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Published: March 26th 2007
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Flat tire
This is us at 6 in the morning as they were fixing the flat...phew! Wow, I don't know where to begin...it's been a busy couple of weeks! I have loads of pics to share so I suggest reading the blog first then looking at all the pics 😉
Ok, let me rewind a bit. Last weekend we had our athletics tournament in Walvis Bay. So I literally had to wake up at 2:45am because they were picking me up at 3:15 am because the tournament started at 7am. So of course we get a flat along the way and didn't get up there until 9am. Fortunately, the officials heard about our flat and held the tournament for us. It was great. My learners tried really hard but unfortunatley did not qualify...but it was really fun! Along the drive, I was able to see these beautiful sand dunes that I had heard so much about too!
Then we had a short week at work where we only had school on Monday and Tuesday because Wednesday was their Independence Day and we were off the rest of the week. On Tuesday, we had an assembly where all the kids had to put on a skit or sing a song about their independence and they
Girls
Some of the firls running at the athletics tournament all wore these hand made visors of the Namibian Flag...very cute!
The the real fun began...
On Wednesday, I woke up early to catch a ride to meet up with my friend, another WorldTeach volunteer, to go up north to a town called Opuwo. We were going to meet up with some of her friends who were volunteers of Peace Corps, VSO (british version of the peace corps) and this other organization called SCORES.
So, because it was the actual holiday on Wednesday there weren't many rides going anywhere because most people left right after school or work on Tuesday. So I waited for over an hour with nothing and then this truck driver offered me a lift. I originally turned him down because I was scared of this big rig truck but the guy seemed really nice so I took it and I am so glad I did! His name was Fafa and he was from Zimbabwe. He regularly travels from Walvis Bay to the Congo delivering chicken and other meat. It was so interesting to hear about his travels through Africa and to hear about where he has been.
So after about a 3
Sand Dunes
These are the sand dunes between Swakopmund and Walvis bay. I want to go hike on them one day...you can see the tires are for a dirt bikes hour ride, I finally meet up with my friend in a town called Otjiwarongo (pronounced O- chi-varongo) where we then luckily hitched a ride with a government truck all the way to Opuwo so we didn't have to pay anything. The unlucky part was that it was in a bakkie (a pick-up truck) that was carrying furniture to Opuwo. So we spent about 5 hours scrunched under desks and other furniture to make it up there. Besides my back killing me, and being completely windblown, it was a great drive. Very green and beautiful. We passed many villages and towns along the way so it really gave me a chance to see other parts of Namibia. We finally got to Opuwo around 7pm and it was so interesting. There are these tribes of Himbas and Vimbas of traditional people. They basically don't wear any clothes - the men wear a simple cloth and the woman wear a cloth and no top. The Himbas also cover their whole body in Ocra, this deep red clay because they don't bathe and this keeps them sanitary. It was so interesting to see them because although they are traditional, some of them were in
the supermarkets at the check out counter completely topless and covered in clay 😉
So the next day we met up with this tour guide who took us to both a Himba and Vimba village to meet with the people. Of couse, we couldn't really communicate with them but they were very welcoming and inviting and showed us all around their village and in their homes.
Then, that afternoon we drove up about 2 more hours to the Kunene River which is actually the border between Namibia and Angola. It was cool, because although we were obviously in Namibia, I can say that I have seen Angola 😉 The ride again was just beautiful...and the lodge where we were camping at, was amazing.
There's a fun story to it too! Vicky, who is the VSO volunteer living in the house where we were staying at in Opuwo, replaced another VSO volunteer Nikki. Nikki's parents were visiting her from England and went to this lodge on their vacation. Well they fell in love with it and decided to buy it! They were so wonderful and really made the weekend great!
So for the next day and a
1156
some of my grade 7 learners at the independence day celebration at school half, we relaxed, hiked, had braiis (bar-b-qs) and took a boat ride on the river (that apparently had crockodiles in it!) But it was great and so much fun! I have to say that it was exactly what I needed.
So on Saturday we came back to Opuwo which was an experiece in itself. We got a flat, had to help another car out of the sand, and met some other interesting people along the way. Then we left early Sunday morning for a 10 hour ride back to Usakos. Fortunately, some of the volunteers were heading this way so I got a ride for most of it...along the way, we stopped at this tree house - literally - it was this amazing house built in the rocks and trees that was actually made for a movie and is now rented out to people to stay. It was really cool. We also saw giraffes and monkeys just along the side of the road...definitley reminds you that you're in Africa!
All in all, it was an amazing weekend and really made me love this experiece that much more! Now I just need to go catch up on some sleep...
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stacy
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Love the blog my dear! love the pictures. love the work you are doing. And love you!!!!!