Botswana and Beyond!

With the Phipps in Durban, South Africa
July 17 - July 22
We were pooped. After two and a half months on the go, not counting our rest days in Windhoek, we were ready for some down time. Poor Debbie, she had planned a whole itinerary for us, and all I wanted to do was watch DVD's, and all Laura wanted to do was embroider. In the end, we ended up shopping at the The Pavillion, known as THE PAV, looking for the perfect black shoes for me, and buying Laura a very cool leather jacket. We also had to fight with KLM about getting our stolen tickets re-issued, and I must say, we saw the best customer service, however tangled, from KLM about the tickets. It was a mess, but the people were friendly. Clinton and Debbie set up rules for our visit, and the number one rule was for us to make ourselves comfortable. On the plan flying into Durban, Laura had said that the one thing she missed from home was cheesecake. We had come across cheesecake in Africa, but there was no sugar in it. Yeah, like that's cheesecake. Anyway, what was waiting for us at the Phipps' when we arrived? You guessed it, cheesecake! Debbie is a goddess in the kitchen! Being in a home, going to malls, just living a normal life for five days was such a gift! I realized what a disappointment we were, not wanting to see Zulu's and lions, but having a pseudo-normal life again was nice.

I got to watch The Man in the Iron Mask, Shaft, and The Patriot. I must say, the first 45 minutes of The Patriot, I was glued to the screen. But, well, then there were plot issues, though the director Emmerlich, did a great job, a superb job. The movie is beautiful, and everyone likes Mel Gibson, but the script needed some tightening. Shaft, on the other hand, I loved! Too blue to be black, too black to be blue. Everyone may like Mel Gibson, but everyone loves Samual L. Jackson. While in Durban, we met from friends of Rusty, and we got to see the Indian sections of town, and even toured a Hare Krishna temple. We met a young Indian artist and went through her work, and had a good time. But the real joy of the trip was being in the Phipps' home, playing with Robyn, doing laundry, eating home cooked food, and just resting. And going to the THE PAV and shopping at "Woolie's". By the way, we did get to see Tomb Raider, everyone may love Samual L. Jackson, but John Voigt, oh John Voigt, you will take any role and we will weep when we see you because you are the father we never had, the brother we always wanted, the voice of a lost generation.

Our normal life ended way too soon. We took the Phipps' and Debbie's parents, Emile & Sonja, out to dinner in Durban our last night and got to see a little of the city. We had a great dinner, talked a little more about South African politics, and then went home. Clinton took us to the airport Sunday morning, early, early, early (thank you Clinton!) we flew on to Jo'Burg, wandered around the guts of the airport to get our KLM tickets reissued, then left South Africa.

Robyn all dressed for a day of shopping, 1 year old daughter of our friends Debra & Clinton

Our last night together. Great seafood dinner on the harbor of Durban

Take me to the Cheeseman Safari