Yup. No project of this size is without some ugliness, but Django really is an impressive piece of technology and complex but cohesive architecture. The more I understood its layers the more I appreciated how much it does, and how well it allows you not to worry about things until you need them.

You mentioned having a strong designer early in the project; did you have a specific name in mind? I'd love to see what they're up to and study some of their other projects.