DUNING IT UP

I visited the Namib Desert with my dad a little over two years ago and it was just brilliant. I couldn't stop talking about it when I got home and wanted to share the experience with everyone I loved. I knew I would be back. My favorite day was climbing up Dune 45 to watch the sun quietly creep up over the mountains in the distance, slowly illuminating the dunes ahead. The sand glistened in the peacefulness of the morning. Only the heat broke the silence. 

Last week I found myself marching up this dune once again and with another man I adore. This time the clouds shielded us from the rays and we stayed up there for a while. We breathed in the landscape one minute and tumbled in it another. It was a good day. 

Our lovely friend Erik has been overlanding with us since Cape Town. Obviously, we had to work in some twirling and then some twerking. 

JOURNAL RSS

STAY HIGH

We jumped 10,000 feet from a plane today. I thought my nerves would get the best of me and that my stomach would sit in my throat, but I was quite calm from beginning to end. 

It was a tandem dive - my first ever - and I was most worried about not being properly clipped on or losing my glasses, but my guy Neels was cool and collected, explaining to me everything he was doing as he was doing it. His voice was soothing and even that high up, I felt at peace.

The 35 seconds of freefalling were so surreal and there was so much beauty to take in that I sort of just lost myself in the moment. I can't remember whether I ever looked down at the ground to where we would ultimately land, but I did look into the horizon above the clouds, thinking aloud how beautiful it was and catching myself on the verge of tears. The only word I could manage to find to truly describe the experience is special. It sounds strange, but it's almost as if I felt a spiritual connection with Neels. At that altitude, strapped onto another human being, I felt a vulnerability that was not only physical, but emotional as well. 

The pull of gravity tickled me and I found myself giddy and giggling. Looking to my right, I watched 2 parachutes resisting the weight of 4 grown men in the most ethereal way. They floated over a sea of white, this layer of fluff that separated heaven from earth and I realized in that moment that I too looked just like them. Pure magic. 

JOURNAL RSS

SALAR DE UYUNI

Bolivia gets a bad rap and I could see why. The people are as cold as the weather. Trash is strewn everywhere. The air quality in the city is stifling. Public facilities are dubious. Crime is rampant. (We didn't personally experience this last one, but certainly worked up ourselves into high vigilance against it.) Yet, there's a sparkle behind the roughness that lures in visitors willing to look past these shortcomings. A diamond in the rough, if you will.

JOURNAL RSS