Our Final Braai

I guess it was fitting to have our final braai on our final night in South Africa. But this wasn't like any of the others we had had the pleasure to attend: here, a single host had opened her home not only to everyone we had met in Joburg but even some we had come across in Durban and Cape Town. I didn't manage to get a proper count but apparently over 35 people had been invited. I won't bang on about the food having been awesome, because by now that was just a given.

It was good to once again meet some of the new friends I had made, some who I'd be seeing for the last time. There was also a host of others who I hadn't seen before but had been told about. As is often the case with such events there wasn't enough time to have a quality conversation with everyone I wanted to, but I guess that's what happens when you sacrifice intimacy for numbers.

Despite clearly always being the third musketeer in the group I was travelling with I did feel a bit flattered that the locals were going to so much effort. In some ways it was just the final and definitive example of how extremely hospital the guys over here have been and exactly how well we had been looked after during our stay. We didn't feel like strangers from a far land, but old friends who were staying with family.

It's all the more upsetting that we'll be leaving tomorrow.