11.30.2012

November 16 & 17 - recharge

16 November

28 Miles
Junction – Ghanzi

Steph:

Aside from the funny stories yesterday, it was actually a very tough day. In fact, ever since we entered Botswana, it's been tough. Mentally and physically. We never found a good place to rest with real shade so the sun and heat really took it out of us. The end of the day was a sprint to the Junction. Here, you could either turn right and head towards the capital, Gaborone, or you go north to Ghanzi and Maun. Those, btw, are the 3 of the 4 big cities in Botswana. We weren't sure if there was a gas station at the junction and did not want to risk missing it before we went to bed. It was a dumb decision though because we ended up riding well past our "stop time" which is 6pm and there was nothing there. We had killed ourselves for absolutely nothing and now we had to find a place to camp. I was done. We finally went to bed exhausted, dirty and paranoid after hearing voices and seeing lights.

The next morning we finished the last 28 miles to Ghanzi. We were so tired. The last 10km were pathetically slow. We barely pedalled and were being deliriously goofy. We kept threatening to take pictures of the posters of animals along the road because we haven't really seen anything other than cows and donkeys. It was about 9:45am when we arrived at the only hotel here. It's a very nice place with some very pricey rooms but luckilly they had camping! For 50pula per person ($13 total)!! With a pool! A beautiful pool!

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17 November
0 Miles
Ghanzi

Erik:

It may be silly, but that pool has helped get our spirits up again. The temperatures here are rather hot. Like mid 90's to hundreds. It is supposed to be the start of the rainy season, so it is SUPPOSED to cool down in the afternoon. . . with rain. Well, the weather has been weird for the past few years, and the rainy season is not being as rainy as it is supposed to be. So it is bloody hot.
With all this in mind, we need to stop cycling and find shade at around 11 30 every day. If we don't find a good place to rest and stay in the shade, it is very wearing and mentally draining. So the last 2 days we did not find a place to do this. Every shade tree is either covered in ants, or cows. On top of that we ended up putting our camp up too late. And it is too hot to fall asleep right away, so we just sweat in our tent miserably. All this and we've only seen 10 wildabeest. I seriously wanted to take a bus to the beach and retire there. Ghanzi however offers no support. No car rental. No buses. I guess we'll keep on biking. We have very carefully gone over the map of the upcoming villages and water stops. From here to the junction that takes us north is going to be a tough bit, but after that there are villages about 40mi apart. We'll take it as it comes. I had better see something else besides burnt out landscape though!

Steph:

Yesterday, we realized that we needed an attitude adjustment. Since we left Windhoek it has really been up and down. The temperatures have been challenging, the wind, the lack of proper rest when we are bush camping... everything is getting to us. These past few days have not been pleasant at all and we've found ourselves dreading almost every part of the day, except the very early morning. Like Erik said, we were ready to rent a car and drive to Zambia. Since that is not an option, we need to buck up and just get it done. If we organize our day correctly; wake up earlier and get most of our riding done in the morning, then all we really need is a good tree to wait out the sun under. When the clouds roll in, we should be able to ride another few hours before finding a good spot to camp. Early.
I think we can do it. I know we can do it. It's not going to be easy and it might really take it out of us, but if we have water, that's all that really matters. Once we reach the northwest corner of Botswana and re-enter Namibia, we'll have some guaranteed Rest Camps and a guaranteed shower. From then, the towns are a little closer together and we should see some animals. Hopefully.

For now, we will spend another day here tomorrow and stock up. It should take us about a week to get to the north, so we'll need enough food and supplies. Until then, that pool will make us happy, cool and optimistic.

This landscape was not exactly inspiring at this point

At least there's a little color. Everything else is dry and dead.


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