Like San Francisco in 1850

Lüderitz (glad that we've resolved the spelling issue!) is probably our favorite town in Namibia: it's on the coast but isn't routinely covered by a thick marine layer of fog like Swakopmund and the northern coast. We had enough of fog in Santa Barbara!!
It's like a boom town that fizzled out. It's supposedly the oldest German settlement in Namibia, and it's named after a Herr Luderitz, but it's one of the few places in the country where you _can't_ tune in the German-language radio station. (Speaking of which, Stefan just loves that station. There is a woman named Uli who must work 15 hours a day preparing and hosting her radio shows. She intersperses festive German "Schlagermusik" with interesting tidbits about lemurs in Madagascar and how to make your onions taste milder. But the best part of the day is "Hallo Kinder!" where she plays happy songs about brushing your teeth and hosts a call-in for small children to talk about subjects like their allowances, their diaries, or if they ever make a "Liverwurst Lip" when they don't get their way!)
Luederitz, and the nearby town of Kolmanskop, both got their wealth from diamonds which were just sitting on the thin gravel soil waiting to be picked up! They say that on a full moon, the diamonds would shine the brighest, and the mine workers would have to collect them by crawling on their hands and knees with a can tied around their neck.
Summertimes are supposed to get very windy in Luderitz, and although our time there was calm and mild, our tour guide was certainly dressed for extreme weather!