The G-I Post

On the strength of judgment-day-type warnings---You'll regret it forever! How can you live without traveling outside of the capital?!---I booked a last minute trip to Swakopmund, a coastal resort town 170 miles northwest of here. It was a four-hour journey in a van that seated 14 people, most of them comfortably.

The roads were a mix of paved and not really paved. A lesser man might have emptied the plastic bag full of the fruit that he'd commandeered from his hotel's breakfast buffet and used it as an emergency receptacle. Luckily, my friend Becca gifted me a concoction of essential oils, to be used during anxious flying moments. It either doubles as a remedy for motion sickness or i fell prey to the placebo effect.

The "guesthouse" where i stayed was very nice. And that's a good thing because i was in my room during most of my time in Swakopmund. I'm fairly certain that i brought a bit of food poisoning with me; the bottomless breakfast buffet at the hotel was the most likely culprit.

The beach was beautiful and its shores replete with mussels, crabs, and some lobster tails. I spent at least 10 minutes framing the perfect shot for my short film on sea foam. With some editing...it has un certain regard written all over it.

When i wasn't hovering near my bathroom, I was getting to know my new friend, S. She is an Italian travel agent who's starting the 2nd or 3rd chapter of her life, in Namibia. Whenever she was incredulous about something that i said, her eyebrows would steeple and she'd announce, in a mostly nonthreatening tone, "I kill you!"

S. is nice but feels that Mussolini is misunderstood. Nevertheless, she reassured me that she detests Bush. She openly admitted that her right-leaning tendencies are the result of a communist father, who was dogmatic while indoctrinating his daughter.  I told her that my partner feared such a scenario, that during a spell of teenage angst our children would become uber-capitalist, right-wing ideologues. She took some time to think about that statement, and then declared, again, that she didn't support George Bush's policies.

Two pepto bismol and 4.5 hours of bumby road later, i was back in my hotel room in Windhoek, where i transferred one more chocolate from my pillow to the bedside table. Eight, and counting...