A Bull In Our Bathroom AT 6:30 AM!!!

YIKES - I got up to go to the bathroom at 6:30 this morning, was sitting on the john and heard a weird noise outside the window right next to me. When I looked out, a HUGE cow animal with HUGE THICK curved horns was looking back, breathing distance away!!!!!!

He didn't seem as shocked at me as I was at him, and then continued to munch on the base of an aloe vera tree - those little aloe vera plants we have at home grow to be as big as palm trees here!! I swear he was a bull, but our guide laughed hysterically at me when I told him and told me it is just a cow - RIGHT!!!

We slep in our first Zulu hut last night - very unusual and cosy. They were mud in the old days, but these ones are made of cement, but otherwise are exactly the same as they have been made for hundreds of years! The sound of roosters crowing woke us up at daylight, folloed by MANY bleeting goats!!!

Thatched roof which is very cozy inside - inside you have the bent branches that are all tied together with rope and then the thatch is laid on top of that. DON't light a match!!!!

Funny thing is, the bed was one of the best we've had. All of the furniture is traditional. LIving in the round is a bit different. The bedroom is one mid-sized room, and then the roundness continues into a largish bathroom. The front door is a split Dutch style door, mosquito netting over the bed, lamps that have warrior sheilds as the base (not as cool as those Bordello lamps!!) and a cool Zulu painting on the headboard (all these pictures will follow is one huge pack - probably not 'til we get to Mala Mala at Kruger Park, which will be sometime tomorrow night.

We saw the whole Zulu dance ceremony last night - AMAZING - the dancing is incredible (I made a point of looking under the men's skins, you know me, 'cause traditionally they wore nothing under these, but damn, progress has gone too far, and they had little black shorts on!!!! I was waiting for this dance to see if the black myth is true!!!). The female dancers were not topless either - poor Tom - don't know if it is because they would have frozen their boobs off it was so cold, or, more likely, modern times. They had short beaded skirts and beaded bras!

Women are not thin, actually some real meat on their bones, but can they dance and kick their legs higher than their heads in a fast frenzy!!

Some of the men were quite slim, but the best one was a bit older, had a paunch, would bug out his eyes in a real spooky way, and was my fav. Looked kinda like you, Ron!!!!

They did all their traditional ceremonies, including the beer making one. Then passed the bowl of beer around with everyone drinking out of the same spoon - AAAACH - you know me and the hygiene thing I have - I won't take communion wine because everyone else has spit in it and it is viral stew!! Well, I sure as hell was not going to swap gawd knows what with a bunch of tourists so that I could get to try out my antibiotic I brought with me!!! Tom passed too - nurse at the Travellers Clinic in Edmonton scared him enough he has been following the rules - didn't even play with dogs here!!!

Before the dance ceremony we visited various traditional huts - the kitchen hut, the beer making hut, the medicine hut etc. It was pissing rain, and the red soil here was total muck. Dark as hell since we are in the middle of Nowhere, Zululand!! They had some torches to light the way, but we tripped at few times - I now have red brown shoes.

After all this we had dinner - VERY good. These people eat!!!! There was traditional food and regular food. The women here are none too thin, so it must be OK, so I tried some of most things!!! The chicken was the best I've ever had. Everything was superb.

I felt bad for our guide China - we thought he must be staying here, but at supper he left to stay in some little village (me thinks 5 houses) 20 km. from here. The road into this place is dirt and last night it was flooded over in some places!!!

Last night after supper I did have some gut trouble, and I was VERY VERY tired, almost to the point of being a tad concerned that I might be getting sick - think it also had to do with the fact that I knew if I did it was a witch doctor here only!!!!

We am wondering if the malaria pills are perhaps affecting us a bit - Tom has also had some stomach weirdness and diarrhea.

I decided to take my friend DiAnn's great advice again - she's "been here, done that" and take a rest morning today. There was a spear making ceremony and a couple of other things, but I chose to sleep in, have a hot bath, wash my hair (Debra, your hair looking great is not a frequent happening when travelling here - I've had the odd day, but many days you just relay on many clips, and you know how I am fussy about my hair - I know, high maintenace, but I'm learning!!).

A Zulu warrior (???) woke us at the door at 7, Tom went to breakfast, and, bless his heart, brought me back some fruit and yogurt, a banana (different ones here - Laura, more like the ones in HAwaii!)and I had that in bed before my bath. I feel MUCH better now - you have to listen to your body I find on this kind of trip when you are on the go all the time. Especially when you moc=ve every 2 days, or, like now, every day. Thanks God though, we both have felt very well and healthy, except for the stomach thing the last few days.

The coolness has bee good (I know I bitched a lot about the cold when I got here, but I have adjusted) Ellen, it is going to be very hot here in Jan. Feb. - likely 30 - 45 C. When you are in coastal places ie Cape Town it will be cooler next to the water, about mid 20's!!! No Air Cond. here - people are shocked when you ask and they say "this is Africa" by that you are supposed to know that it is not affordable.

Even people with money don't use the phone much, don't heat much, and don't dry clothes much (they line dry) because of the cost. We feel like millionaires here when we compare how we live at home.

Our Zulu guide, China, is the best. He is 35 and a lovely man. Today after lunch he will take us to Simune, another Zulu experience. Last night when I was feeling a bit sick I really didn't want to go, but today the sun has come out, the rain has stopped and I am looking forward to going.

Simune is a different type of Zulu experience. This is the one that you can only take in 1 overnight case (it's killing me - my hair products take that much room!!).

You arrive at a security senter where you leave all your other luggage (yes Laura, I'm taking your tanznite with me just in case!!!) where a guard will watch it, and then the last hour into Simune you can choose between going in on horseback (Dr. Simon my physio at Kinsmen - I won't do that - you couldn't put me back together again!!), or by ox cart, which China tells me will be VERY TIRING - GREAT - kinda like a choice between a migraine or stomach flu!!!!!!!

A tour guide with a groupd of Dutch people told us at dinner last night that she has had groupd there and they had a FEW 4x4 for the old and infirm. Hell, you know what a great actress I can be - just watch how OLD AND INFIRM I can look!!!

Well, I'm off to lunch now. We have so many amazing pix that we can't wait to put on here, but the computer system will change at Mala Mala and I'll do a whole Zulu photo post.

I might be able to find a computer at Simune - right now I am in the Reception Roundavel in a back rrom - kinda like an office, but with 2 animal skin warrior swords -probably the dancers, propped next to me!!!! The lack of heat and computers would make me freakin' mental here.

And I hope you appreciate how long it takes to do a post - the computers ae S-L-O-W!

Just to get into a site take forever. My njtk@telusplanet.net says that it is overloaded, but I have gone in here to get my messages and delete and it would take 3 days - just to wait for the delet takes 20 min., then you read 10 more message - after waiting for them to come up for 15 min. and so on!!!! As my friend Paula says to me always "you have no f***ing patience" and she's right - this makes me WILD!!!!

OK, off to Simune - you might here from there, but no promises. We are there just for tonight and tomorrow morning 'til checkout at noon probably, then off back to Durban to fly out to Kruger Park and Mala Mala later tomorrow.

Please God spare me from the luggage Nazi and his weigh scale tonight - I swear, if he gets that thing out I will feed him to the bathroom bull!!!!

See you later!!! Love, N-J & Tommy!!!