Monday, February 13, 2012

Biltong, borewors, braaivleis and bunny-chow

A young Basque pilgrim I served with as a volunteer hospitalera in an albergue in Galicia in 2009 accepted my invitation to come to South Africa for a holiday. Isa is 41 years old (24 years younger than me) but when we worked together in the San Roque albergue in Corcubion we really clicked.  She couldn't speak any English and my Spanish was rudimentary to say the least but somehow we managed to care for a pilgrim shelter that takes 20 pilgrims, cook and clean, shop and have a lot of fun doing it!
I spent a day with Isa last year in June in Pamplona before taking an amaWalkers group on the Camino Frances.  We spoke about her coming to South Africa and she was quite excited about the prospect. 

On the 8th January she arrived in Durban looking a little apprehensive.  For the next 18 days I played tour-guide and tourist in my own country.    Now Isa has invited me to spend a couple of weeks with her in her town of Zarautz (not far from San Sebastian) while I volunteer in the local albergue. 
Who knows, I might be hospitalera in Zarautz next year!

This is what we did:
The Westville Museum :
Lunch with my sister Patty.
A braai with my son and his wife
5 hours at uShaka Marine World
Afternoon at the PheZulu Safari Park,
Crocodile Farm, Zulu village, Zulu dancing
Dinner with my sons and their wives.
Isa (who works in a nursing home) visited two nursing homes (with my friend Reinette):
Moses Mabhida Soccer Stadium and Sky Car
Lunch at Circus Circus, a swim in the Indian Ocean
Dinner and show at Hertiage Theatre,
Walk on the Umhlanga Rocks Promenade, brunch at the Lighthouse
Two days in the Bush Palace lodge and Umfolozi-Hluhluwe Game Reserves.
Visited the Emmanuel Cathedral, Father Stephen took us to the Juma Masjid Mosque (largest in Southern Africa):
Botancial Gardens for lunch;
Guided tour of the 9 Markets of Warwick Avenue,
Braai at Greg & Sharon's;
Roma Revolving Restaurant, a
A typical South African dinner with friends, Midlands Meander,
2 nights at the Sani Lodge;
8 hour 4 X 4 trip up the Sani Pass to Lesotho;
Brunch in Howick Falls,
6 hour ride to Johannesburg,
2 days on the Vaal River,
Dinner at Stelle,
Tour of Johannesburg and Soweto .

Isa made a list of food and drink to try while she was here:

Biltong, boerewors, bobotie, bunny-chow, braaivlies, phutu, chakalaka, South African beer, Amarula, sorghum beer etc.
I bought some Phutu-pap for her to have with our evening braai (barbecue) of boerewors and chakalaka sauce.
She had samoosas, biltong and bunny-chow at our South African theme dinner party. 
She sampled sorghum beer in a Lesotho village and tried at least 6 local beers as well as wines and Amarula.

.











3 comments:

  1. What an adventure! Sil, you're a wonderful host, promoter and guide for your amazing country. Lucky Isa!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sil - I was a tour guide for almost 10 years and could NOT have done better than this! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! What a wonderful hostess you are! Great job and yes, lucky Isa!

    ReplyDelete