From travelers to tour guides

Before leaving Luderitz five days ago, we spent some time with Brad, one of two volunteers here. It was one of those connections where the conversation keeps taking new turns and never tires. We talked about volunteer life, living overseas, food, ham radio operation, gifts to oneself on birthdays, African and US politics, and interesting books. We also went to Kevin’s flat for brunch Saturday morning where three other volunteers were visiting, including the two new Luderitz people. All of them were very nice. In talking with them, we learned a lot about the current state of Peace Corps. Like how volunteers have to write monthly reports on a computer and how they receive an allowance for cell phones – two things that we did not have back in the day. Also, volunteers are not allowed to drive or to hitchhike, making transportation more of a challenge. HIV education remains much as it was thirteen years ago which does not elicit much confidence. The volunteers that we met in Windhoek, Mariental and Luderitz seemed quite young, and in talking with our friend Libet who did some training with the newest group, there is a pervasive sense of entitlement and general immaturity which leads to a lot of complaining. Of course these are generalizations, but Russ and I both realized that the generation of high school students that we worked with over the past decade are now of volunteer age. Back in high school some of them (and their helicopter parents) had these same issues, and my sense is that they still haven’t learned. Who knows, maybe we are just becoming righteous old farts. Anyway, Brad did not fall into this category at all, which is probably one reason why we liked him so much.

We decided to overnight at the Seeheim Hotel which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Actually, it was forty-five kilometers east of Keetmanshoop and on the secondary road that would take us to the Fish River Canyon. It was lovely and resembled a castle. We stayed in the highest room, which tested our heart health, but also gave us gorgeous views of the nearly full moon and the spectacular desert.

Our friends Zane, Rafa, Rosemary, and Helen arrived in Namibia on Sunday. Rafa’s cousin Jose Ramon came from Spain too. We met them on the northern rim of the canyon at this funky roadhouse reminiscent of a Route 66 establishment. These are our camping buddies and so we pitched our tents, made a large braai and marveled at the stars. The next day we went to the Fish River Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world. It was nothing short of spectacular. Although we were prohibited from going down, we did walk quite a ways along the rim.

All afternoon we watched the ominous sky change colors and fill with clouds. One never wishes for rain while camping, but if that was all we had, we would have been lucky. A severe hailstorm of nickel-sized pellets reined down on us for a good fifteen minutes, followed by torrential rain. Russ and I had never experienced anything like it. The ground looked as though it was covered with a thin layer of snow. Russ finally got a touch of the winter he had been longing for the past few months.

Because of the warm desert wind however, the tents dried out fairly quickly the next morning and we got an early start on the arduous journey towards Luderitz. The gravel roads took a bit of a beating with the last storm, so it was a longer than usual drive. We also stopped for lunch at the newly renovated Bahnhof Hotel in Aus. Sitting on the veranda with a cool drink was the perfect thing to do before the last 120 kilometer push to the sea.

We arrived to amazingly good weather in Luderitz. Here we had been warning these guys about the notorious wind, and it hasn't been blowing the entire time we have been here. After checking into our 1900's-era guesthouse which had a spectacular view of the bay and town, we walked down for a fish dinner at Ritzi's on the waterfront.

It was a good thing that it stayed so calm, as early this morning we sailed on the boat Sedina, something Russ and I never did when we lived here mostly because it always seemed so rough. I for one have never quite found my sea legs, but the trip today was incredibly pleasant. The boat took us out to the islands where the Cape Fur seals and Jackass penguins make their homes. It was a wonderful trip, as we also saw quite a few dolphins and porpoises.

After showing the group the school where Russ taught and a stroll down Agate Beach, we went to the oyster factory for lunch. Amazing raw and grilled oysters, although we were careful not to eat to many as we will be going back to Ritzi's later tonight.

Tomorrow we head back into the desert for four days. It's great to hang out with everyone again.