Bela Bela 10/14

It is Tuesday afternoon, almost 4 pm. We just got back from our night away in Bela Bela a little before 3. We had a great time. We stayed at a place called Forever Resorts Warmbaths. It was a large resort in the city of Bela Bela, which was called Warmbaths just a few years ago. Confusing, I know. Anyways, we got to Bela Bela around 3 yesterday afternoon. Tyson and Jori kept asking “when are we going to be at Bela Bela?” and we'd say “this is Bela Bela”. They did not like that answer. I believe they thought Bela Bela was a person. Tyson did catch on eventually, but the whole time we were gone, Jori would say stuff like “this Bela Bela's soap” or “we at Bela Bela's house”. So we check in and go to our chalet, which was way nicer than I expected. We were in a “self-catering” chalet, which meant we had a little kitchenette to cook meals. We didn't bring any food along, so our first stop was to the local Pick 'N' Pay to get a few things. We also hit up the local Shoe City, because somehow in getting the kids out the door of our home in Hammanskraal, we forgot to take a pair of shoes along for Jori. So we hooked her up with some super cute “crocs” for under $3!! She was very excited about her new shoes.

After getting groceries and shoes, we went back to our chalet to put everything away. Then we headed to Spur, a South African restaurant, which was located in the resort. The had a kids play area inside, which made waiting for our food so much easier. I decided to try the fish and chips. I was expecting American style fish and chips, which was not what I actually got. The fries were normal, but the fish was a piece of fish with some skin and bones still in it, that was breaded and fried. It was not my favorite, but I ate it anyway. This may have been a mistake as ever since I ate that meal I have been having terrible, I mean TERRIBLE pain in my chest area. It started right after I finished eating. I thought my whole meal was going to end up back on my plate, if you know what I mean. I didn't have an upset stomach, but it was more like indigestion or heartburn, I am guessing as I have never really experienced those either. So, if anyone with a medical background is reading this and thinks that what I am experiencing is NOT NORMAL, please comment on this blog so I can seek medical attention. No, seriously I am sure it is fine, but every time I eat, the pain comes back and it is just pressure in my chest. Maybe I have fish bones caught somewhere in my digestive tract. Who knows.

So back to our trip. We brought our swim suits along with us to Spur because we had read that some of the swimming pools were open 24 hours a day. Luckily those pools were right outside of Spur. So Darin and the kids got ready to swim, while I was trying to convince myself that I was not going to need of a trip to the hospital. Now the thing about Warmbaths/Bela Bela, is that just like the name says, the water is like a warm bath. There are natural hot springs in the area, and this resort has totally capitalized on that. Several of the pools are filled with this naturally warm water. They had a pretty big “kiddie” pool that Darin took the kids in while I sat and watched. They had SO MUCH FUN. It was like having a giant bathtub to play in, complete with a slide and a hot water fountain shooting up from it. The water was shallow enough that both kids could stand in it the whole way around. Jori did go under a few times, usually because she was jumping and slipped, so Darin had to stay right next to her. Thankfully Tyson was content to stay close by so I could keep an eye on him from where I was. Eventually, I decided to join them. It really was nice. We were the only people out in any of the pools. It was dark by now, but there were spotlights shining on us. So we all swam and splashed and slid for about an hour. Then it was time to get the kiddos home to bed.

We ended up splitting the kids up and then we each slept with one of them. They were pretty tired out so they fell right asleep. Darin and I ended up watching some Robin Williams movie that we had never heard of and after watching it, we knew why. We went to bed only to both be woken up much closer to 5 than we would have wanted. Darin said Tyson was up right after 5, and Jori was up around 5:30. We both stayed in our rooms longer than that, neither of us wanting to disturb the other one. Needless to say, we got an early start to the swimming pools today. Darin took both kids to the pool by himself so I could go to the spa and set up a time to get a massage. Yes, Darin encouraged me to treat myself and I was not about to turn him down. I made my appointment, then went to watch them all swim for a little while. At 9 am I had the BEST massage ever. It was called a Lomi Lomi Massage, which is some Hawaiian method where they use their hands and their arms to massage you. It was awesome. I wish I could go back right now. An hour later, I went back to get the rest of my fam. Then we all headed back to our chalet to eat some food and finish packing before our 11 am checkout. It was quite nice, because even after checking out, we could stay in the resort and use the pools.

After eating some snacks, we decided to check out some of the pools that we hadn't yet been to. This turned out to be a great decision as the first pool we went to not only had cool water, but it also had a water slide that both kids could go down on their own (Darin had taken both kids on a few of the other slides, but they were not the most kid friendly). It was over 90 degrees out, so the cool water felt great. Tyson was tall enough to go down the slide by himself AND he didn't need to be caught at the end! He was so proud of this, and it was great watching him do this “big kid” thing all by himself. Jori also went down the slide by herself, but needed to be caught at the end. She loved the fact that she could go up the stairs and get on the slide all by herself. We were probably in that pool close to 45 minutes. Then we checked out the wave pool, which was also filled with cool water. This proved too be a little too much for our kids who were both shivering now. So we headed back to the kiddie pool to warm up. It was getting after noon now and both kids were showing signs of getting tired, so we decided to get dressed and go. On the way out of town, we stopped at Wimpy, another South African restaurant that I compared to an Arnie's or Russ' in Michigan, simply because there were so many old people in there.

Finally, we headed home. Now Tyson and Jori are watching Oswald and Darin is getting ready to head into town to go on line and stop at the Post Office to get a package!! Can't wait to see what it is. He found out from Mark at TYB that 5 pm is the best time to go to the Post Office, so hopefully he will be able to get right in. Then, around 6:30, I will be going to pick up the girls from across the road to go out to dinner at Tamboti. Hopefully, I will be able to eat something!