Its been a while since I’ve blogged - partly because I’ve been busy trying to finalize the ARV survey for piloting at the Mwai clinic at the Mchinji District Hospital, but also because I’ve been defeated by the internet gods. They will let me connect and check email, but when it comes to uploaded or downloading any documents I have incurred some serious wrath. The two previous posts, I’ve been waiting to post for a week, because they just weren’t the same without the pictures. Still not able to upload but have given up. Yesterday Ben, Emily and I left Mchinji and traveled here for a couple of days to see the lake and to get out of dodge for a few days. At Lilongwe bus depot we were offered the usual variety however this time we were offered a lot of batteries. And not just any old batteries, these were gen-u-ine Sumsong and Kaddock batteries! Some businessman is making a killing with the Samsung and Kodak rip-offs.
We took a minibus from Lilongwe to Salima, the “big” town nearest to the lake, and then hopped in the back of a mini pick-up truck for the final 15 km to the lake. And I know I said no more minibus/transportation stories but, well, I lied. This particular pick-up truck involved 23 adults, 5 children, 5 sacks of freshly dug sweet potatoes, 2-3 sacks of rice, some posts and pans, and one live chicken. We concocted our own version of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” song as we rode. I spent the ride squatting on my pack towards the front with a sweet older woman reclining between my legs because when I invited her to sit on the pack with me she was very happy and made her self right at home!
Here's our chicken friend - note the small child who calmly held the flapping angry bird for the half hour trip:
Yes ladies and gentlemen this is a small pick-up loaded 10 feet high:
Beach buskers (check out the homemade bass!):
Senga Bay fishermen:
Moonrise over Lake Malawi:
And yes, we got up for sunrise too:
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