It's a long, dusty drive to Opuwo.

As part of ThereGoesJohn.com's ongoing efforts at interactivity, I invite you to grab the car keys and head immediately for the nearest gravel road. I know this may be far from home, as we tend to pave first and ask questions later, but try it out. Oh, and you'll need a bag of flour or other very fine dusty product.

Now drive up and down this gravel road till dark while shaking the aforementioned bag of dusty stuff until your clothes, hair and eyebrows are completely encrusted. For those inclined to extra realism, have a friend drive ahead of you and throw large gravels at your windshield at high speeds. You might also invite a few dozen people to stand along the road at approximately 30 mile intervals and flag you down asking for rides.

That's basically driving in Namibia and we did a whole lot of it in the last few days. You have to really want to go to Opuwo.

"Way up there next to Angola."
Opuwo is a tiny village in the far northwestern corner of Namibia. Way up there next to Angola.

Turnoff to the Angolan Border

The area is home to the last of Matt's contacts here we wanted to see before leaving the country. Both are teacher friends of a friend of Matt's and we found them both rather easily. We even picked up a few hitchikers we deemed safe enough.

It was intriguing to talk with well-educated, well-spoken people in such a remote and generally impoverished part of a remote and generally impoverished country. Teaching seems to be a prestigious and relatively well-paid profession here. Why is it that more developed countries can't claim the same thing?

"Skin covered in a reddish vaseline-like ointment."
Opuwo is also the center of what is left of the Himba tribe. They're straight out of National Geographic and amazing to meet. Generally only the women still wear the traditional dress, but it's stunning to see. Copper around the wrists and ankles, unusual leather-like skirts, bare chests, skin covered in a reddish vaseline-like ointment, and hair matted into shapes with the same stuff. I have photos.

Unfortunately, tourism is taking its toll on their culture. They've learned to bargain for payment for photos, which is more than fair enough.

A Himba Woman in Traditional Dress

But it can become a quite ugly scene, as it did when they wanted more than the 17 Namibian dollars they originally agreed to. I half expected somebody from William Morris to show up to negotiate their talent fee. Uahekua, the teacher we were visiting, was able to leave things somewhat calm... but it felt bad.

"We're ready for a little relaxation."
After enjoying a few dinners and beers at an interesting bar with the more interesting name of "Buisness from People to People," and being nearly sucked dry by mosquitoes, we made the long drive back to Swakopmund today. We're ready for a little relaxation before heading on, but it's almost time for us to leave Namibia. We'll either head into Botswana for a few days on the Okavango or take a bus straight past Botswana to Victoria Falls.

I just got an email that the Wildebeest migration is still going on up north in the Serengeti and it's the biggest the guides have ever seen. I thought our timing was wrong and we'd missed it, but what luck if we make it in time to see it.

"Witchcraft Investigation."
There was an article on the front page of The Namibian today that was amazing. This is the newspaper of record in the country and the headline was something like Witchcraft Investigation at Local School. It read like something out of The Onion.

Two teachers died there in the course of a month or so and the suspicion is witchcraft. The school has convened an investigatory panel, which has consulted some experts on witchcraft. The experts have reported that the deaths were caused by two other teachers at the school who arranged for a zombie to suck their blood while they slept.

As such, suspension of the two suspected teachers is pending. Well-attended parent meetings have been held and threats of street protests made should the teachers not be removed from the classroom. I wonder if similar attendance figures are recorded for meetings about curriculum or students' progress.

"A similar situation in the United States."
It's easy to giggle at the supersitious, unsophisticated locals in a remote part of Namibia. But sadly, it's not hard to imagine a similar situation in certain parts of the United States. Replace "witchcraft" with "devil worship" and it doesn't sound so outrageous. It happened in my town when I was going to school. And now with the whole Harry Potter thing, we're getting back into the anti-witchcraft thing again. Amazing what humans can be made to believe.

And speaking of The Onion... I was saw this satirical headline...

Heroic Pants Enter 19th Day Of Continuous Duty

I was expecting a photo of myself.