E C K E R L E S I N M A L A W I : Another successful weekend at the lake...

Weekend trip to the lake was great as usual.... I don't think Michelle stepped foot out of the hospital this weekend, but she has officially worked her last weekend call shift here for a while..

Me and the kids made the trek on Friday to Cape Maclear.. It's exactly 3 hours and 40 minutes from our home and is a beautiful (and somewhat frightening) drive over the Dedza mountains to the lake ..
We had no problems getting there and had a weekend of lounging around, drinking lots of soft drinks, snorkelling , laying on rafts and basically just being bums.

I bought a pair of shorts from a guy named Planet.. All i had to do was choose the material, he took my measurements and within an hour sewed me up a pair of great looking shitenge shorts... I'm not sure when I'll wear them.. I also had a name plate made for some friends by a local wood worker (Humphrey) ... see photo below.. When I asked Humphrey about making the name plate, he gave me the price and I told him .. " I am leaving tomorrow morning. do you think it can be ready?" He said.. " we will stop everything we are doing and finish your job." Sure enough, at 8 am it was stained and ready to go..

... If you ever get a chance to come to Malawi, I would recommend it..You have to be committed to be flexible and to be willing to accept that things are nothing like back home, but it is absolutely amazing.. My opinion of this place has changed dramatically. Kate and I were talking on the drive and talked about when we arrived here in August how we thought this place was a giant dust bowl.. but after the rains came, the place took on a completely different look.. I have never seen such beautiful landscape and such beautiful sunsets... They are an event worth celebrating... and most people that visit here do... I was sitting on the beach having a "sunddowner",taking in the setting sun and watching the kids play in the lake... another American woman who was volunteering here for a month (most of the americans you meet here are doctors or med students ) was watching the sun go down and took a few photos as the sun went below the horizon and said.. "that was beautiful".. I kind of scoffed and said... "you should watch the sky for another 40 minutes... it gets better and better." I consider myself a sunset pro.. I can't do much in this life well, but I can watch me a sunset.. Anyway, the sunsets are otherworldly .... the lake becomes still as glass, and feels eerie.. As locals are nearby finishing washing their dishes in the lake, all of us foreigners are busy staring into the sky... I'm sure they think we are nuts.. But it is truly stunning and I am sad that this was the last time I will take in a sunset like the ones below..

As the kids settled in for the night, I was able to watch rugby with some south Africans after dinner.. We sat around in the lounge and watched the Cheetahs v. the Storm.. .. It was nice.. Lots of cussing and guzzling of beer. The epitome of excess.. Just like watching a sporting event at home.. Made me homesick...

We are back at it this Monday and have an actual full week of school .... Kids are great and Michelle is relieved to be finished with a weekend of non stop hospital work..

I think my main goal now is to keep everyone safe.. With the end in sight, I have become a little over cautious about everything.. We have made it this far, with no major illnesses , disease of injury, so I hope we can stay well for the next 6-7 weeks...

Here's the photos from the weekend.. some are from Otter Point, where Kate is jumping off the rocks.. Some local boys came with us to "watch our things" while we swam... I also brought another guy with us to "watch our car and keep it safe from baboons".. Everyone is looking for a job and I'm happy to oblige.. The kids that came with us to the lake actually enjoyed using goggles and masks to see the cychlid fish they probably swim with everyday.. One of them had the bottom half or a 2 litre bottle and caught several fish to show the girls.. They also were fascinated with the two rafts we brought with us.. They had never seen anything like it... Other photos are the lakefront , the bar area of the lodge we stayed at, and other random things like cows in the middle of the highway... You have to be alert all the time driving here.. they just walk out in the middle of the road... them and goats are the biggest issue..

Sorry for all the photos.. for some reason the internet is working really well right now, so I thought I'd take advantage of the ability to upload photos over a reasonable period of time. Hope all is well back home.