Hello from South Africa

Hello Friends!

Just a quick check in.  I will flesh out details soon, but I wanted you to know that I have arrived well in Durban.  My travels were smooth and more roomy than expected- I had an empty row!  (Which I decided to share part of with a claustrophobic vet from Birmingham on his way to hunt lions.) An empty next seat on a 15 hour flight was a huge bonus.

I mentioned earlier that my friend Amanda had arranged with for her cousin Nellica to host me in Jo burg. I anticipated kindness, as Amanda is so funny and thoughtful, and I assumed Nellica would not have offered had she not been generous to begin with.  But, any expectation I had paled in comparison with my experience. Truly, I could not have imagined a better stay with more dear people. More on Nellica and Johan later…

After arriving  in Durban yesterday, I picked up my number at the Expo. Today, I took a ride in a bus for 6 hours over the course. There were taxi issues at my hotel, so I arrived just in time to catch a bus- I quickly boarded the chartered bus, sat down, smiled at my seat mate.  Something was  “off”.  No one was speaking English! Then, I looked around and realized I'd been directed to the Brazilian and German bus.   hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!  Seriously.  Me, Klaus, Hans, Frans, Greta, Andreas, Phillipe, Maria, Antonia…  Yep.  So I listened to the tour in German and then small parts were translated into English for me and the Brazilians.  Take a moment to get a mental picture.

The course is hilly. And 56 miles. Wait no, not hilly, it is mountainous.  *Note to self-if the tour of the course is 6 hours, the run is formidable.* There are five major hills with names (seriously they are mountains!), each with a billboard sign announcing the start of it.  But what surprised me were the hills with no names.  Long stretches going up.  So many hills that the only flat part of the course has a name-Harrison Flats.  Anyway, I am prepared to start slow. 
To be continued!

Oh!  I can get email at akfreeland@me.com