Our last days in South Africa were spent back at Bag End, the property on which Marc, Rebecca, and Abigail live, enjoying time of catch up and rest. We haven’t spoken much about Bad End, which was our residence for the majority of our time in Joburg. The property is home to three families–including Marc and Rebecca who live sandwiched between the top and bottom houses in a cottage known as the Chateau le Roux–two great danes, Tobong and Gimli, a gardener and two domestic house workers. We enjoyed our regular routine of being greeted by the dogs and then joining the le Rouxs for breakfast, often outside in the front yard, eating Rebecca’s delicious french toast or muffins, yogurt, fruit, muesli, french press coffee, rooibos tea, and fresh eggs from the chickens. We were spoiled! We had our own room and bathroom at the top house which felt more like a Tuscan bed and breakfast than a regular home, access to internet, laundry facilities, and just an all around comfortable environment. In some ways we felt like we did in college when it seemed like we had all the time in the world and could just hang out with people all day. Not sure Marc and Rebecca felt that way since they still had work and obligations to attend to, but we still had a fun time talking to and hanging out with them in between responsibilities. The le Rouxs and the Groblers (Nic, Sonia, and Nic Jr.), who live in the top house, were wonderful hosts and were all very generous.
Nic Jr., who we had met last year in Portland during his own epic journey around the world, wanted to make sure we saw a little more of the area before we left for Kenya and thoughtfully invited us out for two more events–a theatre production and an afternoon at a mountain bike park. It was fun to hang out with him on his turf. Our evening at the theatre ended up being a bit touristy, but the show, Umoja, was very high energy and exposed us to the history of music in South Africa, as well as a hectic (which means crazy in SA) booty shake. The follow day we took a couple hours out of the afternoon and went to a mountain bike park nearby. We had a fun time cruising around the single track course until Erin got a little over confident and ended up flying over the handle bars and scraping herself up pretty good. Thankfully nothing was broken! We ended our last full day in Joburg with a family style meal we prepared for the le Rouxs and Groblers. It was a great way to end our time in South Africa and we look forward to the day we can return.
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