AFRICA 2K - Afremail Update 3

AFRICA 2K - Afremail Update 3
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A lot has happened since I last wrote and I didn't think I would get a chance to write so soon. We left Windhoek and took an overnight train to a town called Tsumeb. We used flashlights to watch some wildebeest run away from the train, but otherwise it was a pretty boring ride.

We arrived in Tsumeb and caught a local backy (pick-up truck) ride to town and took a minibus to Grootfontein. From Grootfontein we hitched a ride (after waiting for 6 hour in the sun at a petrol station) on a transport that was carrying 36 tons of maize meal (corn). It was a dusty 250km unpaved road and we sat with the driver in the truck's cabin.

The place we were going is called Tsumkwe and is the Bushmanland center of northern Namibia. We met some Adventists from Canada that decide to covert the local population of bushmen to their religion even though they couldn't even speak English. It's funny cause the leader (pastor) was also a longtime friend of some of the bushmen and was explaining to me how upset he was that their culture was disappearing and was trying to save it. What a crock or shit.

Anyway we camped with them, they were cool. Then I met the guy from The Gods Must Be Crazy (he lives in Tsumkwe) and watched him get baptized (really put a sore spot in my stomach. Kind of killed something in me. We (Ryan, Jon, and I) decide to walk about 11km north with our gear and camp near a two family village in the middle of bushman land (it's not that remote, they had a well water pump). But about 5km into the walk 3 trucks filled with Israelis (guys and girls, just out of military and some college) blasting Chili Peppers pulled up and offered us a lift. We took it and camped way away from the village in the bush with the Israelis that night. Pretty fun time. The next day we stayed (the Israelis dropped us and left us) with the bushmen who showed us the tRyantional hunting and trapping they do. It was cool. We got really dirty again and I didn't change my shirt again for about 6 days (it was white at some point I think).

We then walked with the bushmen's entire family, about 3 adult men 6 women and a load of children 25). I gave them my camera for the walk and all the kids went nuts with it for two rolls of film, no idea what they took pictures of. We got a family portrait also. Then the adults, after the 11km walk in the sun got really hammered and being that they are bushmen (really thin, short, and no ability to break down alcohol) only needed about half a beer but since they had all our money now, bought a lot more than that.

We then hitched to Swakopmund (where I am writing from) on another transport that was about 40 feet long and had an open cargo area. It was a dusty ride, but this time we were outside the truck for about 5 hours. We also took minibuses through the Namib Desert and backies to get here. Swakopmund is an old beach resort German style town on the coast north of Walvis Bay. Pretty empty and drab though, so far. The fat mother from Gilbert Grape is the owner of the hotel we are occupying and she has all her things on a desk that she doesn't leave cause she can't get up. And smells really bad.

Well other than the wine we had last night not much else has happened. Oh yeah I ate Gemsbok and Kudu for dinner one night that was amazing. A Huge piece of medium well Gemsbok is like fillet minion (bad spelling). So that's it till next time, which will be after the Okavango and Botswana.