Eels too shy

Well, alas, it was not a lekker day for petting eels. Turns out that they are still traumatized after being attacked by otters two years ago. They now have an electrified fence around their pond, but they are not the happy-go-lucky-do-anything-for-chicken-liver guys we used to know! I asked if the eels had been killed. The young woman who was on feeding duty said “No. The otters bit off their heads.” Uh…. what am I missing? I’m pretty sure otters aren’t into figurative or metaphorical biting. And I’m also pretty sure if any of us had our heads bitten off we’d be pretty damn dead. Maybe eels are different, but I somehow doubt they are THAT different. [Oh.  Laird thinks she was answering the question “did they eat them?”  I guess someone was further along in the conversation than I was.]  Anyway, Carina was lucky enough to get one to come out of hiding to take the chicken liver she offered. But otherwise, the day was quite swell. Marita, Laird and I adventured there and elsewhere with Carina and her mom, Rulene. After disappointing eelventure, we stopped by Inverroche gin distillery on our way out of Stillbaai and had a marvelous time trying three gins made by three famous South African bands (I’ll have to get back to you on the names). Inverroche has a gin school there and in Mosselbaai, which we still need to do. Anyway, each band made really great gin! I think my favorite was the pink one, but that might have been because of the color. Of course I bought a bottle of each! Of course I can’t bring them back! Of course Marita will have to be drinking at least one G&T a day for the next year or so! Though we thought we’d have a going away party so maybe we can unload some then — also the several bottles of wine we have. We will be taking everything with us to Cape Town, but Laird simply doesn’t drink enough to make a dent in what we have to consume. Unfortunately neither does Marita, so it might all be on me to lower the stockpile. While I am sometimes up for a challenge, I might not be up to drinking down our supply.
On Sunday, a bunch of us went to a lovely buffet restaurant a ways south of Dana Bay. There were the usual suspects of Marita, Noekie and Johan and us and our other friends Carina, Stephen and Carlene; Loret and Johan; and Helmein (her hubbie had the damn flu, poor guy). I wore my not-shwe shwe pants. Lovely Afrikaans food.
OK, back to eel day. After we shared Gs&T made with the famous bands’ gin, we stopped off at the giant Aloe Ferox statue — when Carina emails the pictures of Laird and me and the giant ferox, I’ll post them. Then we went in and this very lovely lady explained the benefits of aloe ferox — 27% more powerful and beneficial than aloe vera. You can drink it, snort it, rub it in — it’s all fantastic. So of course I bought aloe skin products! No one was wondering if I had, right? But I did draw the line at snorting it (that’s not a pun). I could not believe how instantly soft my hands were after trying their serum and creams.
Today it rained! It didn’t rain hard but it rained. You could hear everything small rejoicing, just like in New Mexico.