Day 3-053
8 hrs, 4 .2 kms

During my travels, there are these spots where I feel so at ease, that a part of me wants to stay there indefinitely... Essaouira, Morocco... Kajuraho, India...Vang Vieng, Laos... Dahab, Egypt...

Well, Swakopmund isn't one of those places. First of all, once evening sets it, it gets very boring. Everything closes down and there's nothing to do but wander around in the darkness. Secondly, a part of me just doesn't want to get to comfortable in a place of such stark inequality. It feels like I'm kind of benefiting from other people's suffering...

So next morning I'm quite happy to head on my way, walking east this time, as a desert sandstorm sweeps in. No chaos in finding a collective taxi this time. Soon we're off, and we leave the Namib desert behind, and are back to the scrub savannah of central Namibia.

I get off in the middle of nowhere mining town of Usakos . No wretched slums here... no luxury summer homes either... just regular folks, black and white, trying to feed their families. You can still see where the apartheid lines once were, but they've now been blurred with blacks living in all areas.

A couple of white kids scamper down a path (barefoot again!) to a rural home next to a rocky hill...

I could for a hike up these rugged hills littered with intriguing white and black rocks... but, nah... I'll just settle for a videoclip at the top of the hill, then head back to town. Here I find shops owned by whites and other by blacks side by side... I'm liking the feel of this town. A couple old German guys sit in front of a hardware shop chatting with folks as they pass...

A real frontier town kind of feel...