Day 9

Thanks to the rotation system that our guide proposed on the first day, Willem and I were sitting shot gun in the truck this day, which set me straight (or at least straight-er) about the quality of the roads in Namibia. From my window seats further in the back, I was amazed at times how broad the shoulders of the dirt roads were, but sitting up front made me realize that (although the grass was not greener on the other side – as there is no green grass anywhere in Namibia) the quality of the roads are often better on the other side and with the lack of traffic and straight roads that would give a way oncoming traffic miles ahead, our guide would often pick that side to drive on. Up here I also better appreciated the irony of the road signs, which regularly seemed to be setting challenges, rather than speed limits.
After 45 minutes we stopped in Solitaire, a town of which you can wonder if it worthy of that label, given that it consists of a house, a bakery and a gas station. Apparently, this place is well-known in Dutch literature, just not by me nor by 18 of the other cultural barbarians in our group. To the Germans it should apparently be well-known for the apfelstrudel sold at the bakery, so of course we gave it a shot and although I don’t want to be responsible for taking away one of only two things this ‘town’ has going for it, I have to say that although it was okay, I’ve had better.
At the Tropic of Capricorn we got a few minutes to get off the truck and ‘take a picture of an imaginary line’ (talking about setting challenges). I had hoped that by coming closer to the equator I would get rid of some of the uneasy feelings I’ve experienced during the first part of this trip. I like to think that I have a pretty good sense of direction and the ability to assess in what direction the sun will move when we sit down for a drink or decide where to put our tent at a campsite. But somehow that ability gets completely lost every time I make it to the Southern hemisphere. Somehow that messes with me subconsciously and it kept doing so during the remainder of the trip.
Later we got out at two different sites to watch yet another strange and unique landscape of empty vastness. It was described by our guide as a moon landscape and although I am quite sure that what we saw was not possible on a celestial body long devoid of geographic activity, Willem told me not to ruin it with science. Either way, it offered yet other great views.
Unlike the previous days, our drive today would actually get us somewhere. First we had a quick drive through Walvisbaai, where we got out to watch the flamingos out at sea and then we moved on to Swakopmund. Some of the architecture in these tows was quite modern and interesting (often even in a good way), but it was a pity that it all came surrounded by large solid walls.
At Swakopmund we were staying in a hotel (YAY!). The rooms were build insight sea containers, but on the inside they actually looked quite nice, they were by far not as hot as we expected them to be and the sheets and towels were pretty and white. After lunch and a quick rinse of some of the clothes that were in biggest need of a rinse, we walked into town. I have to say that the degree of German heritage that was advertised to be visible here, was a bit less than I anticipated. Reading up on the history of the country, I found out that the German influence was not so much the result of their colonization ambitious. Rather, a young man Lüderitz had taken the huge inheritance from his father to buy a boat, sail to Namibia and buy some land there. After some friction with the British, this guy had asked for official backup from the German army in the late eighteen hundreds and got it, thereby establishing Deutsch-Südwestafrika.
It did not take very long to explore the city, so we decided to go for a drink, only to find out that most places were about to close by the time we got there a little after 5.
We had a nice dinner in a restaurant with the whole group, but when it was time to split the check, I was glad that we did not have too many meals in restaurants. After dinner I joined for one more drink in the bar of the restaurant, which ended up in a number of more glasses of water for me. The three bar keepers were already tipsy by the time we got there and during an extensive game of beer-pong with our Belgian girls, this only got worse, on both sides, except on my side, since I wanted to get some sleep that night, which I never get when I am under the influence of even the smallest amounts of alcohol. By the time we called it a night and had walked back to the hotel it was already 1.15, which really seemed a waste of that perfectly good bed that we had at our disposal for that night.