Massages, mountains, and meals

After 13 nearly-identical presentations in 14 days, we were more than ready for a couple of days without the now-famous Kenneth Q. Washburn III and his alter egos, Ken and Kenneth. Luckily, there several public holidays at the end of April (Freedom Day) and the beginning of May (May Day), which gave us two days off in Durban and then four more in Cape Town.

To celebrate our first evening off, we visited what is, perhaps, the biggest and most elaborate mall either of us has seen. Given how long we had spent in East Africa, we found the experience a bit overwhelming, and the only thing that saved the evening was the movie that we had gone to the mall to see: History Boys.

The next day we managed to find a place with even more glitz: a Las Vegas style casino, through which we had to walk (quickly) to get to the spa where we celebrated Laurel’s birthday. Having now had treatments on at four continents, we now consider ourselves to be spa experts: our most unusual treatments were the treatments that we received in Costa Rica; the oiliest were the ones that we had in India, and the ones in the strangest location were the ones that we had in our tent outside a game park in Tanzania. This spa was the most structured: Everyone at the spa had the same lunch, we all had the same robes and slippers, and when the drums were banged, we moved to the next station. However, by the time we had had the neck and head massage, the hot-stone back massage, and the foot scrub and massage (punctuated by several glasses of champagne), we were completely relaxed.

After our massages, Judge Dhaya Pillay, a Labour Court judge and the person who got us involved in teaching in South Africa, picked us up and took us and her two very energetic Alsatians – Ginger and Plums -- for a walk on the beach. In South Africa, it turns out that the beaches fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cemeteries, which seemed like a bit of an odd combination. After our walk, we returned to Dhaya’s home for an informal dinner with Dhaya and her partner, Yunus, and friends from the U.S. Consulate’s office. Although we tried to help Dhaya cook, our lack of culinary ability became readily apparent when Laurel attempted to dice some butternut squash but managed to send the squash flying across the kitchen and onto the the floor.

The next day, we went a few hours outside of Durban with Dhaya and Yunus to the Drakenberg Mountain range (know to locals as “the Berg”), where we spent the afternoon hiking through heathery meadows beneath dramatic cliffs and outcrops ending at breezy waterfall.