Durban night life post pandemic
In many ways, Durban feels like a bubble that is holding its breath. Perhaps it is a projection of my own feelings but Durban seems quieter than it was pre-pandemic. A lot of businesses like restaurants and clubs were forced to close during the pandemic and could never re-open. Davenport used to be the place to be for all young people and students. It was a vibrant street filled with restaurants, bars, spoken word events and even one or two places to dance. Now there is only a few open places at the top of the street, the rest of the street is dark. It fills me with melancholy seeing the stark contrast to how it used to be. It’s hard to imagine how the consequences of the pandemic has devastated thousands upon thousands of lives and their opportunity to a stable livelihood.
One place that is still up and kicking is the reggae bar Cool Runnings in central Durban. Here people could smoke in peace even before it was decriminalized. I have had some amazing dance nights here in the past but now that I am here again I am not feeling it, my energy no longer matches with its vibration. Funny how things change with time. The drumming session every Thursday still brings me all the feels and I would highly recommend visiting the place for that specific event. Central Durban is not a place to walk around in at night so make sure you take a taxi there and that you have a safe way to get home after. Personally, I have gotten myself a South African sim card so that I can use the transport and food delivery apps as well as Whatsapp, which seems to be the most popular communication app.
Scraping on Durban's Jazz Scene
Since most of my old favorite spots are either closed or no longer feel like a place for me, I have been searching for new good spots. The past two weeks I’ve been exploring some jazz events that I found through a Facebook group. South Africa is not known for using Facebook to market their events, especially not in Durban, so this find really surprised me. My favorite, this far, is Jazz Mondays’ at the Alliance Française. The place is set up like an outside living room which allows for very intimate concerts. The pizzas are good and the beer is cold. Jazz nights in Durban are definitely a breath of fresh air.
Soon it is time for me to leave Durban. I know doing this, leaving Durban, will cement the new path of this journey. I won’t be stationary in one place as I thought, rather I am now looking into how I can travel southern Africa by bus. It is a whole world out there and I am yet to get to know it. Exciting, yes! But also nerve wracking. There is a saying that says “rejection is God’s protection and redirection” and as true as I think that is, it is scary as f*ck to not know what I am getting into. My goal is to find my life’s purpose. I want to know why I chose to come to this earth, at this specific time, in this specific body.
Divine guidance
Sometimes, when I need guidance in life, I draw angel cards. For this trip, I brought my deck of arch angel cards gifted to me by my mom a few years back. I decided to draw three cards to help me understand my past, present and how to navigate the future that lies before me. The first card I received told me to cleanse around me. It made me laugh since I have done nothing but cleanse for the past months: first my whole apartment back in Sweden, then the relationships that fell through, the letting go of my ideas and dreams of what this trip would be and mean. And now, my backpacks – the only material things I have left. No matter, it won’t do me any good to carry around 60kg of baggage just for the sake of it. I want to travel light. After a few hard decisions I managed to repack so I have one big bag instead of three. Yolande has generously agreed to store the rest of my luggage at her house indefinitely.
The third card read Divine order, everything is just as it should be. The relief I feel as I read these words makes me realize that I am still carrying around some shame. Shame over doing such a drastic thing – moving across the globe – for a guy. But perhaps that was the motivation I needed in order to get my ass moving. The intense disappointments could also be seen as course correcting… like it’s telling me “Yes dear, you are where you are supposed to be – just remember to keep the focus on you and not some guy”. Maybe I am supposed to do this alone, learn this, whatever it is, alone. The second card I drew told me that I have a special connection crystal and indigo children. Maybe this is a clue to what my life purpose is… or perhaps it is showing me who my soul community consist of. I must confess, I’m not very knowledgeable about these concepts, I only know that these types of people were born to help the earth and humanity raise its vibration. They bring change through love, revolution and empathy. What do you think it means?
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