Travel day to Durban

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Sorry, no photos on this day.

Today was a travel day, spent mostly on shuttles and the calm 2 hour flight to Durban. We fly along the southern coast of South Africa to Durban, so we got some nice views of the coast once we approached the airport.

We took a shuttle to downtown Durban and then a bus to our hostel. Durban is a little warmer than Cape Town and has a different vibe too. Once we got settled at the hostel, we took a walk to the Ushukwa Marine Center nearby. It’s basically an aquarium/water park/shopping center with tons of shops and restaurants. It actually reminded me of California a little bit, with a wide sidewalk by the ocean and lots of things going on.
We stopped at a bar to watch the end of the Uruguay - South Korea game, the first Round of 16 match of this World Cup. Uruguay is looking pretty good...Forlan is in form, and he is getting help up front from Luis Suarez, while the gritty mid-field is doing its job nicely. Uruguay took the lead 8 minutes into the match and South Korea only equalized in the middle of the second half. With 10 minutes to go, Suarez curled in a beautiful shot to give South America its first quarter-finalist of this World Cup. Afterwards, we ate a seafood dinner on a patio overlooking the ocean.

After dinner, we made our way back to the hostel to watch the USA - Ghana Round of 16 match. Ghana was the last remaining African team in the tournament, so we were cheering for them. We were also cheering for them because of a douche-bag American we met in Cape Town. The guy is quite the character, full of himself and thinks he knows it all. I had to restrain myself whenever he opened his mouth about soccer or anything World Cup-related. Basically, he made my friend Marty look like a genius in all things soccer (sorry Marty...hehe). The American said he was ready to postpone his flight out of Cape Town in a few weeks to watch the US play the semi-final. He showed Ghana no respect and completely dismissed their chances. That made Janel and I enjoy that much more the result of the game. Ghana went up 1-0 early, but in true African fashion, committed a penalty in the second half to allow the US to tie. In the first half, I said to Janel “I wonder when Ghana will either get a red card or commit a penalty in this game, because African teams always do something in a big game”...and sure enough, I was right. The match went into extra time, when Gyan scored a nice goal to give Ghana the win. The entire place was cheering for Ghana, so we all erupted went the shot went in. I wonder if this means that the over 74,000 Americans that are here, the most of any nationality, will start selling their tickets to matches in later rounds...I think so. Oh, I’m also looking forward to seeing the American at the hostel when we get back, as he is staying there another few weeks “owning” the place. Hehe

Today, we are going to see a little bit of Durban and then get ready for World War III between Germany and England. Should be a killer game, one giant will go home today. Go Germany!!! The night game has Round of 16 in extra time if I remember correctly. I remember the goal, because it was the goal of the tournament scored by Maxi Rodriguez. I think Argentina should be ok today.

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Comments

[Dave]

Nice...
Always enjoy reading about Americans being put in their place...!!!