Ballito!!!!

May 7, 2012 This weekend a group of KwaZulu Natal Peace Corps Volunteers gathered in Ballito for the first ever provincial conference. It was put on by PCV’s for PCV’s. My mother would have had a heart attack when the khumbi dropped Dan and I off on the side of the freeway. There is no khumbi to Ballito so we had to take the khumbi to Durban. Then they just dropped us of and we walked into town. I will be completely honest; I was a bit more excited to go to Ballito then to have a conference. Needless to say, we learned some great things from the other PCV’s and it was great to meet PCV’s from other classes. We stayed at a local backpackers and then had the conference in a hotel. For those of you who are not familiar with a backpacker, it is very similar to a hostel. It is a room with multiple bunk beds and one bathroom. They are made for people who travel and don’t want to spend a lot of money on a hotel room. The people who run them are always super chill and excited to have Americans. This particular backpacker had an African Shower.

I for some reason thought it was the coolest thing ever and would not shut up about it. It was outside and covered by grass and plants. The town of Ballito was amazing! It was right on the beach and it had a really cool boardwalk. One night after dinner a bunch of PCV’s and I went for a walk on the boardwalk. We walked down on the beach and looked in the rocks for sea anemones and octopi. We were able to see both and the sea anemones were cool when you touched them, they would wrap around your finger. Luckily we had a marine biologist in our group and he was able to show us everything.The last day we were there I wanted to get up early and walk the boardwalk before the sun rose. Gary (another PCV) joined me and it was great, we even saw dolphins. It turned out to be a great weekend.