Greetings from Durban

Greetings from Durban!
As I sit writing this I can look out my hotel room window and see the Indian Ocean. Just a little bit of luxury in what has been (and will be) a not so luxurious trip. We arrived in Durban Wednesday and spent yesterday driving out to the country side which served as the setting for a novel we read called, "And they didn't die." We had the opportunity to hear a lecture from the author in the morning and then travel to her homeland, about 2.5 hours into the mountains from Durban. We were greeted at her former school by rounds of children who sang for us. This is the heart of Zulu-land so there were the requisite spears and foot pounding (see attached photo "boys with spears"). Unfortunately, we rushed back to meet a speaker who was suppose to present at 6:30 PM but failed to show up (ugh!). He's rescheduled for tonight so we'll see if he makes it. I've just confirmed via SMS (text message) and he says he'll be here at 6:55).

This morning we traveled to a muthi market. Muthi is a type of "herbal/animal/spiritual" healing that is used in much of Africa. There were all sorts of things for sale from bark, roots and berries to poop, ostrich heads and snake skins (see attached photo "muthi madness"). It was quite interesting. From there we did a little tour of the city and then set the students free for half the day to enjoy the sun and surf.

Tomorrow we head to Pietermeritzburg, about an hour and half from here. We'll be hearing lectures on Zulu-nationalism and more about the religion in this area. Today we visited the biggest mosque in the Southern Hemisphere and tomorrow we'll go to some Hindu Temples. This area of the country has a large Indian population (about 22% of Durban). Lunch tomorrow is slated to be at a fabulous Indian restaurant...where are my spicy food tasters when I need them?

I'll write more when I can.
Cheers,
Kristy