This past weekend I embarked on a trip to Durban with three other students—Sean, Erin, and Caitlin.  We left around noon on Friday for the Gabs bus station and were on the road to Jo’burg by 2:30.  We got in to Jo’burg around 8:30.  On a Friday night.  Needless to say, the Jo’burg bus station is a seedy part of a seedy town.  Getting off the bus we were greeted by a swarm of locals that positively reeked of alcohol.  We were in a group and went inside immediately and were find, but it was certainly not the place you would want to visit alone. We ended up on one of the less reputable bus companies and discovered that their reputation is well deserved—we left half an hour late, the first bus we were on broke down around the corner at the bus station, and the second bus broke down just past the halfway point.  The second break down elicited a rather unsavory response from some of our fellow passengers, but that is a story for another time. 

We ended up arriving n Durban only three hours late (9 instead of 6 am).  It is a very pretty city.  It is much bigger than Gabs, located on the ocean, and not in a desert, which all add up to a very welcoming climate.  We spent most of Saturday morning and early afternoon exploring the city centre, which has a number of very beautiful old colonial buildings, a nice market, and an interesting local museum on colonialism.  The hostel we were planning on staying at was at the far side of the harbor and well outside hiking distance so we had to negotiate the public buses to get there.  The buses run very infrequently and are not fast so we ended up waiting at the station for a while before we started talking to a bus driver who just volunteered to change the route he was supposed to be taking in order to accommodate us.  It’s a wonder why the public transportation system is seen as inefficient. 

We finally made it to our hostel (located 30 yards from the beach for 8$pp a night) and our first visit to the beach and it was wonderful.  Sunny, warm, breezy.  We got in the water a little (and it was incredibly refreshing), but choppy waves and a pounding shore break insure that you can’t venture out far.  Well, that and the local shark population.  We spent most of the rest of the day wandering the beach and eventually had a nighttime bonfire on the beach, complete with a couple of local fascist Afrikaners. 

Sunday morning we actually woke up for sunrise (!!!) before napping some more and getting up at a humane hour.  We made the trek back over to the city centre and went to the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere in time for afternoon prayers before we had a delicious Indian lunch (Durban has a huge Indian population).  We moved onto the official boardwalk net to the city centre.  As far as boardwalks go, it was very well done.  They clearly zoned the areas to force hotels off the beach, which means there is a 100 yard or so stretch between the beach and the hotels which was filled with parks and green things and little shops.  After a nap (or two) on the beach, we packed up and headed for the bus station.  The bus trip back was thankfully uneventful and we were back in Gabs by midday Monday.  Overall it was a great trip and a wonderful place to visit for the weekend.  This weekend I will be staying in Gabs and exploring/hanging out (we found the karaoke bar).