Losing and Gaining

Hello everyone!

Internet has been sketchy for a while so we haven't had an opportunity to write until now. A LOT has happened. When I left you last, we were still in Swakopmund.

Day 9/Aug 8th

Shawna and I loved walking around town; we tried many different foods including biltong (kindof like beef jerky) and gelato (ummm, it was a miss). We did some shopping (most of the window-variety), enjoyed cafes, tea, and relaxed. A lot of this tour is go-go-go, so it was really nice to just chill out for a while.

That evening we had dinner at a restaurant with the whole group, and it was the best bonding we had done yet. We laughed and told stories, got to know each other and tried each other's dishes. Carol made Shawna and I try ostrich and gemsbok meat (both taste like beef), and I ordered a Camembert appetizer not realizing that it would be the entire wheel of cheese. I also had klipdrift and coke, which was recommended to me to try, but I had no idea what it actually was. I later found out that klipdrift is a type of brandy. :) Overall we had a pretty good time.

I couldn't finish my entire entree, however, and so we had it wrapped up and Colin took me and Shawna in search of someone who might like the leftovers. That kid outside the restaurant the night before was still on my mind, and if there were hungry people here, I wasn't about to throw out food. Before long we found someone, and he seemed grateful - also, Colin did it in such a way that it didn't seem like a handout, or pitiable, it just seemed like two buddies sharing good fortune.

It was still early and so the three of us decided to check out Gunter Krantz, a bar in downtown Swakopmund. We got in there and it was pretty deserted. Loud music, pool tables and foosball. We decided to play a few games of pool, both of which Colin won - although Shawna and I were doing really well against him in one game until I scratched on the 8-ball. Oops. Then we played some foosball with some local guys, who were really just humouring us since we were rather pathetic, but each of us teamed up with one of them and the teams were pretty even. Still, I am embarrassingly bad at foosball. The guys were gracious and friendly and not unnerving in any way. It was fun! But after a few games, we gave our thanks, collected Colin and headed back to our hotel for our last non-tent accommodation for a good long while.

Day 10/Aug 9th

We had breakfast at the hotel, which was included with our room, and headed out. Our first stop was the Cape Cross Seal Colony. As soon as we stepped out of the vehicle we were bombarded with the stench of the sea and thousands of sea animals. In fact, there are around 100,000 seals at that site at any particular time. They were so funny! Babies suckling, small arguments, half of them sleeping and half of them barking. Quite the chaos.

We stopped for lunch at the worst place thus far: the side of the highway, beside a garbage can that was overflowing with plastic. No restrooms - although there was a large rock that we could all take turns standing behind. Flying bugs everywhere. Bad sandwiches - fried bread, greasy egg, BLECH. Get me out of here!

Then we drove for another billion hours and we reached the valley of Brandberg Mountain and went on a tour to the famous "White Lady" rock painting. Colin mixed up his times and said it would be 45min total, but it was actually 2 hours total, in the hottest part of the day. People were not prepared. It was hiking over rocks, dusty trails, past cobra-inhabited trees, with not enough water... all to reach a very non-exciting rock painting at the end. The general feeling was that it was not worth it. You can imagine the response when Colin told us that we'd be seeing more rock paintings tomorrow.

Anyways, it wasn't so bad on the walk back because the sun had gone down and we weren't dying quite so badly. But it really took a lot out of us that day. The morale was pretty low. We were so relieved to reach our campsite and just go to bed. Once we drove up we noticed Elephant Warning signs everywhere as apparently they come through the camp quite regularly. Holy toledo!

Shawna and I figured we'd put up our tent, take a dip in the pool, eat dinner and go to bed. Well... we opened up our tent, which we had last used 3 days ago on the other side of the country, to discover that we had lost a tent pole.

Oh. My. God.

This was a fairly huge problem. The tents are very industrial; the poles hook to the outside of the tent and they are tall and of canvas construction. We had had the only one for which the tent poles were not all attached to each other. The rest of the tents couldn't lose a pole - but we got the one that could. And we did. @#$%!!

We were so tired and cranky we didn't even tell Colin until the next day. We set up a different tent (thank goodness there was one extra) and went to the pool for a dip. And a dip is all we got since it was not much of a pool. The highlight, besides being stared at by all the poolside guests (insert sarcasm here), was meeting Carlos, the resident mongoose who tooled around the pool area visiting all the people.

Dinner and bed. Figure out what to do tomorrow. We hoped...

Day 11/Aug 10th

I had nightmares all night and I don't know if it is because of the anti-malarial medication we're taking, the amount of salt in the food we're eating, or the strange animals and noises that invade our psyches. We asked Colin for a lesson in packing up our tent (which he said he'd do on the first night but never did) and we were determined to be the best tent-packers he'd ever seen. We still hadn't told him.

As we drove today we saw many Himba women on the side of the road dressed in colourful dresses and spinning around like whirling dervishes, selling their wares. We'd be visiting a traditional Himba colony tomorrow. I was really looking forward to it as these women were unlike any African peoples I'd seen thus far.

At one point we had to stop for some donkeys that were crossing the road. At first we laughed at how slowly they moved, but Colin explained that owners tied the donkeys' front legs together to keep them from getting very far. And sometimes, because they couldn't move quickly, they got hit by cars. We didn't laugh anymore. Poor donkeys.

Our first major stop was to Twyfelfontein, where we saw some more rock paintings. These ones, however, were worth the 45min trek into the rocks. The history of some of these amazing artistic renderings is stupefying. I can't believe I get to stand in the same place as someone else did so long ago. I bet none of my art will survive so long, hehe...

Then we headed to the Petrified Forest, where for me, the most interesting part was talking to our guide named Pinias. He was an older middle-aged man and he told me part of his story. He was illiterate for most of his life until he was able to take advantage of a government program and change his situation. It sounds like most people cannot get out of whatever situation they are born into, so his story was really inspiring. He now is literate and speaks more than 4 languages. He taught us about the trees, how plants were used to make perfume, and told us a story in his own language and showed us how to write. Awesome.

Camp that night was in the Porcupine Camp. By now we had told Colin about the missing tent pole, and he was great about it. We offered to pay, but he just kept saying, "we will make a plan, no worries!" We don't really know what he means by that.

The Porcupine Camp gets its name because the woman who runs it feeds the porcupines every night. She has been doing it for 5 years, and every night they come to eat carrots and apples and grub. She charges a fee, sets up a spotlight, and makes a little money off this entertainment for the tourists. She even has one that climbs up on her leg to get a treat. On one hand it was fascinating to see these nocturnal creatures up close (literally 10 inches from me), and she was obviously really knowledgeable as we got educated about everything to do with them. However, it made me feel slightly disgusted that wild animals were turned into a circus show for tourists.

So many things are like that here - I'm curious, fascinated, amazed and interested, all the while feeling disgusted, guilty, helpless. I'm never sure if what I am doing is right - but aside from the moral issue, I'm certainly getting an education. And that's what I do feel is important.

Until the next installment... :)
xo
E!