I've arrived in Keetmanshoop after a long night on the train, during which I slept very, very little. I think between 2:30 and 6, I dozed off several times but my head kept rolling to the side and snapping me awake. At 6, I gave up and then turned to look out the window and my breath was literally taken away. The sun was starting to rise over the plains and the colors were so intense and so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes. I watched the changing colors and rippling terrain roll past my window for the next hour or so, just feeling so amazed at its beauty. I love this place and moments like that make me never want to leave. Although I must admit I missed Tony quite a lot this night, sitting here by myself, unable to sleep and trying to ignore my backache.
At any rate, the train ride was fairly uneventful, if quite slow. The trains combine passenger with freight cars and we stop in every village, town, hamlet and sometimes where two trees grow together. I'm not always sure why we stop, though a few times we added or subtracted cars, I'm not sure which. I was aware of going forward and back several times and scraping loudly as we lurched against another car. I would guess the train's top speed is not more than 50 mph, so it's actually much faster to drive this route on the roads, but I'm still surprised how many people are on the train. I wonder if it may be so much cheaper to make it worthwhile. I wasn't positive but I glanced at my seatmate's ticket this morning when he handed it over and I could swear the price paid was $27N. My ticket was $83N, but I'm finding that oftentimes the price is much different for foreigners than for locals. The other day on the minibus we paid the same price as locals but maybe that's a rarity.
Well, it feels like I am always writing at either sunrise or sunset -- here I am again, trying to get my thoughts down before daylight escapes me. I'm at the Stable at the Fish River Lodge, which is the budget accommodation option. It's a separate building down the hill from the Lodge, basically a hiker hostel, I'd call it. 18 bunks piled into a room, three high, with very old and stale mattresses and a communal kitchen and rigged up bathrooms attached. It's not a bad set-up, particularly considering we're in some of the remotest reaches of Namibia. They generate power themselves for a few hours each evening and store it in batteries for daytime use, and the water is pumped from an underground spring via the windmill. Once a day they build a fire to heat some of it for showers and such. It's quite amazing to even have power and running water this far into the bush.
Anyway, Martie (one of the owners) picked me up today in Keetmans and then I rode around with her for over an hour as she ran errands. We also picked up one of their staff members from the hospital, where she had spent the night. It seems something was causing tremendous pain in her eyes yesterday, so Martie brought her to the hospital. But they were busy all night stitching up drunk people who'd been stabbing each other (at the end of the month, everyone gets paid, then gets drunk and starts going crazy) so they hadn't even looked at her until today. Anyway, we drove out here, about an hour and a half out, I think, mostly on gravel roads and through many different gates on various neighbors' lands. On the way, we stopped to buy fresh dates from a date palm orchard, which I have never had before. I've only ever had packaged dates, but these are much better.
Later this afternoon while I was taking a bit of a nap, a French couple arrived from Johannesburg, so after a bit of not sleeping, I got up and said hello to Philippe and Sofie. So far, she hasn't as much as said hello back, but he seems quite nice. I found out later from Martie that they're upset about this other pair changing their plans and arriving a day later, so actually now we've rearranged everyone's trips. I'm going out tomorrow with the two of them for 3 1/2 days, and the two arriving tomorrow will be a day behind us, but their hike is going to be structured so that we'll camp together on Thursday night. And when I get picked up Friday morning to come back to the farm, Philippe and Sofie will spend the day exploring a side canyon and stay another night there before hiking back on Saturday. At first, I wasn't super excited about going with the two of them because they seemed so unfriendly, but I was happier about being on a hike with two surly French people than to sit around here with nothing to do but shoo flies. However, as the evening progresses, they have become a bit friendlier and I'm confident we'll have a fine time together. I'm also glad the other 2 will join us at the last camp, because it will be good to have new conversation partners by that time. The one name I've heard mentioned also sounds like an English speaker, so it might be nice to talk to some more native speakers! I find when I'm constantly in mixed-language groups, I have to make my word choices very carefully to make sure I'm understood. No idioms, no slang, simple words and lots of repetition -- I feel like I'm forgetting how to speak normally.
I've been trying to phone Tony today on and off for the past few hours, but as of yet, there's no answer. His last email said he'd planned to be at home all day, since it's Memorial Day. If I weren't trying to call, I'd have no reason to worry, but since I am, I'm starting to wonder what's up. My first guess is that maybe he stayed another night in Shenandoah after hiking the A.T. section yesterday, and he's still driving back today. Or else he needed to spend the day running errands and forgot he told me he'd be home all day. But mostly, I'm hoping he didn't overdo his hike yesterday and get stuck at the far end after dark when it's impossible to hitch, and he's too tired to make the walk back!
Well, tonight I cooked up some pasta and I'm trying to get rehydrated but it's proving difficult to do. I'm going to be struggling tomorrow if I don't get enough fluids in tonight. But so far everything is just being absorbed, so I must really be dehydrated.
Africa Journals 