Subtle?

We went to UShaka Marine World - the pride of Durban. Our ticket to the aquarium included a dolphin show. A hollywood extravaganza cum environmental/ecological lesson. The dolphins did all the usual tricks to the beat of ear splitting pop music while the trainers talked about clean oceans, sustainable fishing etc. It made me think of that story of the hare as the 'willing sacrifice'.













The design of the aquarium was remarkable. It was built in the hull of an old freighter. We walked through the inner part of the freighter and the several aquariums (aquaria?) were built from the centre out to the hull (that's my best guess). There were tiny aquariums with tiny things like seahorses and huge ones with sharks. And again the lessons about sustainability.