We wandered around Swakopmund the first day, doing some shopping and site seeing. Shane was with us and introduced us to his cousin, Henrico, and we had a great time wandering around time with the both of them. One road had tons of vendors on it, so we wandered looking at what they had. Jill and I got a couple things we both needed, and then met a few sellers that were determined to get us to buy something. After a lot of items being put on us, and our persistent no's, they had a new strategy. There were two bracelets we both liked, but didn't really need, with stones. The price was dropped, but not far enough to where we wanted it. Eventually, one of the men said, "Fine. You each pay 30 and I will pay 10 to him." He then pulled out his wallet and paid the other man for part of our bracelets. Jill and I stared at each other startled by this new turn of events. We then both shrugged and gave the man our money and thanked him. As we walked away and started wandering through the city again, we kept joking about how they 'got us'. However, we both like the bracelets, and they now hold a funny memory to both of us.
The store was our next stop, where we picked up some groceries for dinner that night, splitting up the various courses amongst us. We ended up cooking some bread, salad, pasta, and an amazing cookie and ice cream dessert. It was great to have our own kitchen and cook to cook together.
We slept in the next morning and just hung around the house for a long time. Jill and I were the first ones up and decided to go on a morning walk down the beach. There was nearly no one on the beach the entire time we were staying in Long Beach, but there was literally no one there when Jill and I went. The tide was nice and low, so we enjoyed examining some tide pools, looking at the seashells and letting the water rush over our feet and back out into the ocean. We discovered some sea creatures along the way, a huge jelly fish and some interesting sea snails, and just enjoyed the calm walk together. Eventually we went back home and got ready for the day and our day trip.
Saturday was our trip to Walvis day, but sadly Kari was not feeling too good so her and MJ stayed back at the house. The rest of us ventured off to Walvis where we saw a ton of flamingos in the lagooon. They were definitely not as pink as I expected, but they were gorgeous all the same. We ate lunch at the Raft and made another grocery store stop for the items we need for dinner and breakfast before heading home. On arrival, we decided to all go down to the beach for a little ocean fun. We spent about an hour running up and down with the waves, taking some pictures and just playing on the beach. It was glorious.
The afternoon consisted of another walk, but this time with Janelle, which was just as calming and relaxing as my morning walk. I also had story time with several of the girls, as I read to them the 7th Harry Potter book aloud. (I had started reading it on my own on Wednesday, and finished it today). Bri and I also made some rice krispy treats, as Shane and Henrico had never had them before. They do not have plain marshmallows in Namibia, so toasted coconut marshmallows worked out just fine. Although we made a mess and had no recipe, they were delicious and everyone loved them. Dinner ended up taking much longer than expected, as the boys were cooking us a braai and the fire kept going out, so we didn't end up eating until almost 10pm. However, the food was great and worth the wait.
We all planned to get up early for a sunrise walk Sunday morning, but the weather had other plans. The clouds, overcast and mist made the decision for me which allowed everyone else to sleep in an hour instead of me waking them up. We all went for a walk anyways at 8am and enjoyed a nice stroll down the beach.
In case you didn't know, Swakopmund is the city in Namibia that Angeline Jolie and Brad Pitt had their first baby. That being said, they also have a beach house in long beach in the same housing development that we were in...and by that I mean about 5 houses down. :) Our morning walk led us to their backyard, the beach, and we took some pictures. We had joked the entire weekend about knowing them, walking on the same sand as them, and how they would have been their visiting if they had only known we were coming.
Jill and I headed back before the other girls and made some breakfast for everyone--french toast, fried potatoes with scrambled eggs, and some cut up fruit. Jill was a stud on the french toast and we had a great time cooking. Although I am not the best cook in the world, I really enjoyed having a kitchen again while we were there. We then packed up everything, cleaned and headed out.
The trip back went pretty quick, and we stopped at Okhandja on the way to do our last big spurt of shopping. Being that we have had a lot of practice now with bartering, Jill and I were ready and prepared. We entered into the market with a few wants, but nothing that we really needed. After being hounded at first, Jill and I began to play off each other and take a whole new approach to the scene. We talked about how great each shop was as we entered, and as they were trying to get us to come to their tent, we would be so excited to go and thank them. We got several of their names and chatted with them all as we looked around their stores. Each tent we went into, we were told that we were getting the 'Sunday Special', which also became a great joke for us as everytime we responded with 'Wow...thank you so much!'. It was awesome. We had made it into a game and just had fun with it. Definitely a better experience than the time before, and we got some great deals out of it.
Overall, it was a fun and relaxing weekend, which was the perfect last full weekend here in Namibia.
Jill and I with our Rock Braelets...we got tricked. ;)
My home and Shane's home
Fun with the girls on the Beach!
Oh Janelle.
The pier down the beach from us.
Long Beach and the gorgeous Atlantic Ocean
Yeah...Brangelina live there...no big deal.
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