Blog post by Aly
I think there are many times in our lives when we look around us and wonder – what’s going to happen next? For many of us on this road trip we are in a time of major transitioning. I’m not sure what I’m going to be doing this next year, let alone what I’ll be doing at the end of the month; Danny and KZ both have seasonal jobs in the mountains this winter; Blake is switching jobs and moving to the opposite coast when he gets back next week. Both Andrew Engel and Jason Koch, who were added to the mix for a little while in S. Africa, are also in a sort of a transitioning period. Jason’s currently living in Israel for about a 6 month period with his job, and was able to come over for the weekend; Andrew is nearing the end of his Peace Corps experience in Tanzania. Robin’s friend, Bobby, who joined us in SA and will be in the van for the rest of the trip, is also transitioning to a new home and a new job when he gets back. Maybe it’s a coincidence that we’re all going through a similar stage, or perhaps it’s just easier to pick up and leave for a month or two when you’re going through a period of transitioning… either way, the question has come into my mind many times… so what next? Here we are on this amazing journey and I can’t help but think about what I’ll do when I get back to Hawaii. Part of me thinks I need to just forget about it until I’m back, but part of me is grateful that it’s on my mind – it makes it that much more poignant that this experience is one that really is ‘once in a lifetime’. We can plan for Brazil 2014, or any other trip, but like KZ talked about before, and she’s right, the reality is that we’ll be at such a different stage in our life – hopefully we’ll be able to go, but for 7 weeks? So while staring out the window for hours at a time, I’m not really that worried about what I’ll do next… but I am so grateful to be able to experience this now. It’s been amazing. We have felt the way this single sport has brought together an entire continent, and although Ghana lost to Uruguay and was the final African country to be eliminated, it’s pretty incredible to see how proud South Africa is of being able to host such an extraordinary event; that pride seems to resonate throughout the rest of Africa as well.
The two weeks in South Africa went by in a blur; being able to spend the time together in Johannesburg and Cape Town with so many close friends was incredible. KZ captured the essence of the World Cup phenomena perfectly, and that was only part of what was so great about being there. It’s not often that you’re able to take so much time to experience something amazing with people you love to be around.
It was sad crossing the border over into Namibia knowing that our journey back to TZ had begun. If you’ve never heard it from anyone before, let me be the first to tell you – you have to come to South Africa! Cape Town is now one of my favorite cities. It’s in such a beautiful location and has so much to offer. As you drive East down the coast line the countryside just gets more beautiful. Their wine country is never-ending, and the different points (like Cape Point) have so much natural beauty, it’s unreal. Most of us agree that this is a place we could live for a few years, and if nothing else, we are all planning to come back.
Namibia. As I looked out through the backseat window of the van at the desolate, dry countryside we were driving through, I questioned how we wound up here. We drove for hours without seeing one other vehicle or human being on the road. Literally, there was NOTHING. An animal ran across the dirt road in front of the van which caused Blake to slam on the brakes, but the surprising thing is that I don’t think any of us even flinched. After driving for a few days on bumpy dirt roads, there’s not much that can rattle us in the van. Our heads hit the windows, our butts hurt, and sometimes, when we’re feeling a bit adventurous, we throw our hands in the air and pretend we’re on a roller coaster. I will never again take paved roads for granted.
This place is different. Often when I travel, I find myself comparing one countryside to another that I’ve seen before; it’s an easy way for us to make connections and link our experiences together. The hike out to the lighthouses at Cape Point reminded me of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, the drive along the coast has a few times reminded us of Cinque Terre in Italy, we recalled both the Tuscany region and Napa Valley while we were wine tasting around Stellenbosh, and many times during our drive through Mozambique and zimbabwe someone would comment “wow, I feel like I’m driving through Idaho right now…” (Yup, there have been some boring parts of this drive!) But looking out over the countryside here is different. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. I hadn’t ever been told I needed to come to Namibia until we started planning this trip. I heard “there is an amazing canyon that has to be seen”, “the dunes are unbelievable”, and “the country is just beautiful – you will love it.”
Beautiful. When I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time a few years ago I was in shock – it’s stunning. The surrounding area is filled with life and beauty and the canyon itself is stroked with vibrant colors all about. I guess I had an idea that this canyon in Namibia would be similar. It’s not. The beauty from this canyon is much like the beauty I’ve seen all over this country. I’m not even sure that beautiful is the way I should describe it. It’s so desolate, dry, vast, and empty, but even with all of that there is a sense of amazement that we have all been struck with. How does anything survive here? How can we drive 250K and not see a single soul, and then all of a sudden come to a lively area with hot springs and people everywhere? Where did they come from?!? What is this place?!?! Where are we?!?! I think each one of us has actually asked one of these questions out loud at different points in the last few days.
The dunes are a huge part of the Namibian landscape. Again, I wanted to compare them to something; maybe they’re like the dunes we saw in Tunisia. I had this idea that once you see one dune, haven’t you kind of seen them all?? I was wrong. We woke up at 4:30 and drove the van out for sunrise on the dunes. All around us were these dunes, but all we saw were light forms in the far off distance that were more like rolling hills – these are not dunes, I thought. As the sun came up, sure enough we were surrounded by sand and more sand and huge mounds of sand! The dunes were everywhere. And they were unbelievable. We decided to climb to the top of one that was near us, and watch the sun rise. Each minute as the sun was rising, the dunes around us were changing color; as the sun shone brighter the dunes became a more vibrant red… I probably could have stayed there for another hour – it really was incredible.
The drive from the southern part of Namibia up through the desolate countryside and 100’s of Kilometers of dunes has been bumpy, dusty (really, REALLY dusty), and a little ‘twilight zone’ at times. As we got closer to the coast I was expecting the dunes to go away and there to be some sort of vegetation and life before we came to the water. But there was nothing. In Lonely Planet it said “this is the place where dunes meet water”. It really is. The waves literally crash into the rolling sand dunes. As we drove on the highway toward Swakopmund we all just kept looking out the left window towards the ocean, only feet away, and then out the right window towards the desert, sand dunes for miles, way past how far we could see. It was bizarre.
KZ and Blake went sandboarding (like snowboarding but on the dunes) and they, along with Willy, Jen, and Bobby went Quad biking. Robin went on a ‘living’ tour through the desert, and Danny and I have spent the time trying to just relax – we’ve walked through the city a lot, seen the markets, and gone to the freezing Atlantic ocean (but, not in it!) I still haven’t gotten used to the surroundings in the couple of days we’ve been here, and wonder how and why there’s a town here anyway?!?! With our time in Namibia coming to a close, I’m still at a loss of descriptive words to try to explain what it’s like here. It was said many different times that a lot of the places we've been here are identical to different desktop wallpaper backgrounds...maybe that's the only way to explain it!
So, Blake leaves the day after tomorrow – we’ll miss him!! He’s been a great addition these last few weeks. After that we’re off to Livingstone to go to Victoria Falls for a couple days (so excited!!), and then we trek back up to Dar. We looked at a map yesterday and it’s pretty crazy to see where we are on the West coast of the continent and where we have to be in ten days on the complete opposite coast - take a look!
Until next time...
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