Gecko Glen, Bambi and Marcho Stud

Spa Day! Got up early-6am. Leonie's sister Erika has a spa just outside of Pretoria in the bush called Gecko Glen.

Erika had started the business almost a year ago. She trains all the girls herself, they come from local villages and this is a great opportunity for them. Unfortunately, someone posing as a customer and stole all of her fully trained staff and opened her own business just down the road. Also 2 of her neighbors had been broken into and everything stolen. Erika, her husband and father built everything from scratch - literally - there was nothing but bush.

We were greeted at the door by women singing. As we walked we stepped into a scented pool scattered with petals and our feet were bathed by the ladies. Breakfast was waiting for us; yogurt, tropical fruit and granola with scones and Rooboos tea. We changed into our swimsuits and put on robes and slippers and Andy and I were introduced to "our ladies" (mine was Brenda).

We were led through the spa - a series of thatched huts, open on the sides, along thatched covered walkways. Our first treatment was a facial; we had creams and muds applied carefully washed off between each treatment. Our faces, neck and shoulders were massaged with hot rocks and finally, steam was sprayed onto our faces (didn't like that much). This was followed by a full body massage with lavender oil and hot rocks. Then a neck and head massage while sitting on a chair looking out over the bush.

As we left we were sung out and given a parting gift by the ladies who did our treatments - I will definitely go back there if I ever get the chance.
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We left Pretoria and drove east to the Transvaal - about two and a half hours. We came off the highway onto a dirt track and headed toward Bambi, a paragliding club that John and Leonie are members of.

Ahhhh... I could get used to this

I hate jet lag... woke up at 4 am.

We decided to spend the day "at home" relaxing. I am reading Naked by David Sedaris - very funny! I read for while, then swam for a little while, then read some more. Ahhhh... I could get used to this.

For lunch we had a "brai" with steak, sausages and "pap". The pap was cooked by Freda, John and Leonie's maid. It is a staple of every South African household and is like polenta with a tomatoey sauce on top.

For dinner we went to Pretoria to La Madeleine. Poor Andy had to suffer through average Belgian beer, when he was promised better by John. I had springbok for dinner - Jennifer said it was like eating a pet-Yumm!

Nelson Mandela Square

Slept late today; got up at 10:15 am. Andy and I took the Jeep to Sandton City Mall. Nelson Mandela Square is part of the mall and has an enormous statue of him. There was an amazing storm that we could see coming over the city, so we stopped and watched for a while.

By the time we drove back, the rain had washed thick mud onto the roads, so we took a short diversion that took us through neighborhoods with houses surrounded by high walls and electric fences that reminded me of Bahrain. There were men selling all kinds of stuff at the lights; when the traffic stopped they would storm onto the road and walk between the cars with suit carriers, electric razors, cell phones, toys, anything you could think of; no one bought anything of course.

We picked up our niece Jennifer from college and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Drank half a bottle of wine and came back to the house and watched the snow video that Andy shot from 2 days ago... what a difference. Leonie introduced us to Amarula, like Baileys but made with an African fruit from the marula tree - mmmmmmmm.....

Landing

February 14, 2006: The landscape was very flat and as far as the eye could see; all the way to the horizon, brown and covered in scrub. Every now and then a straight road would slice through the land, coming from nowhere, going nowhere.

Andy's brother John picked up up from the airport. It took up about an hour to get to the house. When we got there, we showered and swam in the pool, then showered again. It St. Valentines day today, went to a pub for dinner, we couldn't get in anywhere else.

The Journey

Well, there's not really much interesting about being on a plane for 18 hours is there?

Waiting

There's a lot of snow- about 8-10", but not too bad. We called our friends in Frederick and they have about 2 feet, so we made the right decision. The airports are closed and flights delayed, but we are keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow.

The Beginning

There's supposed to be snow; LOTS of snow. Since our flight is early on the 13th, we are planning to stay in a hotel near the airport. The last time we had snow like this we had 3 feet and it took us 3 days to get out. This time we aren't taking any chances... I called the hotel and booked us in a day earlier and dropped off the dogs a day earlier at the kennel and we are heading down to Dulles. Meanwhile, not a single flake to be seen.

So we wandered around Reston Town Center, went to Borders and got some magazines, had an early dinner in a bar and by 6 PM when we got outside it had started to snow.

On My Way...

I have been lucky enough to have travelled quite a lot, even though most of them are to see family. Every time I come back and look at my photos, or a friend asks "what did you do", I can never remember, so when Andy finally convinced me to spend 18 hours on a plane and fly to South Africa, I decided I would keep a journal. So this is my first foray into blogdom and to journal keeping in general and I thought this would be a good way to start.