What a weekend!!!

It started out Friday as we left the lodge about 4pm in two small vans and set out to get fuel.  That was a success!  Lawrence was driving our van and got us into a filling station with minimal wait.

As we set off down the road, it was about dusk.  It is cool and dry here now and its been cloudy the past few days.  At night it is in the 50s and in the day, it gets up a little over 80.  The sun rises right about 6am and sets about 5:30 according to my GPS... and sure enough, its right again.  (I'm sad to say, I've been awake voluntarily for sunrise everyday... a shocker for those who know me.)


Anyway, we set off for lake Malawi which is about 75 miles away, about an hour and a half on these roads... thats because dodging all the kids, goats, bicycles and general population walking on the roadway.  Not to mention everybody drives on the wrong side of the road here.  The entire way, there were people along the road.  The countryside was pretty but too dark to get pictures.  :(

There were a lot of rolling hills and in the distance, odd shaped mountains.  Not really in a mountain range but rather a few random mountains peaking up by themselves.

Every so often, we would have to stop at a police roadblock where they actually had gates across the road.  I'm not sure of the propose because they always just opened they gate and we went through, no questions asked.

Sooo... We drive for what seemed like forever dodging all the people in the road until we come to a dirt road.  (Believe it or not, many of the main roads here are really good paved roads.)  As we head off the beaten path, the hopes of some luxurious resort are quickly fading.... luxurious just meaning the presence of hot water.  Within a mile or two, we turn into the "Lakeside Resort."  A few of us walk into the reception area where the guy clicks a switch and turns on one of those illuminated picture frames of a jungle waterfall, emitting the sounds of tranquility.... chirping birds and water raining down.  He looks at it and grins with pride.
Now let me be honest... This was a really nice gesture but I think this thing had probably sat out in the sun and been rained on for a few summers worth of garage sales before he scored this prize.  The once beautiful green jungle foliage was now faded to aqua green and then entire thing was cloudy as if it where out of focus.  I believe the speaker has been rained on, or possibly submerged as the tweeting sounds of the bird actually sounded more like the squeak of the bathroom door that is right next to where I've been sleeping or the floor all week.  The tranquil jungle rain and waterfall sounds have somehow morphed into more of a static and hiss but... if you closed your eyes, you can ALMOST imagine it is not a hiss and a squeak.  No luck in actually making the sounds out to be a waterfall and birds... Id never know what it was supposed to be if I hadn't seen one 25 years ago in a truck stop in Oklahoma.  None the less, this guy is proud, and I am respectfully in awe.  After all, this is his castle.

So John (the Irishman) and I go to the first room as the guy unlocks it.  We go in and see two beds for the three of us.  Yay!  We get to bond... Some more. I guess Grant and I will be sleeping together.  (Its just real good that we are all very secure with our masculinity.)

I go to the bathroom and turn on the light.  The first thing I notice is a really nice set of roots growing out of the baseboard by the toilet.  I turn to the shower and grab the knob on the left and give it a twist.  With a spitting crackle, the shower sprays ice cold water all over my shirt sleeve.  I step back and wait... and step back some more since the flowered shower curtain is about 8 inches too short.  I wait, and I wait.  I step out and check on John.  He is standing arms crossed looking at the TV.  Aljazeera news is on.  Its either that, or Aljazeera news.  Nope... no HBO in this place.

I go back the the shower and I stick my hand in.  Is it still cold?  Can my imagination pull some luke warm change out of it?  (You know the feeling when you really HOPE the water is getting warmer, and its not.)  So, I go back to John and tell him I think it MIGHT be getting warm, because I'm hoping that, and I think God might not let John down if I start that story.

Pretty soon John walks out to go look at the others rooms.  Within seconds, he comes running down the sidewalk yelling at me to "get yer stuff, wee'rre a'moovin'!" in his hilarious Irish accent that I just love.
Turns out John has found where everyone else is staying, and it faces the lake, with its crashing waves and wind nearly at the doorstep.  The room is three times the size, has two beds and a bunk bed and... you guessed it, hot water.  (And smaller roots growing out of the bathroom baseboard.)

When the night finally settled, Max moved into the room with myself and Grant and John went into an identical room just next door with Doug and Glen.  Nobody had to top-bunk it this way.

We all explored around the best we could in the dark, all amazed by the lake.  It had sand, and waves, and it was less than 100 feet away.  This place is gonna be okay!

Jimi ordered us food and we all ate, excited to be somewhere new and everybody had a bed and hopefully hot water.  We ate, jabbered and went to sleep.

I decided a sunrise in the morning would be a good camera shot so I set my watch for 5:20 and got up.  The lake runs mostly north/south and across the lake to the east is Mozambique, so I am stoked to get some really cool pictures.

I wake up and go out with my tripod to the beach.  As it turns out, the wind coming off the water is kinda cold and about 30mph.  Not real conducive to holding the camera still, and...its really cloudy.  I wait it out and get some pretty cool pics, I hope.  Grant, Lynda and Doug also ventured out and we eventually walked down the beach.  Turns out it was very nice, and relaxing.

Then, we run into Coconut.  Coconut just happens to have a bag of stuff to sell on the beach and suckers a few of us into ordering some cross necklaces and such from him that he is going to carve.  We order the necklaces and buy a few trinkets that seem pretty cheap.  By the time we walk back down to our resort, word is apparently spreading that we are in the area as the local peddlers are migrating into out cozy little resort courtyard.  Everywhere we go that day, they go.  Arriving with more and more stuff, and as the day goes on, the stuff gets better and better... and cheaper.

Turns out Coconut wasn't the only, or the best deal in town.  Who names their kid Coconut anyway?  He didn't even answer to the name when you said it.  Grrrr.

Turns out the day went pretty quick. After HOT showers,  we all walked down the beach to another resort where there was a large beach and messed around.  A bunch of us got in the water... even though this huge lake allegedly has those skin boring parasites in it...I think we all escaped being attacked.  We ate a buffet lunch with some real authentic food like some fish with big teeth that really smelled like fish, nsima, rice, chicken, and all the African fixins.

We lounged around, played ball with the local kids on the beach, bought more junk from the roaming beach peddlers, and headed back to our resort.

About 3:30 we loaded on a tiny little boat... well, most of us did, a few stayed behind in case we sank so all of our families could be properly notified, and we rode out and around a small island.  Turns out bald eagles live in Africa and fly all over the place.  We probably saw three or four on the trip.  Our boat ride was fun, the boat was small, the waves were big and a few people got a little wet, but it was a good time!
Upon our return, the peddler's merchandise multiplied and got cheaper.  Turns out they TRADE stuff.  They love clothes, shoes, and anything you can pull out of your bag.  Several people traded flip flops and the like for bracelets and such.  I ended up losing my sandals, a cheap Timex watch, a Walmart brand multi tool and a little cash for a really awesome carving of a fisherman that stands about 3ft tall.  I traded those size 13 shoes to probably the only guy around big enough to fit them.  (They don't grow Malawians very big at all.)

 (Notice all the bare feet in the pictures...  The shoes got traded for loot!)

We ended the night with a great supper together and Kayla, Mikayla, Abby, Max, and Megan doing some BTCV! art in front of my camera.


We retired and I woke up again to take sunrise pictures to find wind and clouds again.  We had breakfast and gathered for our own little church service where Timothy gave a great talk about having God in our hearts.  Lawrence followed up with some great prayer and songs... even some of the peddlers joined us, even Coconut.

The last of the peddling was done and we headed out only to stop in the roadside markets.  (We figured out where the peddlers get their stuff!)  Everyone got some really cool stuff to include drums, statues, baskets, and bracelets.  I even traded a package of AA batteries for a hand carved African mask.  :)

We got back to Lilongwe around 2pm and had pizza.  We were all exhausted from such a great time together.  Its obvious we all have the same appreciation for the situation we are in and love meeting the local Africans and interacting with them.  They treat us so good, so friendly, so warm and genuine.
They may not have much it water, but their warm hearts make up for it.

I'm thankful for this experience of a lifetime, with such great people.  I couldn't ask for more in my life... well, I could, but I don't feel the need.  God provides all I will ever need and this experience reaffirms that every day.

Well, the dogs are barking so, that's my sign... we're back in Lilongwe and its time to sleep.

I will add pictures to this post hopefully tomorrow, so check back!

Goodnight, and don't forget your conversations with God.  :)