In front of my $551 a month apartment. Best deal in Windhoek. I have a living room, fully equipped kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, plus access to my landlord's garden and gazebo. All utilities are included.
The truck is not mine, of course. It belongs to another lodger in the same complex. This was the spacious residence of a German family, and they even had a swimming pool. Now named Ramblers, it's owned by an Indian electrical engineering professor at the University of Namibia.
On the 15th, I'll have to vacate my space, since another tenant is coming in, but only for 12 days. She reserved that slot before I even got here. Though I can just move into a lesser room, I'll go to Swakopmund instead, then come back. It's about time I see the Namibian coast.
Swakopmund sounds ultra exotic, but it just means "mouth of the Swakop [River]." There's less sun there, my landlord warned me, with fog fairly frequent, so expect clammy weather. I told him I had spent 9 months in England. "Oh, so you'll love it!" he responded.
8 comments:
Looking good, Linh! Are food/groceries and more importantly, booze, reasonably priced?
Yes, very reasonable. At Checkers Supermarket, I can get a large cappuccino for $1.10, and a slightly small jelly donut for 45 cents! 0.77 pound of lean ground beef is $2.50. Six tallboy cans of Castle Beer is $6.42 at my neighborhood liquor store, and even cheaper at the mall. The last time I went to the liquor store, the lady said they had a sale on Castle, so I got 12 cans for the price of 6, so 53 cents a can! When she told me that, my face must have lit up like a cartoon! Castle is pretty good.
The local beer is Windhoek, and though much hyped, I think it's crap. What I haven't been able to find is any stout, period. Castle makes a great Milk Stout, which was what I drank in Cape Town.
Cape Town is very sophisticated, man. The food option there blows most cities away, much less Windhoek.
Enjoy the coast, the fog and the beer, Linh! _ Philly Joe Porter
From here your life looks pretty good over there: a three month visa extension (that you can probably extend again); a safe, clean, comfortable, apartment; affordable food & drink, decent beer; friendly people along with a healthy climate and no Western-styled mandatory-forced vaccinations. Any thoughts of settling down for longer?
Hi Martin,
I'm waiting for any East Asian country to allow in the unvaccinated without quarantining them, then I'll go there. When Spring comes in the northern hemisphere, I may also head back that way. I'm lingeering in Windhoek because I'm so exhausted, and it is pleasant here. Angola still has Covid restrictions and there are surprisingly no scheduled buses or vans to Botswana. Ghana and Madagascar are closed to the unvaccinated and Nigeria has a quarantine. In my low energy state, I'm ill prepared to deal with the insanity of Nairobi anyway, but being there may perk me up. Tanzania is open, and I've been thinking about it. I've even looked into Burundi, since it has the lowest Covid vaccincation rate in the world, at just 0.1%!!! Heroic free thinkers, the Burundians. Before he died mysteriously, their president, Pierre Nkurunziza, dismissed Covid as "nonsense," and expelled the WHO from his country. After he died, Burundi realigned itself more with the universal narrative, so now imposes a quarantine on unvaccinated visitors. With an average IQ of just 59, the world's lowest, Equatorial Guinea is also intriguing, but it also has a quarantine. Below 79 is considered retarded.
Linh
Thanks for the reports. Heading to Namibia late March...will buy you a brew if you are still in country. Keep up the good fight and safe travels.
Eric
Hi Eric,
I should be here, so let's meet then! Here's my email, linhdinh99@yahoo.com
Linh
Visiting Equatorial Guinea would be so fascinating, I bet. Tanzania is also highly recommended, I know you can get accommodation for $5 a day there in Dar es Salaam.
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