May 10, 2015

We have spent the last few days in Swakopmund, Namibia.  It has been nice to have a little break and down time during the days here.  We are staying in a hostel instead of in tents, but we actually kind of miss the tents!  They are really comfortable with the sleep mats and we like having our regular cook better than going out for meals.  The first day we got here was mostly running errands.  We stocked up on water and found a doctor and pharmacy where we could get Malaria medication.  The clinic in the States didn’t think the Malaria pills were that big of a deal (plus they were insanely expensive because they’re not covered by insurance), but they told us here that we really need them.  The total cost for 10 weeks of pills, plus a doctors visit for the three of us was a whopping $80…we would have paid 10x that at home!!

Our big day was on Saturday…we went sandboarding just outside of the city.  It was awesome!  Hayden was super brave and went completely on his own.  We did seven different runs, and had a great time.  The company put together a really cool video of the day, but it’s a huge file, so I can’t upload it…we will have to have a screening when we get home.  lol

Hayden and Steve after a practice run on the sand board

Sandboarding…Adam hit 73 km/hr

Sandboarding…I hit 73 km/hr

Hayden hit 70 km/hr!!!

We had two runs where they clocked our speeds.  The first run, we were at about 45 km/hr on the first run and 73 km/hr on the second run.  Adam and I tied for the fastest speeds and even Hayden casme in a 70 km/hr!  He said it was SO AWESOME!  🙂  After a day of sandboarding, we had LOTS of sand in our shoes!!

Lots of sand in the shoes!

That afternoon, at Hayden’s request, we visited the Crystal Gallery.  It turned out to be pretty cool.  The museum was all about the local gems and stones that can be found in Namibia.  They had some beautiful types of stones that we had never even heard of and a ton of huge Quartz clusters on display.  Hayden has decided that he wants to start mining for gems (especially diamonds) when we get back home.  🙂

Largest Quartz cluster on display in the world!

That’s a lot of Quartz

In the cave

MIning for treasure

We are sitting in the lobby of the hostel now and getting ready to depart for our next destination.  We are getting pretty excited to get into a few of the game parks over the next few days.  We are working our way to Etosha now where we expect to see the “Big Five” (Elephants, Rhino, Lion, Cape Buffalo, and Leopards)…the adventure continues!