Back in the village

I would like to give you a a quick recap of the last couple weeks, but I'm kind of tired and don't feel like writing much. I'll probably get around to philosophizing more later this week but for now one story will suffice. Last week Sunday, in the middle of the Peace Corps training conference that was about 4 days too long, I decided to go for a walk by myself in the hills around the hotel/conference center we were staying at. I set out after a good breakfast (we ate very well throughout the entire conference) with some food, water, cell phone, reading and writing material. My goal was to get lost, but being a bit too practical I decided to follow the dirt road. The tall grass seemed like a good habitat for snakes and most of the land was fenced. After walking for an hour and crossing two ridges I was sufficiently far from the hotel that no other PCV would come by and disturb me (not that I hate the other people in the group but I was hoping for a little solitude) I found a rather lousy place to sit on a rock in the shade. Not long after I got comfortable I heard a horse in the distance. I had already noticed some goats grazing in the distance but the horse seemed to be coming closer. I took a minute to watch the hill above me and finally caught sight of a white horse and a brown one grazing and clearly walking towards the road where I was sitting. Since I had climbed through a gate to get to this point I decided to put some space between me and the horses and head back towards the hotel. Don't worry about the gate, if people want to keep you out in Namibia they use razor wire or an electric fence, I just slipped through the opening in this gate. I had seen a couple side trails earlier so I checked a couple out before I found a nice rock to sit on with a decent shade tree. I checked the grass around my rock and decided it was the perfect place to spend a couple hours. After a few minutes of reading I heard a sound in the distance. At first I thought it was a dog barking and some pigs squealing (I had passed a small pig farm on the way) but then I realized that I was in the vicinity of baboons. The noise was coming from some distance so I decided to keep reading and keep my ears open. It didn't take long before it was obvious that the baboons were coming closer and they were excited about something. My shade tree was between me and the noise, so I stood up to see what I could see. When I was on my feet I discovered a pack of about 10 baboons about 200 meters away jumping around and making quite a raucous. I watched them for a little while running around and climbing trees, but then seven of the baboons took off to my left and three started moving towards my right flank. I was curious to see what they would do but knowing that baboons are territorial and can be pretty mean I moved back to the road and headed back towards the hotel. I tried sitting in one more place but it didn't have any shade and the lizzards were fighting me for space on the warm rock. I ended up lounging by the pool most of the day away from the wildlife.