the lake

Back to the lake. We rented a truck and 6 of us headed back to Senga Bay. (I say back but I was the only one from the first trip). The truck had a double cab but fitting all 6 of us in would have been cozy so in the African fashion we put 4 of us in the bed. Nice ride, sunny though we could see rains coming. Bartus lost his sunglasses off his head and we couldn’t find one of the lenses when we retrieved them. He then lost his hat which we went back to get and then tied it to him. We were quite the spectacle driving along-everyone looking at the truck full of muzungus (white people) (which you also hear as you walk or drive anywhere—“muzungu, muzungu!” Moved into our rooms, had lunch and to the water. Warm as bath water but still felt so good. Stayed in entirely too long but didn’t get too bad a sunburn-thanks factor 50…dinner of some of the toughest beef I’ve ever had and then there was no dessert. We tried the restaurant next door but they didn’t have dessert either. A walk on the beach under the stars and then to our rooms which were so hot and stuffy that no one got much sleep at all. And we were up and out of our rooms by about 5:30am. Happy Valentine’s! Watched a man boxing on the beach first with his daughter and then with his wife. We thought it was an interesting way to spend Valentine’s. It began to sprinkle and everyone scattered. Then the man was up next to us pointing at the water…Crocodile! In the lake right where we were swimming yesterday! Everyone was out of the water and crowded on the shore to watch. The boxer went to his car and got his shotgun—one shot and the croc went under for a while but didn’t actually leave. No swimming for us today so we packed up and moved out. Stopping of course by the Salima wood market where Alistair took an inordinate amount of time going through the shops and the rest of us looked bought what we thought we wanted and then sat in the shade and waited. I watched a man finish making a drum and then bought it and then watched him finish another. We told Alistair that the ice cream shop in Lilongwe might be closed if he took too much longer and we were in the truck and on our way quickly with that possibility. On the outskirts of Lilongwe I was given the wheel—left side driving, gear shift on the wrong side and a huge smile on my face…I love driving in different places, the challenges are so different—here it is avoiding all the foot and bike traffic on the roads as there are no sidewalks and the potholes could swallow the truck much less the bikes people are riding.