!Uris to Windhoek

After a lovely breakfast overlooking the gardens at the lodge, we began our long trek back to Windhoek. The road is always paved- which helps, but the scenery was not as fascinating. Today I took pictures of road signs and picnic tables. Most days Josea ordered us a lunch pack and we at by the side of the road. Each site had a tree, a table/chairs and garbage cans. Our goal most days was to find a tree that shaded the table. Phil asked Jose to stop in the town of Tsumeb. When the mine closed in 1996, the town obviously was devastated. But today it seems that there are many businesses that are doing OK and the town seems to be busy. As always, I was struck by the number of young men who are standing around, seemingly with nothing to do. It is hard, according to Jose, when they have no education and no ambition. Sounds similar to the U.S.
Then we drove for an hour and a half and stopped in the “big city” of Okahandja. We went to a service station and Jose asked the young man who pumped gas to find another man who could sell us palm nuts. We were then accosted by every young person in town who wanted to sell us something. Then we went to Wimpy’s for lunch- a slow painful reacclimatization into western culture. Then we went to a grocery store so I could buy some Namibian salt – made in Swakopmund. And then we proceeded out of town. You might be
interested in the Herera ladies - very colorful women who are members of a tribe - and dress in beautiful costumes every day. Josea tells me that underneath the large costume is a regularly sized lady - hard to believe!
Gradually we reentered civilization- and got into Windhoek at about 4 p.m.
We arranged with Jose to have our last dinner together at Joe’s Beer Place – which was lots of fun. Once again, the food was excellent. And we laughed a lot about our ongoing jokes. He promised to stay in touch and we promised to be his tour guide if he ever gets to the United States. We look forward to that day.
Tomorrow morning we will have a city tour with Jose and then go to the airport for the first of many legs home- Tomorrow night we will sleep in Johannesburg.