swimming

March 5 was a public holiday. I don’t know what it was for but I don’t really question long weekends…no special plans as there is once again a petrol shortage…and I think I must have been tired because I was quite content to lounge around, watching movies or playing games or reading…and as it was rainy it was perfect. But Monday was a pretty day and ute and I decided it was time to tackle the mountain again.
Started off at 8am…about 15 minutes into the climb we passed a whole crowd of Malawians going up to the hut for prayers. We had just decided that we should try the other peak…and then it seemed like a great idea. We didn’t know the best way to go so we continued on to the hut (after a nice rest on picture rock) and then cut across instead of continuing up. The beginning was not too bad…but very soon the trail (if you could call it that—goat and monkey paths) would disappear. And we would continue on to the least overgrown area or where there was a ghost of a path…we were constantly coming up against large rocks (islands) that we would climb on and look around to find the best path forward…of course once we got back down I don’t have any idea if we followed our charted route.
We would find a path that would lead in the right direction and disappear after about 10 steps (that would be a long appearance). Once off the rocks we were in grasses that were over our heads and very thick. So we went swimming in the grass…never would have thought it would be possible to swim in grass but really we would breast stroke through to keep the grass out of our face but of course they would still hit us in the face so we were also spitting and spitting so it was like getting hit in the face with little choppy waves while swimming. And when we got to a place where the grass was shoulder height (or below) it really felt like we could breathe again. So strange.

The top of Mbalabala is sheer rock so we couldn’t actually make it to the top top. But we got some great views of the valley and the villages that nestle up right next to the base of the mountain on the back side. There were loads of kids collecting wood off of the mountain and they were noisy…it was ok as long as they were where they were collecting…but of course as soon as we sat down they came and sat very near and continued their yelling and singing (but only loud shouting) so we went to a different part and were of course followed…and the yelling continued…so finally Ute and I both turned around and yelled at them…our peace was finished…but it worked…they were quiet and finally lost interest and left.

The way down was more bushwacking and we were done…tired and ready to be home…finally we were. And for the next 5 days we were so sore…walking up or down slopes was just impossible (well painful).