I had a great day here in Durban, South Africa. After finishing up the morning's work we took a stroll down to the beach to enjoy the Indian Ocean. The left photo gives you an idea of what the walk looked like (scenic waterfront region). The waterfront is very pretty with a long golden sand beach, multiple piers for both relaxing and fishing, and lots of people swimming and surfing in spite of the signs warning not to. The right two photos below are from one of the piers.
After the first pier stroll we had a bizarre lunch with an Indian guy and his young South African wife who called us over, admiring our tattoos. He told us he was a “mystery guest” for
Sun International, being sent around from hotel to hotel to check quality and service issues, but he was pretty drunk — and I was getting there myself — and we weren't entirely convinced he was telling the truth. It may have been some sort of scam that never panned out, either because we foiled it somehow or simply because he enjoyed our company, telling us prison stories about his various hand-poked tattoos and adventures (
“I got this one after I laid a guy out in prison — I didn't kill him, I just gave him the beating of his life”)… among other tattoos he had a Hindu swastika and lettering on his had, a dot on his forehead, a sacred heart on his shoulder, and a dagger-cross on his forearm. The waiter as well showed us his full sleeve (flames and kanji, done by a friend) — apparently committing some service-industry faux pas, but I appreciated it.
There's a fine line between “hilarious” and “terrifying”, and I think most good encounters ride that line very closely, and this one most definitely did… but highly enjoyable. After lunch we walked further along the beach and ran into a Zulu vendor who didn't speak a lot of English but appeared happy to see tourists with stretched lobes… That said, he seemed a little beat down and broken by life, which was sad. So far the reactions about our tattoos and piercings especially have been fairly negative, so it was nice to meet a local who had stretched lobes himself.
We didn't actually go swimming (I don't think I even remembered to bring a bathing suit), but I did roll up my pants and wade… The water is wonderful, and was full of mostly locals and a few tourists taking advantage of the summer weather, tossing themselves with glee into the cresting waves. It's a little scary here, but other than the overwhelming feeling of everything being a little
sketchy, I really like it here.
We're off to supper shortly, and then as I mentioned earlier, tomorrow it's off to Pretoria. You may not hear from me for a few days — we've been told that where we're headed next (the cheetah and wild dog reserve) is online, but I'm not entirely convinced.
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