Goodbye South Africa, Hello Namibia

At 4am we met up with two kind sisters who agreed to let us ride with them the nearly 1,000 miles and 14 hour trip from Cape Town to Namibia. Over a bus, this would cost us around $100 dollars and take us over 20 hours, but instead, we were lucky enough to find Lindi, over a Facebook ridesharing site, who lives in Windhoek, Namibia, the capital city, but studies in Cape Town and happened to be going back home with her sister for her dad's birthday.

It was in the back of my mind that just maybe after sitting in the car together all day they would have some good suggestions of cheap places for my sister and I to stay for a night or two before we met up with Willem, a friend of a friend who would be hosting us. It wasn't more than five minutes into our trip that Lindi asked where we were staying, when we told her we were unsure, she didn't hesitate to tell us that we would be staying with her family until we figured out her plans.

Lindi's family lives on a mountain top with a huge deck overlooking the city, on that deck is swimming pool, hot tub, patio, fireplace, and giant grill. Last night we enjoyed the view as we were served up a huge barbeque dinner. The house is beautiful and we feel very lucky. We spent the night talking with Lindi's dad about the history and geography of Namibia and about his travles throughout the world. We hope to take our time travelling through this country as it seems like it has so much to offer. There are two very different sides of Africa, the haves and the have nots, the further into the North East we travel, we will experinece more of the have nots, but for now, regardless of that, we are experiencing real Africa and real families, for this, we are so grateful. We really feel like this has allowed us to be more than tourists.

The past couple of days we explored the waterfront in downtown Cape Town, went on a little boat cruise, and got to hear some stories from our captain who was on the TV show, Whale Wars! Nick and I used to religiously watch that show, so that fact, along with my obsession for whales, made me so excited, I made Makayne take a picture.

Along our long road trip into Namibia, we listened to some great music, took in the never ended and infinite desert, wound through mountains, and also got to snap a picture at the Tropic of Capicorn line!

While Lindi and her sister sleep, Makayne and I sat out on the deck and read in the sun, but now I can hear the table being set for lunch, so I will update in a few days!

peace, Chelsey