I apologize for the lack of a creative pun in the title of this blog. Neither Namibia or Walvis Bay lends itself to easy pun action, though I did think of "Dum Dum Dee Dum Dum Dum De Dum Dum Namibia!" As well as "Another brick in the Walvis" but nothing seemed to work.
ANYWAY
Here was a common dialogue between me and any person who was inquisitive about my journey:
“That sounds like fun! What countries are you visiting?”
“Spain, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa-”
“Wait go back. Namibia?”
“Yeah I don't know anything about it. Besides that it's in Africa.”
Now I know a lot about it. In fact, I want to go back there one day. Sooner than later, hopefully. It was by far one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. Most everyone spoke English, since they chose it as their official language when they got their independence in 1990. Other languages include Afrikaans, German (it was a German colony) and many many tribal languages (including the one with the clicks)
Our port was in Walvis Bay, one of the only places in the world that is a coastal desert, that is to say there is ocean and a beach, and then a desert. We arrived on Valentine's Day, so maybe me falling in love with all things Namibia had to do with my Valentine's mindset. We were greeting by a girl's choir, singing to us barefoot in front of our ship. Their ages were from 8 to 18, and their harmonies were incredible. Afterward, I got some pictures and asked them how much they practice. Every day.
Prior to leaving Walvis Bay for my desert camping trip, I walked around the city with some friends. It was surprisingly clean and happy, contrary to what all the pre-port lectures made it seem like. Everyone was friendly and happy, including two roof workers who waved to me and asked me how I was doing. I stopped in a grocery store to buy a water bottle and some chocolate, and in the check-out line, the woman bagging the groceries pointed at me and the girl next to me and then lines up her pointer fingers, one behind the other. I told her I didn't understand. Then she made the motion of a ring around her left ring finger. That's when I understood. I said no. Then she tapped her left arm behind her right shoulder. This one stumped me. After a few more tries, she asked the cashier to clarify. The cashier said she wants to know if me and that girl are related. I said “No, we're friends.” And the woman speaking sign language clasped her hands together. I mimicked her motion and said “friends?” The deaf woman smiled and did the motion again, and nodded. I said “Friends.” And that is how I learned some Namibian sign language. Not only had I communicated with people of another culture in Africa, I could now say “friends”“married”and “siblings”without any words.
We left for the desert in vans, drove up the coast where there was ocean on the left and desert on the right. We drove into the Namib desert into some undisclosed location where we were met with 35 tents, a big tent covering tables, two campfires, and lots of sand and desert vegetation. After we toured around the desert and took pictures we played word games until a group of five Namibian men came and sang for us.
They were called “Vocal Galore”and were fantastic singers. They sang until after the sun set, and then I played drums with them. I bought their CD for 70 NAD ($7) and took pictures. Then came dinner and dessert, Mafia (the card game) wine, and campfires. Unfortunately, the stargazing didn't happen because the skies were cloudy. We accounted for 10% of American tourism and 200% of the rain.
The next morning I had the poops. I think it was because of this cream sauce in the dessert, but it was really worth it. The dessert was great! Anyway, the vans came late to pick us up so we had more fun playing card games.
They dropped us back at the ship, and then a group of 12 of us got cabs to Swakopmund, 33 km north of Walvis Bay. That's about 20.5 miles. The taxis that are safest to take are the ones with the Namibian Taxi permit on them, but there are so many with taxi signs that it's hard to gauge if its real or not. We didn't have any problems, but as soon as I got in the taxi I was thinking to myself “Wait...I didn't check to see if this was a legit taxi.” Nothing weird happened to us, but a friend told me as their driver was speeding, he saw a cop, took the taxi sign off of his dashboard, passed the cop, and then put it back on.
Swakopmund was a German town back in the days of colonization. Since it was Sunday all the stores were closed except for some food places and a few craft and tourist type places. I went to the market and had the best time bartering ever.
I forgot the name of the first man from whom I purchased, but bartering was a lot of laughs. I made it clear I was smarter than your average tourist, and he knew it. “See, you're a seller. I'm a buyer. You want to get the highest price, I want to get the lowest, so I'm just assuming you're ripping me off until I get a price I like!” He laughed. He put three necklaces into my hand (that's how they get you to start committing) and said “I give you special price. 600 NAD for the three.” Thats $60. I said “Are you kidding?” and put them back down. Then I found something I liked (which I won't say here just in case I want to give it as a gift) and he took out his book and said “I don't usually do this and I don't want others so see how I conduct my business, write what you will pay here” So I wrote what I was willing to pay, but it's funny since what this man “didn't usually do”was written all over the book. Eventually we were both crouching down next to the object on the blanket on the street. He wrote 160 on his hand, I said I'll pay 100. He said “You want 100 I can't do. I can do 160, but there is a difference.” Then he wrote “-20”next to his price of 160 and “+40”next to my price. I said “That's not splitting the difference!” And we both laughed. We settled at 125.
Then came Stan. I had to dodge a guy in a Celtics Jersey to whom I promised I would look in his shop but after our conversation:
Me: “You like the Celtics?”
“No.”
“Just like the shirt?”
“Come see my shop”
“Later, I promise.”
I decided I wouldn't got and check his out, only because Stan was so nice. Stan told me he was a stone worker, which was more difficult that the wood craft I had just bought. “So you are going to expect to get more money than what you just saw me pay!” We laughed. I found something I liked and the bargaining began. I had just dropped most of the cash I had on me at the last guy, so this guy told me to go ask my friends for money. I said I would, and he was about to let me take the object with me. “I better not,”I said.
“But I trust you.”
“I appreciate that.”
I had about half the money I needed for this thing. Then he said.
“So you want to leave me with a deposit?”
“No way!”
“You don't trust me? You think I'm gonna run with it?”
“No,”I said, “I trust you, I just want to stay as independent from this decision as I can!”
We laughed. We settled on 140, I wanted 135. He said 140 because it might be hard to get the 5 coin. I said or we can settle on 130 because it's hard to get the 5 piece. We laughed again and settle, officially, on 140.
I went to the ATM, got the cash I needed, and dodged the market people as I walked back up to Stan, shook his hand and said, “Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna grab my thing, I'll give you the money we agreed on, we're gonna take a picture and then I'm getting the hell out of here.” We did all three and that was that. I just wanted to avoid the Celtics guy again.
Then came the cheapest ice cream ever, catching up with the other people from our group of 12 (we all got dropped off in different parts of the city). A buck fifty for three scoops in a giant cone. We climbed up a tower and saw a breathtaking view of ocean, city, and desert. After the tower was the ocean, we took some funny pictures, played a little bit in the sand and water, Isaiah recorded some awesome sounds of the water running over hundreds if not thousands of little rocks.
We were meeting the rest of friends for dinner at 7 and we had some time to burn and my friend Yash wanted to buy something.
Back to the market, this guy was bugging us to buy stuff, and once we were adamant about not buying, he transformed from annoying market man to a Namibian man named “Mr. Africa.” He introduced himself to us as that, and I asked why there is an R on his necklace. He said it was for Rocky, and pretended to be a boxer. He told us a lot about Namibia and his lifestyle and things. Another guy asked us about our trip, and this was one of two statements that really affected me on this trip.
We told him we were going all over the world and he said “I would really love to do something like that, but I just don't think it's possible.”
I wanted to say what they tell us in the US “Anything is possible!” But after seeing the economy and the kind of places they live and the only jobs they are forced to have, I realized that it really isn't possible. “Anything” isn't possible for these people, and it made me sad.
After this came a pizza place that was AWESOME! I got a pizza called the “Mario”with chili, onion, pineapple, and pepperoni. Then we went on a beach walk and found a playground, played on that, then grabbed some drinks at a restaurant so they would call us a taxi back to Walvis bay.
The next morning, myself, Isaiah, Talyor, Butters,and others went on the seal and dolphin encounter. We went out in a little speed boat and saw lots of seals, a bottlenose dolphin, and a huuuuuuuuge fish called a sunfish. The seals actually jumped into the boat and we could pet them and feed them. The guide would yell a certain way as the boat moved, and pelicans and other birds would fly around us as we drove.
Near the end of the excursion, our guide brought out some food. She served oysters, of which I had two (yes mom) breaded fish (yes mom) and beef and eggrolls. It was great. On our way back a seal jumped into our boat and got attacked by another seal. That poor seal was already injured from mating season.
The rest of the day was wandering around the city of Walvis Bay. I bought a Namibian flag and Taylor got pickpocketed. Sort of. The guy reached into his pocket and Taylor said “No way man!” The second quote that stuck with me was a man working for FedEx we ran in to on the street. He asked his how we like Namibia. We said it was great.
He opened his arms wide and said “This is freedom, man!”
And I realized that freedom is a new innovation for these people. They just got independence in 1990 and some older people actually have memories of what the oppression was like. Walking around on the street, doing whatever I want and feeling safe is the norm for me. I took a metaphorical step back when I realized that that might not have been the norm for many of these people only 20 years ago.
Namibia was an amazing place. I really want to come back one day. I had no expectations for what the country was going to be like, and I was thoroughly impressed. I saw so many things, met many great people, and I had some great experiences. I really want to go back one day. From the random country on my list, Namibia is now a fond memory I'll have forever. I even used my flag as a blanket!
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