Today I find myself in Swakopmund, Namibia. I’m at my second internet cafe of the day. The first had a horrible internet connection and I hardly got anything done in the hour I was there. And, that was after the first time I got harrased on the street for money and before the second time. Neither time did either person lighten my load, but twice in one day on the first day I get here is disconcerting. Luckily, this internet cafe is much better, and I only got mildly harrased on the way here. Lesson – here, it is a huge disadvantage traveling alone. I am an instant target! I look like a tourist and it is impossible to blend in with the locals.
Not everyone here is unfriendly. (However, to me, it seems like most non-black people scurry around like they are avoiding someone.) On the extremely long, 25 hour bus ride from Cape Town, I met Lucian, who owns a restaurant here in Swakopmund called De Kalder. It sounds very German, because Swakopmund is very German. All of Namibia is very German, because the Germans had the largest, lasting presence here. Lucian gave me lots of tips, showed me where to go and not to go, pointed out landscape features along the way and once we got to Swakopmund, he and his wife gave me a ride to Villa Wiese, where I’m staying.
So, I’m really not sure what to do with myself at this point. On one hand, I have spent a lot of money on the safari and safari prep, which doesn’t leave until the 16th. Which means I’m not inclined to spend a lot more right now. But, on the other hand, I’m here, on the coast, to see the dunes and do a little exploration. I’m also exhausted, which doesn’t help my state of mind. I just had a really cheap, but decent, Windhoek Lager at happy hour at Villa Wiese (it was N$6, about $0.82), further clouding my judgment.
Booking anything here is a challenge, as Villa Wiese does not offer free local phone calls, or internet. I debated getting yet another SIM card for my mobile phone just long enough to not be able to get one today – I finally mustered up the guts to venture out to purchase one – after the stores close … at 5pm. I walked out of the hostel and the streets were empty. It didn’t seem like the place to be. I walked straight to this internet cafe so I’d look like I knew where I was going. Maybe I’ll take a taxi back …
I’ll stop whining now and try to accept that this is just how things are here, unfortunately. It makes no-one happy and Nazma’s family, among others, I’m sure, are not happy with the state of affairs in Africa.
Anyway, I’m here. Tired, safe, but not so sure of myself. In the next couple of days, I hope to take some sort of dunes tour and maybe even do a quad-riding tour as well. After I do at least one of those things, maybe I will just stay at the hostel all day long and relax and read. I will be camping for eight days, after all, and I am really, really looking forward to that!