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Published: November 4th 2006
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Soussevlei
the first part of the dune Last week end 6 of us headed out to Soussevlei, which is home of the biggest sand dune in the world and is in the Namib desert. I'd be lying if I didn't say one of my main reasons for going was because we were told by a group of our guys that they didn't think we'd be able to do it. So clearly, super competetive Erin kicked into gear and had to prove them wrong.
Just getting there was an adventure...the driver that was going to take us didn't have a working phone, so we had to just hope he'd appear, and sure enough he did. Just in time to figure out the center's combis that we were going to use were nowhere to be found. So 3 hours later, Mohamed and Joseph, our driver, return with quite possibly the most amazing van ever- a lime green combi with super tinted windows and a big stereo system...we decided it didn't matter where we went riding in that thing it would be fun.
We were told it was a two hour drive...6 hours later, completely covered in dust from driving on dirt roads, we finally arrived and had to
talk the campsite into letting us in. It was a beautiful drive, so I almost didn't notice that whenever I touched my pillow a huge cloud of dirt emerged. We camped for the night, all 4 of us girls squeezing into a tent, and got up earrrly the next morning to start our trek.
From the gates it's about an hour drive to the dunes- so we got up with the stars and headed out there. Funny thing was, at this point we were shivering...silly deserts. We really got going at 6:30 and it is a 3 mile walk just to get to the dune. Once you get to the dune...there's no telling. Soussevlei is known for its gorgeous red sand dunes, and having the biggest dune in the world. Since we climbed the second biggest in Swakopmund, we couldn't settle for that and were drawn to this one. In Swakop, you went straight up the dune, and while it was hard, it didn't take more than probably about 20 minutes. This one you had to weave your way up it...if that was the sprint, this was the marathon.
We started climbing around 8...the first crest is where
a lot of tourists climb to- and they all probably said ridiculous things about us in German when we continued on. It wasn't too bad to start with- there were so many people that as long as you stepped in someone else's footprints you were okay. But then we started to figure out why nobody else was climbing any further.
We all quit on more than one occassion...but somehow little by little after 2 hours we made it to the top! It was unbelievable up there- you really felt close to the sky (it's not really that tall relative to mountains, but I think that's just the desert for you.) It was so beautiful- we were literally the only people around, all you could see was sand. Which was amazing, but also slightly terrifying when we started to think of what would happen if something went wrong. We were all pretty excited...it was definitely a group bonding moment, and the walk back was a breeze. When we got back to the main crest we all ran at the same time down the face of the dune- I don't think I would ever get tired of doing that. There is
always several moments where I'm pretty sure I'm going to faceplant because it is so steep and you are so out of control.
We saw several pans- which are dried up lakes- but look all dinosaury and pretty cool. The walk back did a pretty good job of humbling our egos. By this time it was 11, getting to be mid day heat in the desert, and we were essentially out of water. The 6 of us easily drank 15 liters of water just that morning, and had just done one of the hardest physical things I've ever done...just to have a 3 mile hike before us. It was to the point where I wasn't sweating at all- even after all that water and the heat- I was just so dehydrated, there was no sweat. Thankfully, just when we were all really in pretty bad shape, a 4x4 vehicle came and drove us the last mile or so.
So all in all it was an incredible trip. We came home exhausted, but it was absolutely worth it.
Monday was back to classes and internships. My purpose at my internship has at times gotten better...I led one play
therapy session, which is something I'm really interested in. Basically you just do art, play games, do sensory work and reflect with small groups of bereaved kids. My kids didn't show up the next two sessions though...so we haven't yet made it past the making name tags point. And I would tell you about classes, but really, I feel like they are such an insignificant portion of my experience here. I say this as I am procrastinating my first real research paper though.
One of our professors made the point that she feels like she lives like a princess here. Not really whether that is good or bad, but that it is just how it is. It is really true- we've all been complaining a lot lately about money, but the things we do we would NEVER be able to afford back home. Thursday night a bunch of us went to a wine bar in Windhoek, and fell in love with the place. We watched the sunset over the city, had essentially unlimited wine tastings while trying to choose, a delicious cheese platter and chocolate cake AND they played Jack Johnson the entire time. It was such an enjoyable
night- all for less than $10 US. Tonight we were given stipends for dinner since our cooks are out of town (yes i know, we are that spoiled, further prooving my point) and we went to NICE which is an acronym for Namibian Culinary Institute...and I'm sure the 'e' stands for something. True to it's name it was very nice. We were all in awe- I don't eat at restaurants where the chef sends you a special treat before dinner, and I sure don't eat 4 course gourmet meals and wine...for about $15 US. So it's been nice to be able to enjoy so many different aspects of Namibia- and basically I have no idea how I will ever function when I get back home and can barely buy a sandwich for $10.
Unfortunately not all of our nights are quite as classy...but equally as fun. We discovered a club having a pirate night last Friday, and you do not ever turn down a pirate night. We were pretty sure we were being set up and this was just going to be a fun joke on the Americans- but that didn't deter us and we got all decked out
in pirate gear. Turns out we weren't the only ones! But we were the only ones dressed up other than the bartenders... It was a blast though, I highly suggest going dancing in eye patches more often.
Halloween was a last minute effort that was a huge success. We comandeered our corner bar to let us take it over, and decided that we would all go as cold drinks- which is the most amazing word choice we've come across yet. It definitely puts the good ole soda vs. pop debate to rest because it includes all beverages. Somehow everyone rallied the afternoon of Halloween and we were a pretty humorous bunch. I went as Hunter's, which is a cider, and played up the hunter theme- sporting camoflague and a toy gun, which made everything more fun.
It seems like everything is so routine, yet I still feel like I'm really busy and time is flying away from me. In reality I'm not all that busy, but this house just sucks any productivity out of me. Lucky for me, my computer fell today, the screen got punctured, and now is totally unusable. So thank god I won't be able
to be distracted by wireless internet anymore. Right. I'm still at the stage where I'm just laughing about it, because there is so little I can do.
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