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The following blog is brought to you by the letter "N". Examples of words that begin with "N" are Namibia and Neptune Day.
Neptune Day is the day the ship crosses the equator. To celebrate, we had a special ceremony where all the pollywogs (people who haven't crossed the equator) become shellbacks (people who have crossed the equator). At 7:30 in the morning, the crew came around the ship dressed in togas with fake spears and shields and helmets. They were banging on drums and singing loudly and waking everyone up. At 9:00 we had the actual ceremony. Neptune and his queen presided over the ceremony. I couldn't tell who Neptune was because he was covered in green paint and had a lot of fake hair but I heard later that it was the ship's captain! To be initiated, you got goo poured on your head (no one knew what it was made of but traditionally it would have been fish guts), kissed a fish, kissed Neptune's ring, bowed to the queen, and jumped into the pool. When you got out of the pool, they touched your shoulders with a fake sword, like you were being knighted. It's also traditional to shave your head on Neptune Day but that party was optional. I didn't do it but a few people did. A lot of people who didn't want to shave their head cut their hair really short.
A couple days later, we got to Namibia! Namibia was a fascinating country. It has one of the biggest rich-poor gaps in the world. During the pre-port lectures there was a lot of talk about crime rates and dangerous areas but I felt safe the entire time.
The first day, I went on a trip into the desert. I learned a lot about the plants that grow there. A lot of them have adapted to store water. I also learned about the poisonous plant that the Bushmen use to make poison arrows. We went to a section of the desert called the Moon Landscape because it looks like the moon. Part of Apollo 13 was filmed there (Namibia is actually a very popular location to shoot movies). I climbed to the top of Dune 7. It's 80 meters tall and extremely steep! We also got to try fresh oysters. They were delicious! That night, I went out to dinner and tried oryx and kudu. They were both good but the oryx was drier.
The next day I had the Seal & Dolphin encounter trip. As soon as we got onto the boat, a seal jumped on board! They were trained to be able to interact with humans. Our guide, Wally, told us a lot about seals and we got to pet them and feed them. We also saw some dolphins very briefly. A couple of them swam near the boat but they stayed underwater so it was hard to see them. After, I went to Swampokmund with some friends. I got to barter for some souvenirs. I bartered with a man named David. He gave me a hard time when I tried to lower the price and I actually walked away but he eventually brought the price down. After I had paid, he started smiling more and shook my hand and introduced himself. One of his friends who worked with him also came over and said hi.
The last day of Namibia, I went on an SAS trip to visit the townships. Our first stop was the market place. Our guide bought us this popular energy drink that's made with yeast. It tasted like slightly sour bread. We also saw some shops that sold traditional clothes and a stall that sold grains that are used to make the energy drink, porridge, and other popular foods. After, we went into the actual town. A girl from the township named Vanessa came over to the group and showed us how to play a game that is very similar to mancala except it has four rows instead of two. (I don't think anyone ever told us the name of the game.) Then we visited a food market and after that we went to someone's house. I don't know her name (it was in one of the click languages) but she was very nice and she showed us a lot of traditional kitchen items, taught us to make the clicks in the click languages, and taught us a few words of her language. (The only one I remember is pronounced "kahnkahn" which means thank you.) There were also a lot of kids running around the yard. They all wanted to play with us or talk to us. The next stop was a tavern where we sampled traditional food including Mopani worms (caterpillars). I'm glad I tried them but I would not recommend them. The other food was good. The way to eat it is to take a piece of porridge (this kind of porridge is solid and a little spongy) and dip it in a dish. You eat and dip with your fingers. After the tavern, we went to our guide's house. He showed us around and thanked us for coming because we were helping him and the township. He explained that he was one of the first people to bring white tourists into the townships and at first many people did not understand why they were here. They thought the white tourists had come to hire them for work. Eventually everyone understood that the tourists help them and they started to welcome tourists.
The people in the township were very friendly. They were all willing to talk and explain things that we didn't understand. None of them had any problem with people taking their picture as long as you asked first. Sometimes people stopped you and asked you to take their picture!
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