A slightly more detailed recap
I have about a half hour here in town, so I have a little time to write a more detailed update now. It's been so long since I've had time to sit down and write about what we've done that I'm having trouble remembering anything.
To start with, Namibia is an extremely diverse country as far as landscapes are concerned. One night, we camped at a place that more or less looked like any campground in the US. The next place we camped at was basically in the middle of the desert with temps reaching upwards of around 120F. Later, we spent a few nights in a seaside town which was much cooler. A few nights were spend camping and driving around an area that was pretty much the classic image of the African Savannah. One night was spent at a beautiful little hideaway lodge that was a great retreat from all the camping, and the final night was spend at a little lodge out in the middle of nowhere. The scenery changed daily. It was amazing to me how we could be driving along with moutains all around us, only to find ourselves in the middle of a desert a few hours later, followed by arriving in a seaside town shortly after.
Namibia normally does not get hardly any rain all year long. Somehow we managed to be there during the end of their rainy season during a year which they got a ton more rain than normal. For this reason, we were blessed enough to see at least 2 or 3 rainbows every single day we were there. We were all fascinated by this because the rainbows literally touched the ground from end to end. We all agreed that we had never actually seen a rainbow reach all the way to the ground, but these did, and they were extremely bright and beautiful.
During the Namibia trip we spent a TON of time in the bus. During these drives, Antoinette provided us with a lot of historical information. One particular interesting thing she talked about that stands out in my mind is a statue of a horse that I believe was some sort of war monument in Windhoek. The man who created the statue apparently worked very hard on it, and once he finished it and it was put up for display, he realized he forgot to carve the veins in the horse's neck. He was so distraught over this mistake that he killed himself. I'm not sure why this stands out in my mind so clearly over everything else we learned, but I just cannot imagine ever being that upset over a simple piece of artwork. Crazy!
Anyway, my half-hour is quickly coming to an end, so I should wrap this up. Last night we went out for drinks to say goodbye to Pierre and Antoinette as well as Michelle and Rachel, who are leaving today. They are friends of Sandy's and joined us just for a couple weeks, and they're heading home this afternoon. Tonight, our whole group plus Sandy and her daughter, and probably Pierre's son and daughter, are going out to Spier, which is a huge winery that is referred to as the "Disneyland of the winelands" because there's so many things to do there. We will get to pet a Cheetah, have owls and falcons land on our arms, and eat a traditional family-style African dinner complete with a hand-washing ceremony and traditional Xhosa face-painting. It should be an interesting experience. I have to go meet with the group now, but I'll try to update again tomorrow. Most of the group is going wine tasting again, but Katie, Jake and I agreed to stay behind since there wasn't room in the vehicle for everyone and none of us really cared to taste any more wine for awhile. I think Katie and I will be spending the day shopping like the typical girls we are :)
Until next time, Love,
Meg
To start with, Namibia is an extremely diverse country as far as landscapes are concerned. One night, we camped at a place that more or less looked like any campground in the US. The next place we camped at was basically in the middle of the desert with temps reaching upwards of around 120F. Later, we spent a few nights in a seaside town which was much cooler. A few nights were spend camping and driving around an area that was pretty much the classic image of the African Savannah. One night was spent at a beautiful little hideaway lodge that was a great retreat from all the camping, and the final night was spend at a little lodge out in the middle of nowhere. The scenery changed daily. It was amazing to me how we could be driving along with moutains all around us, only to find ourselves in the middle of a desert a few hours later, followed by arriving in a seaside town shortly after.
Namibia normally does not get hardly any rain all year long. Somehow we managed to be there during the end of their rainy season during a year which they got a ton more rain than normal. For this reason, we were blessed enough to see at least 2 or 3 rainbows every single day we were there. We were all fascinated by this because the rainbows literally touched the ground from end to end. We all agreed that we had never actually seen a rainbow reach all the way to the ground, but these did, and they were extremely bright and beautiful.
During the Namibia trip we spent a TON of time in the bus. During these drives, Antoinette provided us with a lot of historical information. One particular interesting thing she talked about that stands out in my mind is a statue of a horse that I believe was some sort of war monument in Windhoek. The man who created the statue apparently worked very hard on it, and once he finished it and it was put up for display, he realized he forgot to carve the veins in the horse's neck. He was so distraught over this mistake that he killed himself. I'm not sure why this stands out in my mind so clearly over everything else we learned, but I just cannot imagine ever being that upset over a simple piece of artwork. Crazy!
Anyway, my half-hour is quickly coming to an end, so I should wrap this up. Last night we went out for drinks to say goodbye to Pierre and Antoinette as well as Michelle and Rachel, who are leaving today. They are friends of Sandy's and joined us just for a couple weeks, and they're heading home this afternoon. Tonight, our whole group plus Sandy and her daughter, and probably Pierre's son and daughter, are going out to Spier, which is a huge winery that is referred to as the "Disneyland of the winelands" because there's so many things to do there. We will get to pet a Cheetah, have owls and falcons land on our arms, and eat a traditional family-style African dinner complete with a hand-washing ceremony and traditional Xhosa face-painting. It should be an interesting experience. I have to go meet with the group now, but I'll try to update again tomorrow. Most of the group is going wine tasting again, but Katie, Jake and I agreed to stay behind since there wasn't room in the vehicle for everyone and none of us really cared to taste any more wine for awhile. I think Katie and I will be spending the day shopping like the typical girls we are :)
Until next time, Love,
Meg