A Weekend in Windhoek: Taxis, Beer and a Penduka Braai (Sunday 20th Sept 2009)
on Susan Somers (Namibia), 20/Sep/2009 19:17, 34 days ago
Just back from Windhoek, where I had a great weekend. I set off early on Saturday morning, not knowing how long it would take me to get there. I had some numbers of taxi drivers but they didn’t work out so the gate guard sent me to the far side of town where the taxis to the city leave from and sure enough as soon as they spotted me, I had no problem securing a taxi! I was a bit worried as we sped along toward the city (paranoid visions of being robbed or murdered and left on the side of the road) and I vowed I was going to have to buy a car but then we arrived safely in Windhoek so I started to rethink that! Its not like driving my own car here would mean I’d be perfectly safe – although the roads are good and straight all of the drivers aren’t!I spent a pleasant morning shopping (I got a dongle– 3G device that allows you get internet over the mobile phone network, and that you top up like a prepay mobile - and it works! yay) The city centre is similar to any big city, but with an African flavor and had lots of shops. However they are only open till one on a saturday (which is a good thing cos I can't afford to shopping on my current wages!) Then I met Lousie, another volunteer, and we spent a nice chilled afternoon and evening sipping beer in shady cafes and bars around the city. Everything is outside and the weather at the moment is pretty perfect! IN the evening we met up with some of the other volunteers in a wine bar overlooking the city, It was lovely but very quite and still considering it was a city on a Saturday night!I stayed with Louise on Saturday night, as Brian, another one of the volunteers, had invited everyone to a braai on Sunday at his place in Penduka (a sort of craft centre/restaurant/accommodation run by a community group north of Katatura, where his placement is) We got a tour of the centre and a very enjoyable afternoon of hanging out, eating, drinking and catching up.The centre is really nice, right on the edge of a dam and Brian is actually living in a mud hut! Although it’s a super delux model mud hut! Its made of clay and recycled coloured glass bottles, it quite big and it even has an upstairs and hot and cold water and electricity – I’m almost jealous!At 3,30 I finally headed off to find my way home– I got a taxi from Penduka to a taxi car park (a scrubby desert area off the high way) where I squashed into another tiny taxi with 2 men, a woman, her 2 children and the driver and our bags. There were no seat belts, the petrol gauge flashed the whole way and the car seemed seriously strained! But again, despite my worries -,this time dying in a horrible wreck or conking out in the middle of the desert - we made it safely to Okahandja. I guess I’ll just have to get used to the taxi system here!