Swakopmund, the Skydiving Town

So 2 weekends ago, thats how far behind in posts I am, we (people from the house) went to a popular beach town in Namibia called Swakopmund. Drivig there, you drive through miles and miles of desert and see nothing. Then, all of a sudden, there is an entire town in front of you. So basically, it sits in the middle of the desert, all by itself, and is something like the second most popular tourist destination in southern Africa. Crazy!! It is a gorgeous town, with loads of activities to do, including, but not limited to, skydiving, quadbiking, sandboarding, lying on the beach, etc!! I did four activities, which were amazing!! The first day, we arrived in Swakopmund around 8 am and checked into the Skydivers Lodge where we were staying. We had a dorm style room with 11 beds, and there were 6 of us sleeping in that room, so we had lots of extra space, and 2 bathrooms! So we went to breakfast then at a little place called the Village Cafe, and then, we went...SANDBOARDING!! Sandboarding is snowboarding down a sand dune, complete with boots and helmets. It was such an amazing thing to do. Everytime you went down the dune, you had to climb back up in your boots, which, let me tell you, was a feat in and of itself!! So we did that from nine to noon, and then they served us sandwiches and sodas for lunch. Yum! That afternoon we did what was one of the best things I have ever done before. We went quadbiking. Quadbiking is 4-wheeling, but it is through the sand dunes. We drove so far in that I had no idea where we were. We were in places where you could turn around and see nothing but sand. No town, no ocean, nothing but sand. It was incredible! We also got to see the sun setting from the top of a dune looking out over the ocean. Incredible! Dinner was at a seafood place (seafood is one of Swakopmund's biggest things), where I had seafood cordon bleu (hake with cheese and smoked salmon). We were all so exhausted that we went to bed right after dinner (10pm), but the next day was still ready for activities! We woke up early to try to fit in as much stuff as possible. That morning, we walked around town, shopped at the market, and layed on the beach. The shopping was amazing, it is all bartering, and we usually can get pretty good prices. The beach was warm, and the ocean wasn't as cold as it is in Maine!! We ate lunch at a little restaurant on the beach, and had fabulous milkshakes. After lunch, we all piled back into the bus and drove 15 km outside of town, to a small camel farm. Me, and two of the girls, Katie and Rachel all rode camels in the desert!! It was so much fun! We got head scarves and fancy saddles on the camels! I definitely reccommend it to everyone!! After camels, we went go-karting. Its just like in the US, so it wasn't anything special, just still more fun! We found a restaurant called The Lighthouse, right on the beach, for dinner, and I had the best chicken cordon bleu I have ever had in my life!! Sunday morning we watched our friend Adam go skydiving, and then we drove home, where it was my night to cook dinner! Yay! It went fine, and now we are back to a normal life! Next post will be on the BNC and recent developments!