Friday Afternoon/Evening
When it is forty degrees and the sun burns to the touch, what can you do but go swimming—well, soaking. I got in and sat there with only my head out, glasses on, hat on, singlet on so as not to burn and kept my cool.
There was a lovely serving of chocolate cake, tea and coffee at 3:00. Followed by more soaking. My happy hour here involves soaking—mind you doing laundry in the sink is rewarding when t-shirts dry in ten minutes and heavy denim jeans in half an hour IN THE SHADE!
At 6:00 pm, the girls (twins) and I headed to Marble Mountain to watch the sunset. Peron brought drinks and he had a small bottle of bubbly so, of course, I had a lovely sweet drink before coming back for dinner and an early night to bed.
Saturday
This morning began with Peron picking me up at 8:00 and we headed back toward Sussosvlei but we turned off the road and drove down a beautiful light road with dried grass growing on both sides and down the middle, parked and went for a walk. We walked up a gentle slope to a ridge to see an eternity like I came to love in Tanzania—these endless, treeless expanses of absolutely stunning beauty.
PS: I never wear sunglasses. I don’t know why, but I never have and I walk a lot outdoors through all good weather, but here there is something fierce about the light, or I have aged in a way making me sensitive to it, but as soon as I arrived in Cape Town, I bought a pair of $50 (expensive for me) polarized sunglasses and they add enormously to my love of what I see. I always take them off to see what unfiltered eyes see, but these glasses are like Photoshop for life.
In the afternoon, again hovering around 40° in the shade, I cancelled my desert drive. I just couldn’t face more exposure, so I stayed at home all day working on my script in air conditioning, soaking in the pool and looking out over eternity and eating. I mean, what’s a guy on vacation to do?
My siesta today was basically from 9:00 am through until bedtime. I had cake at 4:00; dinner was at 7:30 and then I was into my new book, The God of Small Things, and then asleep in the best bed so far on this trip, under the clearest most beautiful sky so far and an unparalleled degree of quiet. On my deck, I hear nothing; a loud stillness when the air con is off.
There is beauty in the dead things everywhere, bleached white in the sun.
Even in this heat and bleakness, flowers bloom even when there is no rain.
Mountian Euphobia. The juice of this plant when alive, blinds people and kills animals. This one has been dead for a long time and baked.
Dry waterfall.
Commiphora - it sheds its bark during dry times, looks dead but springs to life in the rain.
Heat cracks rocks
Petrified dunes.
Phantom Tree.
I am in Namib-Nukluft Park
Safe return, Bwana man.
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