-----Teaching in Namibia-----: A Weekend in Swakopmund

For our last weekend, we decided it would be fun to explore the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. We got a pretty good deal on a house and transport for the weekend, so we pack up the trusty big van and were on our way on Friday morning. It took us about 3 hours of driving to make it Swakopmund which was one of the shortest journeys we had encountered during our time in Namibia so we were glad for that. Once in Swakopmund we stopped at the office of the place we were renting the house from. Come to find out that we were staying in a different house than the girls last year did because the original one had already been booked. So instead of staying within walking distance of the city of Swakopmund, we were staying 10K's out of town in a place called Long Beach. At this point, we didn't realize the difficulties this would cause us. We loaded back into the van with our newly acquired keys and set off down the road to Long Beach.

It was a beautiful sight as there were gorgeous orange sand dunes towering to our left and crisp blue sea waters crashing in on our right. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. We drove in the openness of this beauty for some time before we pulled into a cute little beach neighborhood where we found our house. We unpacked the car and made our way up the stairs to claim rooms for the weekend. The house itself was amazing and had an even more amazing view of the ocean. We were thrilled to have our own kitchen for the first time in over a month and looked forward to cooking throughout the weekend.

Once we were settled into our rooms, our driver Shane sat us down to share with us some unfortunate news. He told us his boss, Grant, had called because the GPS information attached to the company van we had traveled in had told Grant that we were staying in Long Beach instead of Swakopmund. Grant had told Shane to inform us that this changed the plan as far as prices for the weekend were concerned. Unfortunately Grant would have to charge us N$800 (about $115 American) for each additional trip into town and back. Meaning, he would give us one round trip to town each day and any more that we wanted to take would cost us. This was not very good news as if we had known this, we would have stopped on our way to our house rather than coming home first and then going back into town. After much discussion, we decided to bite the bullet and go into town to explore and get groceries as well as go out later that evening.

So, spirits a little dampened we loaded up the van and headed into town with our money ready to explore. We first stopped at the lighthouse where we found many venders and crafts to purchase. Having shopped in Namibia for almost two months, we had seen almost everything there was to buy from venders and pretty much knew what we were looking for. My mission was to find a gift for my bestie back home. I wanted to get her the perfect gift, and the only guidance she gave me was to find for her some piece of art that had a story. So this day I did. I found a guy who was attending the local art school and was passionate about becoming a better artist. He showed me one of the small sculptures he had made for school and I knew it was perfect. I arranged with him a price and asked him to carve a special message in the bottom of the piece to personalize it for her. This ended up taking much longer than I anticipated and the rest of my group grew restless as they waited for me. This was important to me, so I didn't mind that I was growing their patience skills :)

Once we were finished with the venders, we walked around at the shops and had a nice lunch at a local coffee shop. We ended with making our way to a grocery store where we split up by roommates to purchase supplies for our dinner. One room was in charge of salad and bread, two rooms had main course, and my roommate, Jessica Tall, and I had dessert. After searching around a bit trying to find dessert ingredients that weren't super expensive, we decided to make a bazzokie type dessert with a hot pan cookie topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

After shopping we made our way back to our home and had some time to relax. I love the beach and sand so I went down to the beach and spent some time taking in the beauty of my surroundings. I found a stick and enjoyed writing messages in the sand and taking pictures of them before the mighty waves came crashing in and dissolved them. The sun was setting and I couldn't be more pleased with the view.

Once it got dark, we began creating our delicious meal. The bread and salad crew got us fresh carrots and cucumber with focaccia bread and butter. The main dish was penne pasta with a choice of white sauce or red sauce. It was so fun to sit around a table and serve ourselves for the first time in so long. After we had eaten our fill, we all got ready for an evening out and then ate our delicious dessert which turned out very well if I do say so myself.

Saturday morning we decided to sleep in and take it easy. We fended for ourselves for breakfast and lazied our way around the house for a few hours. One of the girls was feeling a bit sick so she stayed in bed most the day while the rest of us went out to explore the neighboring town of Walvis Bay. We visited the lagoon and saw some flamingos which was really cool. We ate lunch at this restaurant on a pier called the Raft. We had an excellent view of the lagoon wildlife and enjoyed some delicious pizza and salad. With the sea wind lightly blowing through the open air restaurant, it was a delightful afternoon. After lunch we visited two more grocery stores where we collected everything we needed for our evening braai (African BBQ). We then headed back to the house for some more chill time. I again made my way down to the beach. This time I popped my headphones into my ears and sang to myself as I walked barefooted down the water's edge.

Dinner took quite a bit longer than we had originally anticipated because the firewood didn't turn into coals fast enough. We started cooking at about 6pm, but it was 9:30 before our food was ready to eat. No one was really upset and we enjoyed delicious lamb chops, sausage links, fried potatoes, and cheesy bread. For dessert a few of the girls made good old fashioned rice crispy treats with ice-cream. These treats had a bit of a twist however as there were no normal marshmallows to be found in Walvis Bay, only coconut flavored ones. Shane and his cousin had never eaten a rice crispy treat before as they are not native to Africa, so we were happy to share with them a piece of our culture. After cleaning up dinner, everyone was ready to hit the hay.

Sunday morning came and we all decided to take advantage of our last weekend morning in Namibia and get out of bed at a decent time. We all headed down to the beach for a morning walk along the water. Armed with our cameras and bare feet, we made our way down to what we had been told was Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's Namibian home. It's true that they have a vacation home in Namibia on Long Beach and Shane's cousin who is from the area said he's seen the security around this particular house when the couple is in town. So, we decided to take pictures just in case he was correct :)

After a great breakfast of french toast, fresh fruit, and fried potatoes, we packed up our stuff and cleaned out the house. We drove back through Swakopmund and dropped of Shane's cousin at his house before heading out of town back to Windhoek. After a few hours of driving, we came upon Okahanja where we had pre-decided we would stop for a quick last minute shopping extravaganza. I got a few things I was needed for some gifts and we loaded back into the van to go home to Casa.

Once back at Casa, we all dispersed to our rooms and spent the rest of the evening unpacking from the weekend, facebooking, organizing ourselves, skyping with loved ones, and uploading photos on our blogs. We had one week left in Namibia and we knew we wanted to make the most of it.

Our house in Long Beach

Kitchen