The Cleanest Water in Africa - 12/07/12

Horse eye

BEN - I spent almost the entire morning doing dishes.  We had 10+ people for breakfast and a Lesotho trip heading out, so I just placed myself at the sink and scrubbed away.  After the morning hecticness had subsided and everyone was off on whatever adventure they had planned for the day, we were able to down with Steve and fill him in on all that had happened and give him messages from the past four days while he was away.  The main topic of conversation ended up being Alistair.  Alistair is a chronic alcoholic and liar.  He steals money, booze, and food at any chance he can from the backpackers.  We kept careful notes about everything that had gone missing or “been borrowed” and never returned.  It’s a horrible situation for Steve, because family is family, but Alistair has mooched away a significant portion of money.  This is a constant struggle for Steve, and I can see the toll it takes on him.  We are learning how to deal with an alcoholic, and how to deal with an alcoholic’s family that is dealing with an alcoholic.  The other good news to report to Steve was that after all the worry while he was gone, Smeagul was nearly back to normal.  Whew.

The fat terror claims her spot (it's very tough to move her)

After the fill in session, Steve was finally able to take us up to his water bottling plant and show us how it works.  The water on the farm has been tested by 3 different experts and named the cleanest water in Africa.  Steve and his best friend Paul decided to capitalize on this and open a bottled water company.  The new bottles had just arrived , so we got to help bottle a few and watch a giddy Steve see his baby and new product grow.  The labels will be delivered soon which is very exciting.  Drink Sani Springs!  We returned to the backpackers to prepare for a braii of 25 people, by far our biggest dinner yet.  I got the coals cooking while Gabby made some delicious stew.  A big party of 12 English doctors arrived, it turned out that two different people from the party had booked under two different names.  Oops!  Anyway, we still had a few walk-ins, and the drinking began.  Gareth (Borat) was here, so we learned his favorite drinking game, coinage.  A decently fun game, but I still prefer pong-based games.  We had a nice night with the guests before heading off to bed.