Let’s just say that I learned a thing or two about how IT is viewed at the Ministry of Health and Social Services.  Annual development budget of N$500,000 for all of Namibia…roughly $66,000 USD.  There are a total of 4 people working on IT for the entire health system.  This is not promising.

My question is why am I up in Opuwo when the central Ministry is where the real help is needed?  This will be discussed.

New pics from Epupa can be found on my website.  Enjoy.

Books are more expensive here than they are in Canada, but worth it when the author is Bill Bryson. I’ll be sure to put together a book report when I find the time to be that bored.

So this weekend was a holiday weekend in Namibia and what do you do on a holiday weekend? You travel. Thus, obligated, my friends Penny, Jeske, her family and I took off north to Epupa. What is in Epupa? I knew there were some waterfalls and with little in Opuwo to keep me around it seemed like the only logical decision.

We started from Opuwo around 10:15am on Friday and headed north. The road turned to gravel 2 minutes into our drive….yes, Opuwo is small. 10 minutes into our trip we found a friend of Penny’s who was on the side of the road…they needed a pump for their donkey trailer…one bicycle pump, here you go. I asked Penny the purpose of a bicycle pump because it clearly can’t be for her car…it is.

The road from Opuwo to Epupa is an amazing trip. The road consistency changes roughly 100 different times, the surroundings get more scenic by the minute as the height of the mountains increases and you really start to see what an untouched world is like. We stopped for lunch around noon and within 2 minutes we have Himba crawling all over us asking for food, water and money. We obliged with a healthy mayonnaise sandwich for all of them…the lone pregnant woman we gave some of our meat to. They were extremely happy to enjoy lunch with us. As we got into our car a Himba gentleman…very traditional…approached us and kept speaking in his language which we clearly don’t understand. Sir, we don’t speak your language. This did not phase our guest. Do you want money? Do you want water? Here’s an apple…you want that? With some further hand gesturing we found out that he wanted a ride…Penny and I looked at each other and said, why not. I took a shot in the dark and asked him in Swahili…’Wapi?’ which means where and he seemed to understand and found out he wanted to go to Okapika (or something like that). He was a happy fellow. He seemed to love laughing at the toyota truck we passed, which sounded as if it had an unhappy goat stuck under the hood. We dropped him off about 30 minutes later and within 10 minutes we were in Epupa.

Wow! A simple, yet thorough way to describe Epupa falls.

There are 3 campsites and we defaulted to the third as the other two were fulll….seemed ok with us as no one else was staying at the third. Pictures at the falls and time relaxing. Water and beer on the way back to camp. Pasta and veggies for dinner. Had a fun night of sitting around the campfire, drinking a rum and coke from the local Shabeen and sharing funny passages from my Bill Bryson book. Beer was actually hot to the touch so had to mix it up a bit.

Woke up around 3am to the sound of the local roosters who clearly didn’t understand that 3am is not when the sun comes up. Slept a bit more and actually got up around 7. Went down to the falls to get some early morning pics…awesome. The sun was hot by 7:30 and I went back to camp from some breakfast….delicious Apple Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal. Said our goodbyes to Jeske’s and her family and made our way out for a hike. We set off and made our way down stream to check out the beaches…with ‘crocodiles.’ It was hot and dry. We spent most of our time walking through high grass and hot sand. Everything plant seemed to love me…I still have some leftover even now. We met a guy from South Africa called Alan and enjoyed our walk to the far beach. He had no shoes on and was very quick to jump in the water despite warnings from another man who had ‘seen’ crocodiles not long ago. I withheld.

The afternoon involved some nap time. This was followed by a very cold shower. Mrs. H.S. Ball’s Chutney chips made a guest appearance.

We went to another campsite for a cold beer and enjoyed a sunset with Windhoek Lager by our sides. Polly the pigeon made a guest appearance and showed off by jumping on everyone’s shoulders, heads and into a bucket full of food. If you stop by, ask them about Polly. Early night and more stars than you can count. Question. What is the dark spot in the Milky Way Galaxy when viewed in the southern hemisphere?

Woke up to cows screaming as they were being captured by the local farmers. Sorry…woke up to the roosters at 3am again. Got out of bed at 7am. I got some great video of the captures which I hope to share soon as words don’t do it justice. Trip back saw us giving a ride to a local and then picking up 2 more who had a flat tire. They wanted to use Penny’s 16″ tire on their car that used 14″. No.

That’s pretty much it. I’ll be uploading pictures soon…have a lot so be sure to check my pictures page soon.

Thought I’d shard some more visuals of Opuwo from higher up.

It’s true…Mrs. H.S. Ball does have some Chutney and when you combine it with chips…magic.

Check out some new pics of crickets @ http://picasaweb.google.com/jonathan.woodruff/2008426CricketsAndHospital. Enjoy.

A scorpion decided to join us this evening in Penny’s home. The women jumped up on the chairs, James was intrigued and i grabbed a broom and put it out the door…they’re quick little buggers. Never a dull moment…well…some exciting moments, I should say, in Opuwo.

If you’re interested in sending me anything…not that you have to of course…but if you really feel the need. You can send to the following address:

Ministry of Health and Social Services
c/o Jonathan Woodruff
Private Bag 3003 (yes, this is actually the address)
Opuwo
Namibia

I recently broke my docking station for my iPod shuffle so if you can’t think of anything…that’s one thing I might be needing. Maybe some American air…the sweet air of freedom. Or, maybe a self autographed picture of yourself…I can pretend you’re famous and hang you on my wall in my office and show all the people here all the important people I know back home. Sushi would be awesome…I’ll just cut off the bad parts (Dad). I’ll ask for more as I think of it.

Update: Please Allow for 2 months of transit time…What I’m saying is…send soon if you’re going to send.

Grillin and Chillin Namibia style. Well, my first week of work is almost over and things are going smoothly so far. I am without a permanent accommodation…a minor detail.

Tuesday night was our cookout at the Kunene campsite. I was nominated/self appointed as the evening’s grill master, which I was more than happy to do. Had a few Windhoek Lagers to enjoy the cool evening while roasting everything from crazy curled sausage to a pumpkin melon thingy.

Things are slower around here and I’m ok with that. One exception would be the local shabeens (bars) where I can hear their music right now…it’s 6:30pm and I’m about a half mile away…loud and clear. Still it’s a slower pace of life and no real hurry to do anything. Not even any TV to waste away the evening…again, I’m ok with this.

Joined the good doctor for a little Champions League action this evening. One of the most boring games I’ve ever watched…my team Barca just couldn’t get any good shots. Henry breathed some life late in the game, but just wasn’t enough. We’ll have to see how things go next week on Man U’s pitch.

I asked the good Doctor Akpabio where I could purchase a bike. We went three times to the same place where I could get a bike. Turns out these were motorbikes…they’d be sweet, but not too useful when a plain old bicycle will do the trick. Looks like I have my choice at the local supermarket between one bike…that’s it…one choice.

All photos from the Tree Sleeper event this weekend are now uploaded on my website. Just go to jbwoodruff.com and click on pictures to view them. Enjoy.

This donkey must have done something really bad…