After our bacon and banana pizzas (it was delicious), we tried walnut whips for dessert. They are imported from the United Kindom and they are a thick, hollow chocolate triangles filled with cream and topped with a walnut. We watched movies in the family room all together that evening.
The next morning we gathered our things together and prepared to leave for Cape Town. Crawford came around to say bye and Joyce had made us a lovely package of food to take on the train. It was full of sandwhiches, candy, chips and drinks. It was a life saver because we could not leave the train to buy food during our thirty hour trip. We stopped by the bus stand to pay for our tickets from Cape Town to Namibia via Intercape bus company, said our good byes, and then got on the train. It was an older train painted purple and baby blue from the 80's. When we got on the economy class car, it was all plastic seats with thin cushioning. We chose two seats at random and it turned out to be on a car that was full of dozens of toddlers. Each woman had a baby and a couple of toddlers in tow. The males on our car were already stumbling and slurring but didn't seem to see the harm in another beer. Of course the car behind us was selling cheap beer and other alcoholic beverages so there was no problem of access. We watched as two men got into an argument but were too drunk to fight. They swung fists in the air but could not quite reach one another. The kids started off cute and clean but it was not long before they were running around crying, screaming, fighting and covered in sticky substances. The car had garbage and pieces of food all over the floor in no time. There were cleaners who swept regularly but it was a futile effort to keep the place clean. There was also a large amount of secuirty guards and police officers patrolling up and down the aisles but they just high fived the drunk, flirted with the ladies and played with the kids. This went on all day, through the night and the next day. We found it amusing at first, then annoying, then we got used to it and it did not bother us too much (except the screeching kids).
The scenery was mostly desert but once in a while we would pass beautiful mountains and huge townships covered in one room homes built up with scraps of aluminum and sheet metal and covered with ripped tarps. On the edge of the villiages we saw piles of garbage and stray animals looking for food.
In the evening, the train stopped for half an hour and then continued to stop once in a while for several minutes at a time. Tyson moved over to his own seats so we each had some extra space to sleep that night. We had sent our blankets home with my mom in Oman so we used towels to keep warm but it was quite cold through the night. Other people had full, thick winter blankets and pillows with them. At around 7:30am the staff told us that we were six hours delayed and we would be getting to Cape Town around 9:30pm. Around 2pm, however, they told us that that we were getting put on busses for the last part of the trip. We were very surprised and impressed on their organization. Hundreds of people were moved off the train and put on very nice busses that got us back to Cape Town by 5:30pm which was only two hours late. The bus was great, the driver had Bob Marley on full blast the entire time. Bob has definitely popped his head up at some point in every country and his music will always remind us of our trip.
Something we did notice about the train was that (without exception) Tyson and I were the only non-black people on the car and when we walked past the first class cabins, every human was white. Although we were already aware that poverty is more rampant among the black people, this was a clear example of the effects of the history of the country still greatly contributing to the life of the people.
When we got to the bus station in Cape Town, we stopped at the Intercape desk because during the train ride we realized that we had never gotten our change back from buying the tickets in Johannesburg. We did not expect to get the money returned but we thought to try. To our surprise the kind lady at the desk made a complaint and the next day we got an email that the till was over by exactly the amount of money we had lost so they repaid us the cash. It was very professional service. After settling this business, we contacted Michelle who is Tyson's uncle's wife's sister. She has two children, one sixteen year old son and an eleven year old daughter. We misunderstood the meeting spot and waited in the wrong spot for a while before borrowing a phone and calling again. We finally met up and she took us to her gorgeous home in Seapoint. The location is perfect because it is minutes to the city but also near the beach in a quiet area.
As anyone who has been to Cape Town or has been the pictures can attest, this is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. It is breathtaking no matter which way you look. From the moment we arrived and looked up to all the mountains in the blue sky and then turned our heads to the beaches and the ocean we were in love with the place. The city is very clean, the homes are modern and lovely and the people are kind.
We saw the family and met the family dog, Ponsar, that night. We ate dinner of chicken curry with rice, squash and corn followed by angel food cake for dessert before happily falling asleep on the comfy bed. The next morning we, of course, woke up later than planned. We met the maid, Rea who has worked with the family for 17 years. We walked down the street and along Beach road while enjoying the perfect weather. We were very lucky with the weather during our three days in the city, it is coming into winter here and so it is meant to be rainy. Beach road is, of course, along the water, it is kept very clean and there is grass and flowers all the way along. People seem very active here because we saw many folk out with dogs, running and biking along. The homes in this area are huge and luxurious. They are on a hill with a view of the ocean, many seem to have at least one pool and some even had inclinators from the garage up to their homes. We walked all the way to the waterfront which is much like the one we have in Vancouver. They have a huge ferris wheel and carousel in the center, many specialty shops selling crafts and souveniers and an indoor mall. They have many attractions in the area such as monuments, a huge lego art piece and a clocktower. They offer many harbor cruises and the area was full of tourists. Cape Town is one of the top ten most visited cities in the world and in our brief time there we can understand why.
Also in the waterfront, there is the gateway to Robben Island. The boat we wanted to take was full but we managed to get tickets for the next departure. The price of the tickets were steep but that did not stop tourists from selling out every single boat everyday. We paid 230 Rand each ($30 CAD) which included the tour and museam. We met an Irish couple who had missed their boat and had to pay a penalty to catch the next one. They were quite upset but still talked to us for a little while about their travels. We spent about two hours in the exhibition that they had prepared about the history of Cape Town. When the Dutch came to South Africa there was a lot of fighting over power with the black people and rascism played a big part in the trajedy of the area. Apartheid, as I understand, was the white people taking power and seperating the people into designated areas according to their background. So the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Blacks, Coloureds and Whites were assigned an area to live in and had to move out of the homes they knew and loved. Also the black people's rights were taken away, things such as education were no longer permitted. There were seperate benches, entrances and areas for white people that black people were not permitted to use. This, of course, caused resistance and many innocent people died. People involved in politics and who spoke against the government were arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island. The white political prisoners however, were not kept on the island, but rather in a prison on the mainland. Former president, Nelson Mandela, spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, on the island.
Throughout the last 400 years, Robben Island has also been used to contain people suffering from leperosy. They believed this disease was contagious, so people were locked up here. Men were seperated from women but somehow they managed to find each other because forty one childern were born on the island. These children however were taken from their mothers and never seen again. The island also housed mentally ill people at some point in its history.
We took a ferry for thirty minutes to the island where we caught a bus with a tour guide to take us around. All the guides and staff working on Robben island are former prisoners. We were very fortunate that we happened to get the same guide who usually guides VIPs who visit the island. He has hosted people like Barack Obama, Oprah and Hilary Clinton to name a few. He was very funny and incorporated everyone and their home countries in his explanation of how we all play a part in the history of the island. We were taken to the grave site of the lepers, we saw the limestone quarry where the prisoners were made to work all day, we saw the cannons (bought for the war), we were shown the churches and mosques used for the guards, lastly we were shown around the prison by another former prisoner. He showed us the cells including the one that was once occupied by Nelson Mandella. We also took some lovely photos by the water with a view of Cape Town.
After the ferry ride back to the waterfront we saw some seals resting and laying in the sun. We walked along the canals to the city. This was when (within minutes) a fog rolled in and we could no longer see anything. The day was perfectly clear and then suddenly the mist and fog prevented us from seeing fifteen feet in front of us. The weather here is famous for changing radically and without warning. We witnessed this several times throughout the next few days. We walked back to the house and had tuna lasagnea with vegetables for dinner and more cake for dessert.
The next morning, after breakfast, Michelle rushed home from work during a break to drive us to the bottom of table mountain. This, along with Robben Island, are arguably the most famous activities in Cape Town. We had researched quite a bit into climbing the mountain and found that the information center, the tourist office, our host and several websites advise people against climbing the mountain without a guide. The mountain is 1086 meters high and very steep, so we climbed it. We were greeted at the bottom by a white rastaman who asked for a tip and we were on our way. We saw many other people climbing the mountain and while it was not the easiest hike we have ever done, it definitely was not the most difficult. It took about an hour and a half at a relaxed pace but the sign at the bottom says it should take at least three hours. There were steep areas but Tyson and I are both completely confused as to why people would carry on the way thry do about it. If you are in good health and feel comfortable hiking, it is doable and SO WORTH IT. The view on the way up is absolutely priceless and the people who take the cable car actually miss a lot. We have hundreds of photos but they do not do justice to the panoramic wonder that we saw. There were times along the way that we could not help but to sit and stare at the views of the mountains on either side and the cape below.
At the top of Table Mountain there is a restaurant and a few stores. We did some hiking on top as well. We did two 45 minute hikes, two fifteen minute ones and one 30 minute one which included climbing to the highest point of the mountain. We saw some wildlife, had a snack and climbed back down. This was more challenging than climbing up because of the steep drops and our already fatigued legs. We then walked all the way along the beaches back to the house. We saw the sunset on the way which was divine. It is difficult to explain the beauty of the sunset along the beaches through the trees reflecting on the mountains, and even the photos do not justify it, but it is a work of God that we are so lucky to have seen. Back at the house,we ate a delcious local type of food for dinner. It was fried rice with minced beef covered in an egg and cream sauce. We also had milk pie for dessert.
I have to admit that we were limping around the night before and in the morning after the hike (Tyson was plenty worse than me). However we still decided that we did not want to miss Lion's Head hike. When we woke up in the morning the clouds were in and it would not have been safe to go ahead due to decreased visibility, so we went back to sleep. Around 9:30am we got up and decided that it had cleared up enough to go ahead. Michelle, again, left work on a break to drop us at the bottom of the hike. It cleared up wonderfully and we climbed the shorter but very steep mountain. This hike involved climbing ladders, chains, steps, handlebars and other tools. It was a very fun and challenging hike that I would compare to the Chief hike in Squamish back home. The views here were slightly different than those from Table mountian although equally beautiful and breathtaking. We took many breaks and sat at the top for several hours talking and enjoying the view. It was a wonderful time. We climbed back down and head into the city on foot. We walked through the clean, friendly and attractive downtown Cape Town. We walked through greensquare market where African souveniers and crafts are sold. We stopped at the bank and the train station beforing wandering around a bit. We were approached by a handful of beggars including one young girl with a baby and her grandmother and a few young men. There is still a lot of poverty here, that seems to be consistent everywhere we go.
We jumped on a public bus to get to Hout bay which was the only place we went that was far enough for us to take transit. The cost for one person, one way on the bus was 18 Rand ($2.50 CAD) which is very expensive compared to the income here. The cost of living is as high, if not higher, than Vancouver. Second to Sydney (where the bus cost $6 one way) , Cape Town has been the most expensive city we have been to. Hout Bay was a thirty minute drive away and had a decent beach with a harbour that smelled like fish. We walked around the area for a while and indulged in the famous fish and chips at Fish on the Rocks which were also quite expensive but worth it because they were the best we have ever had. They served the meal in newspaper and supplied vinigar, salt, tomato sauce and chili sauce. We managed to catch the last bus of the night back to Seapoint. We stopped at Checkers grocery store to stock up on food for the thirty hour trip to Nambia the next day. Back at the house we ate dinner of rice, squash and teriyaki chicken before packing up our things and passing out.
The next morning our legs were quite pissed at us as evidenced by our inability to walk without looking like invalids. So we limped and cried and carried on. We said goodbye and got dropped off at the bus station in the morning where we caught our bus (that did not look like the advertised pictures). This was quite a different trip than the train because it was a tourist filled bus. It was quiet with only one child who muttered to himself the whole time. The televisions only played Christian music and movies but luckily they broke twenty minutes into the journey and they were shut off. There were regular stops to purchase food or drinks. The view on the way was mountains and desert until we reached the border of Namibia around 8:00pm.
At around 7:30pm we stopped at the border and everyone got off the bus to go through the paper work. Customs officers did random checks of the baggage and we got back on the bus to drive into Nambia. This was a fairly smooth yet tedious and time consuming process. We are running out of pages in our passports with several countries still to come. This is a bit concerning so we had to try to convince the officers to stamp over previous stamps. The guy I had agreed, but the lady Tyson had did not. An hour and a half later we were on our way again.
In the morning the driver woke us up but as I have a major problem, I was not woken by the announcement and stayed sleeping for forty minutes on an empty bus. Finally the cleaner woke us up. Luckily our next bus from Windhoek to Swakupmond was not until 9:00am so we had not missed our connection. We hung out at the Intercape office for the remainder of the wait and worked on our hygiene a bit.
My cousin picked us up at the Swakopmund bus station and we went to see their lovely house and and family. He lives with his wife and their one and a half year old son who is the cutest child. We all went out to the beach to walk around. We saw a large craft market and walked along the pier. There were many tourists around and the local population is largely of black, white and German descent. The ocean was very cold but people were still swimming and enjoying the ocean. We also went to the sand dunes which are alongside the ocean, this is the only place in the world where one can see such a miracle. There were huge mountains of sand about fou rstories high, this is the oldest desert in the world. We climbed up the dunes and then ran down at full speed. It was great fun. We also saw people sandboarding and sledding down the mountain. We will look into this activity in the next few days. After picking up some groceries, we had a delicious meal at Spur's of huge steaks and side dishes. We came home for tea and desserts and more chit chat before having a lovely sleep.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
The next morning we gathered our things together and prepared to leave for Cape Town. Crawford came around to say bye and Joyce had made us a lovely package of food to take on the train. It was full of sandwhiches, candy, chips and drinks. It was a life saver because we could not leave the train to buy food during our thirty hour trip. We stopped by the bus stand to pay for our tickets from Cape Town to Namibia via Intercape bus company, said our good byes, and then got on the train. It was an older train painted purple and baby blue from the 80's. When we got on the economy class car, it was all plastic seats with thin cushioning. We chose two seats at random and it turned out to be on a car that was full of dozens of toddlers. Each woman had a baby and a couple of toddlers in tow. The males on our car were already stumbling and slurring but didn't seem to see the harm in another beer. Of course the car behind us was selling cheap beer and other alcoholic beverages so there was no problem of access. We watched as two men got into an argument but were too drunk to fight. They swung fists in the air but could not quite reach one another. The kids started off cute and clean but it was not long before they were running around crying, screaming, fighting and covered in sticky substances. The car had garbage and pieces of food all over the floor in no time. There were cleaners who swept regularly but it was a futile effort to keep the place clean. There was also a large amount of secuirty guards and police officers patrolling up and down the aisles but they just high fived the drunk, flirted with the ladies and played with the kids. This went on all day, through the night and the next day. We found it amusing at first, then annoying, then we got used to it and it did not bother us too much (except the screeching kids).
The scenery was mostly desert but once in a while we would pass beautiful mountains and huge townships covered in one room homes built up with scraps of aluminum and sheet metal and covered with ripped tarps. On the edge of the villiages we saw piles of garbage and stray animals looking for food.
In the evening, the train stopped for half an hour and then continued to stop once in a while for several minutes at a time. Tyson moved over to his own seats so we each had some extra space to sleep that night. We had sent our blankets home with my mom in Oman so we used towels to keep warm but it was quite cold through the night. Other people had full, thick winter blankets and pillows with them. At around 7:30am the staff told us that we were six hours delayed and we would be getting to Cape Town around 9:30pm. Around 2pm, however, they told us that that we were getting put on busses for the last part of the trip. We were very surprised and impressed on their organization. Hundreds of people were moved off the train and put on very nice busses that got us back to Cape Town by 5:30pm which was only two hours late. The bus was great, the driver had Bob Marley on full blast the entire time. Bob has definitely popped his head up at some point in every country and his music will always remind us of our trip.
Something we did notice about the train was that (without exception) Tyson and I were the only non-black people on the car and when we walked past the first class cabins, every human was white. Although we were already aware that poverty is more rampant among the black people, this was a clear example of the effects of the history of the country still greatly contributing to the life of the people.
When we got to the bus station in Cape Town, we stopped at the Intercape desk because during the train ride we realized that we had never gotten our change back from buying the tickets in Johannesburg. We did not expect to get the money returned but we thought to try. To our surprise the kind lady at the desk made a complaint and the next day we got an email that the till was over by exactly the amount of money we had lost so they repaid us the cash. It was very professional service. After settling this business, we contacted Michelle who is Tyson's uncle's wife's sister. She has two children, one sixteen year old son and an eleven year old daughter. We misunderstood the meeting spot and waited in the wrong spot for a while before borrowing a phone and calling again. We finally met up and she took us to her gorgeous home in Seapoint. The location is perfect because it is minutes to the city but also near the beach in a quiet area.
As anyone who has been to Cape Town or has been the pictures can attest, this is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. It is breathtaking no matter which way you look. From the moment we arrived and looked up to all the mountains in the blue sky and then turned our heads to the beaches and the ocean we were in love with the place. The city is very clean, the homes are modern and lovely and the people are kind.
We saw the family and met the family dog, Ponsar, that night. We ate dinner of chicken curry with rice, squash and corn followed by angel food cake for dessert before happily falling asleep on the comfy bed. The next morning we, of course, woke up later than planned. We met the maid, Rea who has worked with the family for 17 years. We walked down the street and along Beach road while enjoying the perfect weather. We were very lucky with the weather during our three days in the city, it is coming into winter here and so it is meant to be rainy. Beach road is, of course, along the water, it is kept very clean and there is grass and flowers all the way along. People seem very active here because we saw many folk out with dogs, running and biking along. The homes in this area are huge and luxurious. They are on a hill with a view of the ocean, many seem to have at least one pool and some even had inclinators from the garage up to their homes. We walked all the way to the waterfront which is much like the one we have in Vancouver. They have a huge ferris wheel and carousel in the center, many specialty shops selling crafts and souveniers and an indoor mall. They have many attractions in the area such as monuments, a huge lego art piece and a clocktower. They offer many harbor cruises and the area was full of tourists. Cape Town is one of the top ten most visited cities in the world and in our brief time there we can understand why.
Also in the waterfront, there is the gateway to Robben Island. The boat we wanted to take was full but we managed to get tickets for the next departure. The price of the tickets were steep but that did not stop tourists from selling out every single boat everyday. We paid 230 Rand each ($30 CAD) which included the tour and museam. We met an Irish couple who had missed their boat and had to pay a penalty to catch the next one. They were quite upset but still talked to us for a little while about their travels. We spent about two hours in the exhibition that they had prepared about the history of Cape Town. When the Dutch came to South Africa there was a lot of fighting over power with the black people and rascism played a big part in the trajedy of the area. Apartheid, as I understand, was the white people taking power and seperating the people into designated areas according to their background. So the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Blacks, Coloureds and Whites were assigned an area to live in and had to move out of the homes they knew and loved. Also the black people's rights were taken away, things such as education were no longer permitted. There were seperate benches, entrances and areas for white people that black people were not permitted to use. This, of course, caused resistance and many innocent people died. People involved in politics and who spoke against the government were arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island. The white political prisoners however, were not kept on the island, but rather in a prison on the mainland. Former president, Nelson Mandela, spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, on the island.
Throughout the last 400 years, Robben Island has also been used to contain people suffering from leperosy. They believed this disease was contagious, so people were locked up here. Men were seperated from women but somehow they managed to find each other because forty one childern were born on the island. These children however were taken from their mothers and never seen again. The island also housed mentally ill people at some point in its history.
We took a ferry for thirty minutes to the island where we caught a bus with a tour guide to take us around. All the guides and staff working on Robben island are former prisoners. We were very fortunate that we happened to get the same guide who usually guides VIPs who visit the island. He has hosted people like Barack Obama, Oprah and Hilary Clinton to name a few. He was very funny and incorporated everyone and their home countries in his explanation of how we all play a part in the history of the island. We were taken to the grave site of the lepers, we saw the limestone quarry where the prisoners were made to work all day, we saw the cannons (bought for the war), we were shown the churches and mosques used for the guards, lastly we were shown around the prison by another former prisoner. He showed us the cells including the one that was once occupied by Nelson Mandella. We also took some lovely photos by the water with a view of Cape Town.
After the ferry ride back to the waterfront we saw some seals resting and laying in the sun. We walked along the canals to the city. This was when (within minutes) a fog rolled in and we could no longer see anything. The day was perfectly clear and then suddenly the mist and fog prevented us from seeing fifteen feet in front of us. The weather here is famous for changing radically and without warning. We witnessed this several times throughout the next few days. We walked back to the house and had tuna lasagnea with vegetables for dinner and more cake for dessert.
The next morning, after breakfast, Michelle rushed home from work during a break to drive us to the bottom of table mountain. This, along with Robben Island, are arguably the most famous activities in Cape Town. We had researched quite a bit into climbing the mountain and found that the information center, the tourist office, our host and several websites advise people against climbing the mountain without a guide. The mountain is 1086 meters high and very steep, so we climbed it. We were greeted at the bottom by a white rastaman who asked for a tip and we were on our way. We saw many other people climbing the mountain and while it was not the easiest hike we have ever done, it definitely was not the most difficult. It took about an hour and a half at a relaxed pace but the sign at the bottom says it should take at least three hours. There were steep areas but Tyson and I are both completely confused as to why people would carry on the way thry do about it. If you are in good health and feel comfortable hiking, it is doable and SO WORTH IT. The view on the way up is absolutely priceless and the people who take the cable car actually miss a lot. We have hundreds of photos but they do not do justice to the panoramic wonder that we saw. There were times along the way that we could not help but to sit and stare at the views of the mountains on either side and the cape below.
At the top of Table Mountain there is a restaurant and a few stores. We did some hiking on top as well. We did two 45 minute hikes, two fifteen minute ones and one 30 minute one which included climbing to the highest point of the mountain. We saw some wildlife, had a snack and climbed back down. This was more challenging than climbing up because of the steep drops and our already fatigued legs. We then walked all the way along the beaches back to the house. We saw the sunset on the way which was divine. It is difficult to explain the beauty of the sunset along the beaches through the trees reflecting on the mountains, and even the photos do not justify it, but it is a work of God that we are so lucky to have seen. Back at the house,we ate a delcious local type of food for dinner. It was fried rice with minced beef covered in an egg and cream sauce. We also had milk pie for dessert.
I have to admit that we were limping around the night before and in the morning after the hike (Tyson was plenty worse than me). However we still decided that we did not want to miss Lion's Head hike. When we woke up in the morning the clouds were in and it would not have been safe to go ahead due to decreased visibility, so we went back to sleep. Around 9:30am we got up and decided that it had cleared up enough to go ahead. Michelle, again, left work on a break to drop us at the bottom of the hike. It cleared up wonderfully and we climbed the shorter but very steep mountain. This hike involved climbing ladders, chains, steps, handlebars and other tools. It was a very fun and challenging hike that I would compare to the Chief hike in Squamish back home. The views here were slightly different than those from Table mountian although equally beautiful and breathtaking. We took many breaks and sat at the top for several hours talking and enjoying the view. It was a wonderful time. We climbed back down and head into the city on foot. We walked through the clean, friendly and attractive downtown Cape Town. We walked through greensquare market where African souveniers and crafts are sold. We stopped at the bank and the train station beforing wandering around a bit. We were approached by a handful of beggars including one young girl with a baby and her grandmother and a few young men. There is still a lot of poverty here, that seems to be consistent everywhere we go.
We jumped on a public bus to get to Hout bay which was the only place we went that was far enough for us to take transit. The cost for one person, one way on the bus was 18 Rand ($2.50 CAD) which is very expensive compared to the income here. The cost of living is as high, if not higher, than Vancouver. Second to Sydney (where the bus cost $6 one way) , Cape Town has been the most expensive city we have been to. Hout Bay was a thirty minute drive away and had a decent beach with a harbour that smelled like fish. We walked around the area for a while and indulged in the famous fish and chips at Fish on the Rocks which were also quite expensive but worth it because they were the best we have ever had. They served the meal in newspaper and supplied vinigar, salt, tomato sauce and chili sauce. We managed to catch the last bus of the night back to Seapoint. We stopped at Checkers grocery store to stock up on food for the thirty hour trip to Nambia the next day. Back at the house we ate dinner of rice, squash and teriyaki chicken before packing up our things and passing out.
The next morning our legs were quite pissed at us as evidenced by our inability to walk without looking like invalids. So we limped and cried and carried on. We said goodbye and got dropped off at the bus station in the morning where we caught our bus (that did not look like the advertised pictures). This was quite a different trip than the train because it was a tourist filled bus. It was quiet with only one child who muttered to himself the whole time. The televisions only played Christian music and movies but luckily they broke twenty minutes into the journey and they were shut off. There were regular stops to purchase food or drinks. The view on the way was mountains and desert until we reached the border of Namibia around 8:00pm.
At around 7:30pm we stopped at the border and everyone got off the bus to go through the paper work. Customs officers did random checks of the baggage and we got back on the bus to drive into Nambia. This was a fairly smooth yet tedious and time consuming process. We are running out of pages in our passports with several countries still to come. This is a bit concerning so we had to try to convince the officers to stamp over previous stamps. The guy I had agreed, but the lady Tyson had did not. An hour and a half later we were on our way again.
In the morning the driver woke us up but as I have a major problem, I was not woken by the announcement and stayed sleeping for forty minutes on an empty bus. Finally the cleaner woke us up. Luckily our next bus from Windhoek to Swakupmond was not until 9:00am so we had not missed our connection. We hung out at the Intercape office for the remainder of the wait and worked on our hygiene a bit.
My cousin picked us up at the Swakopmund bus station and we went to see their lovely house and and family. He lives with his wife and their one and a half year old son who is the cutest child. We all went out to the beach to walk around. We saw a large craft market and walked along the pier. There were many tourists around and the local population is largely of black, white and German descent. The ocean was very cold but people were still swimming and enjoying the ocean. We also went to the sand dunes which are alongside the ocean, this is the only place in the world where one can see such a miracle. There were huge mountains of sand about fou rstories high, this is the oldest desert in the world. We climbed up the dunes and then ran down at full speed. It was great fun. We also saw people sandboarding and sledding down the mountain. We will look into this activity in the next few days. After picking up some groceries, we had a delicious meal at Spur's of huge steaks and side dishes. We came home for tea and desserts and more chit chat before having a lovely sleep.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for leaving a message:)