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4 quick takes....
- Waves crashing onto the beach with force,
although not as much as the past days; the storm seemed to have calmed a bit.
The twitching of weaver birds behind me, chatting with each other as they
prepare their nests. Sophie and Doris, singing and talking while they pluck yet
another bouquet of wild flowers to decorate the table. I squint my eyes to
protect them against the bright sunlight. I should get my glasses, but I am
sitting so comfortably here, on the balcony of a tree house. I should not get
too distracted by overlooking the clean water of Lake Malawi, in a shade of
blue that you only see here. The place from where this blog is written could be
worse. But let’s keep things real. All the lovely noises are constantly
interrupted by power tools and builders yelling at each other, the place where
we are staying is amazing but also still a work in progress. But that’s just
how I like it. We have been here a handful of times over the past two years and
it’s amazing to see it take shape, to see it grow and mature.
- We are here visiting a friend who is building
this amazing place (thanks Andrew!) because it’s very quiet on Hartmut’s
building site. Because of the coronavirus (the contractor is Chinese and most
of the workers are stuck in China) and some other reasons work has been slow
for weeks. It’s great because it means that going away for a few days was not a
problem at all. So we packed our bags, got on the ferry on Friday, and we will
only go home on Wednesday again. I am grateful that we can still have
spontaneous adventures. I was always scared that that would stop once we had
kids, and I was nervous that it would break me as I have never been very good
at routine and predictability.
- ‘Will we take this boat or the next one?’
Hartmut and I look at each other as we try to be strategic. It looks like rain
is coming and rain will make the short trip on the small boat a lot less
pleasant, plus all our luggage will be wet. But on the other hand, everybody
seems to think the same because as soon as a boat comes in, everybody pushes
everybody else out of the way to get a spot on the boat. We decide to go for it
anyway. I carry the backpack with laptops and cameras, you know, the stuff that
definitely should not get wet. Nota, the gardener, carries Doris. He is
stronger and a lot taller than me and wades quickly through the water to the
boat. He puts Doris on the wooden bench where she just sits and waits, while
observing the surrounding chaos. I realise that I won’t stay dry, even if I
want to, and walk to the boat too. The water is deeper than I expected and
reaches up to my shirt but I get to the boat without being pushed over and pull
myself on board. Hartmut and Nota bring Sophie and the rest of our luggage and
the boat starts to move away from the shore. On either site of the boat is
written that the maximum capacity of the boat is 22 people and there are only
30 people on the boat which, in Malawi, means that there is space for at least
ten more. We are amazed because we can sit comfortably as the small white boat
slowly moves closer to the ferry. Getting on the ferry is easy. The small boat
docks next to the ferry, right under a ladder that you need to climb up while
other people try to get themselves and their luggage up as well and some really
impatient people use any gap they can find to go down and leave the boat at the
same time. (You know the pushing that sometimes happen when too many people
want to leave and get onto a train at the same time? Imagine that but with a
ladder, two boats and open water). Hartmut climbs out first. Nota lifts the
girls so that Hartmut can lug them safely on board and fortunately the girls
know the drill, so they walk to a quieter site where they patiently wait until
we have our stuff. The staff knows us and we don’t have to wait for the keys to
our hut; it’s already open and waiting for us. A few minutes later we sit in
the bar on the top-deck. ‘Well. That went smooth!’ Then I laugh. Two years ago,
when we first arrived, we would have been overwhelmed by it all, the girls
would have panicked and it would have been a little stressful. It’s funny how
you can get used to anything and it’s great to see how kids can adapt and be so
flexible.
- Can I get away with 4 takes today? I feel like
not much else has happened and frankly, I don’t want to sit here, trying to
wring out another few points while I could be downstairs having fun! Also, I
promised the chef that I would teach him a new recipe for supper tonight, which
I did, so I better go to the kitchen to see how he is getting on. Sorry people,
next week I’ll be better. Have a great week!
