Our four day weekend has come and gone, and although I am so
sad that we are leaving the beautiful city of Swakopmund, I know that means
that I am one step closer to my month long break and seeing my parents.
As for the weekend, these four days were filled with
adventure, crazy Africanisms (yes, that’s a new word), and cold weather. On Thursday, I hiked to Oshakati to
meet up with 6 of the other volunteers.
From there, we quickly grabbed food and went to our hike point. While there, we loaded into a kombi
with about 20 other people and patiently (we tried) waited to get on the
road. However, we didn’t leave
Kati until around 18h30, and our drive was supposed to take around 10
hours. While we drove though, some
of us were able to sleep, others read, and all of us were forced to listen to
PDK on repeat at a very, very high volume. I’m talking I’m at a club and need my music loud to dance volume. Looking back now, it’s hilarious, but
at the time, oh my gosh we weren’t so appreciative of the driver’s music.
Our Swakop adventure officially began at 4:30am when we set
foot on the service station ground.
My first opinion…”Where am I?
This can’t be Africa! Wow,
I love the architecture and the smell of the ocean.” After arriving, we got into two taxis and headed to our
hostel, which was another adventure in the making since neither of the drivers
knew where they were going and one had his wife in the car who was about to
deliver her baby.
On Friday morning, we woke around 9am and got ready for our
day. It was glorious and filled
with a hot shower I long for weekly.
We then spent time walking along the beach and in town. The makeup of this city has a German
vibe and the architecture is beautiful.
On top of all of that, the weather was cool and for the first time in
months, none of us were sweating.
On this day, we went to the a Namibian museum, ate seafood (yummy),
celebrated Emily’s 23rd birthday, and rested in the most amazing
beds.
The next day, Saturday, switched up the game plan and showed
us some of the downfalls of living so close to the coast. Waking pretty early, we headed to
Walvis Bay for a boat tour (seal and dolphin spotting). The weather was overcast and starting
to drizzle. As we arrived at
Walvis Bay, late again because the taxis drivers were confused, the rain started
to fall. Rain or shine though, our
boat was going out and going out we did.
The seven of us piled into the boat with other tourists from Germany,
South Africa, and other countries.
Our tour guide informed us that we should hopefully see many animals,
but nothing is ever promised.
Shortly after though, a seal jumped onto the stairs of our boat and
wiggled his way on. The driver had
fish so he stayed for a bit, giving all of us a change to pet him, take
pictures of him, and get a good look at a seal up close. It was so awesome and definitely the
highlight of the day, which made the rain a little more bearable.
The rest of the boat tour however, resulted in 7 American
girls freezing their butts off in the rain. We were soaked from head to toe by the ocean spray and the
rainfall, making it difficult to take pictures and enjoy the beauty around
us. After awhile, I think the boat
driver saw this in all of the passengers because he made the decision to turn
around, go back to shore, and eat snacks.
Meatballs, chicken, and oysters!
My heart was much happier and warmer with this news. The rest of the day was spent walking
around, eating food, seeing a movie (American times!), and being wet and
cold. It was tremendous!
The last day to explore was Sunday, the most adventurous day
by far. The group of us headed out
to the sand dunes to go sand boarding and sand sledding. IT WAS remarkable! I went sand sledding and was able to go
down about 6 different dunes. My
fastest speed was 68 k, which is pretty fast! The view out there was breathtaking and all you could see
was miles and miles of rolling golden sand. Breathtaking!
Our day ended with more walking, exploring, and food. We walked past the houses, which are
gorgeous. Each one is unique and
different from the next. Nobody
has the same house, not even close.
The last part of the night included grilled calamari and chips
(fries). A delicious way to end my
west coast adventures.
When Monday came (the day I started writing this blog), we
drove home. A 10-hour drive turned
into 11. Luckily, it seemed to go
by quickly and our driver played his music at a reasonable level. Also, we saw a giraffe on the side of the road! Stuff like that reminds me how lucky I am to live in this
country and on this continent.
Well this entry is forever long. If you made it all the way through, go you! You deserve a gold star J
Sounds like quite the adventure.
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