Market day

Yesterday, we spent the morning at the Victoria Street market. Shopping list – postcards, spices, flag, sari, waxed African cloth. We found it all. While many of the items sold were Zulu crafted items that we have seen hundreds of times over, there was also a huge Indian section, selling spices, flowers, fruits and vegetables, religious items, and shimmering fabrics. Durban has the largest Indian population outside of India which adds another level of diversity to this cosmopolitan city.

We spent a while tasting different spices from tandoori to ginger garlic to three different kinds of masala to the “mother-in-law exterminator” (which was in fact the Durban curry spice we ate the day before). It was interesting to talk to the shopkeeper whose family had been running this stall for three generations. We also met another woman who owned a herbal medicinal shop, and who in turn referred us to her friend in the sari shop. I was wrapped in six and half meters of gorgeous green silk; I had picked a relatively plain green pattern without the crystals or sequins that Alice was trying to steer me towards. In the end, I declined to buy it and it will probably join the short list of items I have regretted not buying while traveling. But I did find a telephone wire basket that I had looked at but not bought last year, so I think things have come full circle.

While I shopped, Russ took photos which is our typical pattern. He has a special way of capturing different perspectives while blending into the scene around us. One of the most active scenes was people diving for second-hand clothes. Russ actually found me a really nice windbreaker to replace the one that I had lost in Kuwait.

While at the supermarket the night before, we also bought some Amarula and boxed wine to bring back to Kuwait, along with a year's supply of rooibos tea, some rusks, and the special salt we like.

The downtown area was bustling, but we enjoyed the quiet beaches and green, rolling hills of the suburbs. Banana, papaya, and avocado trees are widespread, along with fields of sugarcane. Even in autumn, there are trees still in bloom, and we got the sense this eden is nature refuge all year long. The bird life is prolific. In our last afternoon with Zane, we enjoyed more curries and drove down to the beach to eat them. Our outings have been short but with his recent burst of energy, it has been a welcomed change of pace for him. We had another wonderful visit with him, his sister and mother.

The World Cup not only revitalized South Africa's cities, but also the airports. Our Diner's Club lounges are brand new and both the Joburg and Durban terminals are easy to navigate. We are about ready to board the plane towards Johannesburg and our long trek home. So glad we came.

Lessons from Zane

One of the reasons we came down to South Africa was to see Zane. He is a good friend from our time in Botswana, and currently has advanced lung cancer. He's the second person we’ve known who never smoked but ended up with the disease that has spread throughout his body. When we made arrangements, we were totally unsure whether we would see him at all since he decided back in January to suspend all cancer treatment. For all the chemo and radiation stories I have heard, I don’t blame him.

Zane moved in with his seventy-eight year old mother Lucille, who as a former Miss Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), is an icon of grace and strength. His sister Lorelle has also been visiting from England for the past three weeks. We spent some lovely afternoons with them.

His body is confined to laying on the couch most of the time, but he was thoughtful to buy a six pack of Windhoek Lager, our favorite beer to drink while we had wors and chips for lunch one day. Although diminished in size, his mind is quite clear and he remains the talented storyteller he always was. He retold stories from his childhood in Rhodesia and South Africa, some that we had heard and a few that were new. Two days before we arrived, he received a blood transfusion which he swears has given him new energy. He is remarkably positive and ready to die, but still the adventurer, the wide-eyed optimist, the dreamer.

One morning, he felt so good that we took him over to the gallery where his art will be exhibited in July. He laid on the couch in the middle of the space and planned out where all the paintings should go. The show will focus on his drawings from the desert. Then we drove over to his favorite curry take-away where again they had a couch in the back room, and ordered the infamously hot Durban curry. It is a red curry sauce with substantial heat which he can chow right down and ordered enough for a week. For Russ and I, we needed plenty of rice in the fish curry we ordered. It may have been the spiciest thing I have ever eaten but a rite of passage when coming to this city.

A friend gave him a whole hard drive of movies and documentaries. He introduced us to the PBS mini-series The West which we watched with him on two afternoons. He is fascinated with history as we are, and I suppose watching it hours on end was a slight substitute for his dream of someday traveling through the United States like one of the early explorers in the film.

We have tried to help out where we can, printing his brochure and a paper he’d written. Typing dictated emails. In the end, we feel like he has been more of an example and blessing to us that we have been.

The cool night air by the ocean and gentle rolling of waves makes for good sleeping. Our guesthouse is in a great location – Durban North near La Lucia and Umahlanga Rocks. Every day we have gone walking on the beach which always does me an infinite amount of good.

We are eating fresh fish, fresh paw-paws (papayas), large creamy avocados, and plantains. Russ found some ostrich wors and we braai’ed it last night, which is just something that needed doing while we were here.

The weather has been perfect. We had one afternoon and evening of rain which made for a spectacularly clear morning the next day. We were blown away by the clarity in the air which we have not inhaled for months.

Yebo!

The dust and grime of Kuwait seems a long way from Durban. Was it only Thursday that mentally exhausted and physically tired, we limped onto a plane headed to Africa? That was ages ago. Our time here in South Africa has already been filled with long days. It some ways, it feels like we never left. What has changed is that we are no longer on an open itinerary and we no longer live here. We also no longer eat boerewors or braaivleis that are such staple items here. But we feel welcomed and at home.

After a relatively easy flight through Addis Ababa, we arrived to a surprisingly quiet Tambo International Airport. We got out on the N-1 during what should have been Friday afternoon rush hour to an empty highway. Then we realized that it was the start of the four-day Easter holiday. So most everything was closed, but we did find a few groceries before settling in at the Pretoria Backpackers, which like many other hostels in Southern Africa has grown up to be more like self-catering flats. In the relatively upscale Arcadia neighborhood, we slept soundly that night.

After we ate breakfast Saturday morning, we drove over to Moraleta Park, where we lived for three weeks last May while Russ was having his heart surgery. We were able to visit with Oom Dolf and his wife who were so kind to us during our time there. Like our friend Zane though, Dolf is also suffering from late stage lung cancer and was in obvious pain but in good spirits. Afterwards, we walked around the nearby nature reserve and golf course that we frequented often. The weather was sunny and pleasant, perfect actually. It was good to be back in familiar territory and I think in a way allowed Russ to put closure on that chapter of his life.

South Africa is suffering through major inflation. The price of petrol has almost doubled since last year and is currently around seven dollars a gallon. Naturally food prices have gone through the roof. I have been the ATM three times in the past three days to take out over five thousand rand. Not sure how the economy can keep up with this. Much to our dismay, politics seem to be the same.

One of our highlights in Pretoria was seeing Rafa and Rosemary, our good friends from our time in Botswana. They were in Pretoria en route to meet his parents from Spain. We immediately settled in the garden to drink Windhoek lagers and catch up since we had last seen them in April 2011. Life for them is still good at Westwood and they are considering another year there. We walked around the Union Building gardens and found a West African restaurant to eat at. A short visit, but we are already talking about possible future trips.

So glad we have the Diner's Club card to get us in to all of these airport lounges. It makes traveling so much easier. Joburg has two - one for domestic and another for international. We had a wonderful flight to Durban yesterday, but could not believe how green and humid it was. It felt like Mozambique in the middle of summer. We are staying right on the beach in North Durban, and I am enthralled lying in bed listening to the pounding surf.

We have already visited Zane who was in better condition than we anticipated. He just received a blood transfusion and is receiving cortisone, so for the time he has a burst of energy. We drank beer and snacked, just as we had so many times in the past. We'll head over there today after a long walk on the beach.