Beach trip to Durban

I know I haven't been posting in a while.  To be honest, I have been feeling a little disillusioned lately.  (See last post).  But the last week has improved exponentially!  Jonathan got here a week ago and we have been going ever since.  We took a road trip to Durban, on the Indian Ocean.  It is a 6 hour drive from Jo'burg to Durban and quite scenic.  You drive southeast and parallel the Drakensberg Mountains for a while.  They are beautifully rugged with snow-capped peaks. They are the natural border between South Africa and the mountain nation of Lesotho (pronounced Lesutu), which is a tiny nation plopped down right in the middle of SA. (Click on the link above to read more about Lesotho.)

A desolate drive between Jo'burg and Durban.

The Drakensbergs in the background with snow on the very tops.

Our pitstop in Harrismith, about half way to Durban.

It is winter here but Durban stays relatively warm year-round.  The daytime temps were in the 70s though the water was a bit cooler.  We stayed right in Durban proper, a beach town that reminds me of an older Panama City Beach.  There is a beachfront boardwalk with a skate park, snack bars, and people of all shapes, colors, sizes, and ages strolling, jogging, biking.  We checked into a nice hotel overlooking the beach and spent the next few days just being tourists.  It was heaven.  We found a surfboard rental shop where Jonathan found a good deal on a board for a two-day rental.  We struck out for the beach only to find that, while the beachfront might resemble Panama City, the waves definitely do not.  Wave height varied anywhere from 5 to 15 feet!  Jonathan braved the cold water, the waves, and the extreme current but nature won out and he never did catch that perfect wave.  But I am happy to say that no sharks caught him either.  This coastline is known for being shark infested but Durban has invested in shark nets that run just offshore for miles along the coast.

The view from our hotel room

Such a surfer dude!

Jonathan eyeing the surf.

Durban beachfront. In the background is the Moses Mabhida Stadium, built for the Soccer World Cup in 2010.

Several people we know here in Jo'burg spend their summer vacations and other holidays in an area north of Durban called Ballito.  We took a drive up there and were blown away by the beautiful scenery.  The coast is mountainous, the beach rocky and the waves huge.  Jonathan spent the entire day trying to talk us into buying a beach house. Beach property is very reasonable here but still not reasonable enough for us!

The Ballito Coastline

The view from our lunch restaurant in Ballito

The Glamour Wears Off

Well, I knew it would happen.  The excitement of living overseas, of visiting 3 continents in 3 weeks, of "the most perfect weather in the world", has finally ebbed (nay, died) and reality has set in.  Winter does come to Africa-at least in the most southern part.  And while most of the year the weather is almost perfect, winter nights here get flat out frigid.  Freezing, in fact.  And houses with no heat other than one small fireplace get frigid as well.  Jon and I have spent the last week buying room heaters of various sizes.  We have a giant LP gas heater for the first floor and of course I have asked all the requisite questions: Is it safe? Are we going to explode? Die of carbon monoxide poisoning? Does it (the heater) have to sit right there in the middle of the room? We have also bought electric mattress pads and lots of firewood, kindling and starter sticks.  It isn't that I mind the cold, I just wasn't prepared to be Laura Ingalls and relive my favorite episodes of Little House on the Prairie every night.  And with the extra demand on electricity comes the rolling black outs.  We have lost power twice this past week.  One night Jon came home very late (around 11:00 pm) and yelled up the stairs at me to turn some lights on.  I told him I wished I could but the power was out.  I think he was so tired he didn't notice the entire neighborhood was dark when he drove in.

We have done without water this week as well.  No official explanation but we were without water for 24 hours.  I put my gym membership to good use (finally) and packed up a bag and went to the gym for a shower after a day without water.

The good news?  Life in Africa is still an adventure and a learning experience.  I have learned to use the sun and the glass windows to harvest heat during the day.  I have become a much better fire builder than even my dad would have believed.  We are not the only people to have to go to three different places before we can finally find a full LP gas tank. The power and the water always come back on at some point. 

And what did I realize yesterday as we drove around the highveld (pronounced high-feld and means high plateau, on which Jo'burg is situated)? I realized that even though it is cool and dry and there is a beautiful breeze there is also a heavy layer of smog across our province, Gauteng. Why?  Because there are literally millions of people in South Africa and tens of millions of people in Africa that do not have the financial resources to buy heaters and electric mattress pads. Their only source of heat is a wood fire. Their only source of wood is the wood they collect and/or chop themselves.  The smog is created by the millions of cooking and heating fires being built each day, fires that are necessary for survival.

Not so glamorous but so very grounding.

Love to all-Jody

London in May

May has been an amazing month of travel so far.  We started the month out with our anniversary trip to Victoria Falls, went back to SA for 24 hours to do laundry and re-pack and then left for London.  We arrived on a Saturday evening and checked in to our hotel in Kensington.  We rode the Tube from Heathrow to the Earl's Court station, dragging along 6 bags of various sizes.  We caught a cab from there to the hotel and collapsed after a long 24 hours of travel from SA.  Sunday we got up and took off for Buckingham Palace, where we got to experience the changing of the guard.  The temporary broadcasting booths from the Royal Wedding were still being dismantled while we were there and having just watched all the wedding events on television, so many landmarks were still fresh in my mind.  The changing of the guard is quite a spectacle as the military band leads the new guard in and the old guard out.  It is such a tradition and the pageantry is spectacular.  However, just when you think some traditions never change, the military band broke into a medley of Michael Jackson songs as the guards were changing.  The crowd began murmuring at first, looking at each other as if to say, "are we really hearing 'Bad' and 'Thriller'?" 

Changing of the Guard

Buckingham Palace

We walked from there to Westminster Abbey, which was closed for worship services. We walked past Parliament, #10 Downing Street, the Horse Guards, down the Mall, Wellington Arch and on and on through Knightsbridge to Harrod's department store, where we had a late lunch.  We had a wonderful day.

Trafalgar Square

Westminster Abbey

Monday jet lag caught up to me so I hung out and rested my tired feet to prepare for my big night out to go see Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace theatre.  That was incredibly fun and the theatre was just what I expected-all red velvet and ornate gilded trim and fixtures.

Tuesday I bought a big bus ticket and rode for 5 hours on the top deck of an open air double decker bus all over London seeing the sights and listening to the narration.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and everyone in London came out at lunch to eat outside in the glorious weather.  What an incredible city and such a rich history.

The Thames River and Parliament

Wednesday I walked to Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana lived and took a tour of a few of the public rooms on display.  I walked all over Kensington Park and down to Hyde Park as well.  It was a drizzly day but not so bad as to get very wet.  The Parks were green and the trees huge.  There were dogs everywhere, owners tossing balls and frisbees.  Bikers in suits and even high heels, cutting through the park and pedaling to work.  It is amazing how much open green space there is in London.  I wondered what the long dead royals would think if they knew how so many commoners were tramping all over their private gardens and hunting lands every day.  At least most of the commoners are considerate enough to scoop up the commoner dog poop in plastic bags.  I bet the royals had servants to do that for the royal dogs.

Kensington Palace

In the afternoon I rode the Tube to the Tower of London.  This place is so steeped in history and mystery.  The Beefeaters are spectacular storytellers.  I spent about 3 hours there walking through all the buildings, seeing the Crown Jewels, an extraordinary display of ancient armour, watching the ravens hop around the green, and just imagining what it must have been like over the centuries to have lived or visited there.  Most likely it would have been really smelly, considering the now-dry moat was a giant open sewer.

The Tower of London

A Beefeater talking to one of the Ravens

What was Jon doing all this time I was seeing London? He was working of course!  I am very lucky to have been able to tag along with him and as much fun as I had, it would have been much better if I could have done all of this with him.  Maybe next time. 

We left London after 5 days and headed for a 2 week stay in the US.  More about that later. Jody

Vic Falls-Days 4 and 5

Day Four of our anniversary trip started out with some bad news for Jon.  The satellite New Dawn, which just launched 2 weeks ago, was having some technical problems.  While he spent most of the day on his phone or computer, we did manage to sneak off and go into the town of Livingstone for a little shopping and lunch.  The town itself is quite historic, with many of the buildings dating back to the British colonial period.  It has a population of around 160,000 and survives mainly on tourism.  The entire country of Zambia has about 13 million people with about 2 million living in the capital of Lusaka, which is in the middle of the copper belt.  Mining is the largest industry in the country.  We got up early to enjoy the sun and the pool one more time before leaving on the 5th to return to Jo'burg.  The temps in Vic Falls were perfect-70s during the day, 60s at night.  But the sun is still powerful and we managed to work on our tans a bit.  Today (Friday, May 6th) is a turn-around day.  Laundry, blog updating, Jon working, re-packing, and leaving for the airport tonight around 7:00 pm for London.  Jon is working and I am buying a big red bus ticket and maybe a Tube pass so that I can explore London as much as possible.  I haven't been since I was 16.  Stay tuned for blogging from London.  Love to all. J and J

Looking down the main street of Livingstone, you can see the mist rising off the falls.

We stopped in a local restaurant for lunch and asked the waitress what she recommended.
She said her favorite was the espetada. We ordered it and this is how it came.
Giant skewers of meat and veggies brought out hanging.
It was delicious!

Speaking of food, this was a sign on the hotel property.
I certainly didn't want to be croc food. However, check out the dinner menu below.

Maybe the crocs should beware as well.  They were on the menu at our hotel.
Neither of us was brave enough to try it.

Victoria Falls Day 3-Our 25th Anniversary

Wow....25 years of marriage and what a day it was!  We started the day early by driving out to a small aerodrome for micro-lite rides over the falls.  It was absolutely terrifying!  I am not sure how Jon talked me into thinking this was a great way to start our anniversary celebration but he did.  At least I didn't throw up, cry, or beg to turn around and land.




Suited up and waiting our turns



The micro-lites had cameras mounted on the wings and the pilot snapped photos during the flights.  It was incredibly beautiful from up there but I was pretty scared to look around too much.  Jon admitted even he was a little nervous. Jon is in the orange kite, Jody is in the blue.  At one point, while flying back to land, the pilot spotted some hippos lounging in the river.  We were able to fly over and see them from above.  The pilot said hippos are even more dangerous and deadlier than crocodiles.



After the micro-lite rides we went back to our hotel for some lunch and then in the afternoon we had a couples massage in a little tent directly on the river.  It was a beautiful, romantic setting.

Jon holding up the little paper undies the massage therapist gave him to wear

the view from the massage tables

After our massages we prepared for the big event-renewing our wedding vows at sunset on the hotel deck overlooking the river.  It was just the two of us, no officiant.  A hotel guest snapped the photos for us.  After the sun set, we were escorted to our own private dinner table under a canopy right on the river's edge, lit with candles and lanterms.  It was too dark to take photos but it was beautiful.  When we returned to our room for the evening, the butler had decorated our bed with rose petals and used leaves and petals to spell out happy anniverary inside a big heart.  It was a perfect day.

On the hotel deck with the spray of the falls behind us

Sunset

Jon pouring champagne to celebrate our vow renewal

Our anniversary message from the staff

Victoria Falls Day 2

Our second day in Vic Falls was purposely restful.  Our hotel had amazingly beautiful grounds.  It is right on the Zambezi River. Every room has a view of the river and the hotel is so close to the edge of the falls that you can see the spray rising up from the falls as the water tumbles over.  The hotel is also located in a game reserve and we saw wild animals daily, including monkeys, which had free rein of the grounds and were quite "cheeky" as the locals said.  We spent our day laying out by the pool, watching the monkeys, and then taking a sunset boat cruise on the river.

A view from the pool deck of the edge of the falls and the spray rising up

The pool

a pair of monkeys stole fruit off our balcony table and enjoyed it
right there with us while we snapped pictures

the monkeys loved to jump on and run around the outdoor furniture

Our evening riverboat, the African Queen

Sunset on the Zambezi River

25th Anniversary Trip-Victoria Falls Day 1

For our 25th anniversary (May 3rd) we decided to go to Victoria Falls.  It is one of the 7 wonders of the world, formed by the Zambezi River and on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.  We stayed on the Zambia side of the river at a resort called the Royal Livingstone. We flew in to the Livingstone Airport on Sunday, May 1st.  It is quite a small airport but efficient.  We were taken by bus to the hotel where we checked in, took some photos of the amazing grounds and view of the river and then walked down to the falls.  Our hotel and one other, the Zambezi Sun, are the only hotels where you can actually walk to the falls.  This is the end of the rainy season and the river is running at its peak.  That makes the falls the largest they are all year. Because of the volume of water coming over the falls, the mist is so heavy that it was hard to actually see the falls in some spots.  We rented raincoats and rubber shoes for a dollar each when we got down to the falls. Jon said it was the best money he ever spent!

The Livingstone Airport

Statues of Dr. David Livingstone and his two guides (airport entrance)



Open-air lobby of our hotel



Jon getting soaked!

Rainbows are a common occurrence

The mist generated by the falls.  You can barely see the falls
in the background.