Island living

 The last day of 2023 was very nice, we went for an Ethiopian meal and I cooked up what I could of the food in the fridge for an evening meal. A and a friend of hers went off to Annie's lodge and managed to stay away from her dad and Keith who went to watch the football.

Despite seeing the new year in asleep, I woke up about 3am to see a few messages UK time and was then kinda of awake all morning. The first day of 2023 was simple. Rest, a good book, which made me cry, liquorice all-sorts  and simple leftovers and beautiful fruit salad too. I hope that I find most of 2023 as straight forward. 

On Monday we set off for the holiday part of the holiday. Mumbo Island. It is still a beautiful place, we were here a few years ago. That time with the Wagner's and The Martin/Sacket's.

The island is preserved and again, simple. The setting; a deep green tree covered island with boulders and rocks that are a sandy yellow with the marks of distant years when the lake was even higher and kissed by a peachy pink in places. The trees appear to grow out of these boulders and both vary in size. The roots of the trees are visible along the faces of the boulders and cracks. The colour of the water shifting as you move across it and throughout the day and the perfect temperature. Fish swim around and monitor lizards casually stroll along the stony sand take a drink in the water before appear to effortlessly plod back to the cover of the bushes. Skinks and smaller lizards criss-cross your path and a range of birds take various risks in their proximity to us humans. Some simply brazen, as they attempt to steal our food.

To get to the bedrooms you have to walk across and up a rickety looking bridge onto a rocky mound. Each hut just big enough for the bed and a little space to move, but with a balcony equipped with a hammock and chairs. No matter what part your room is on, the view is stunning and clear. The long drop toilets happily don't smell and to take a shower you have to request the water to be brought over upon the staff's head and put into the hanging bucket. 

BigA and A, while on a swim, discovered a small crocodile on a rock, not really big enough to be a real worry but a little unnerving. It was only seen the once and wasn't big enough to eat any of us! We took a sunset cruise one evening and saw the stunning beauty of the sky change so rapidly as the sun set, they are so much faster here than the UK. The colour of the waves changing just as fast as they echo the drama in the sky. And then an almost full moon that lit our way back. 

Over these days we have eaten lots and swam often, taking advantage of the kayaks and opportunity to read. I took a couple of the books mum had left behind and love nothing more than a warm sun, cool water and a good read. It rained too, of course, no escape from that. We have played a few games too. Mostly all good fun! 

We headed home yesterday and were lucky to have gone when we did because a river along the route had broken its banks and some of the road was beginning to be washed away. We could see the damage already knowing so sadly that that area will have lost crops too. The life here really is precarious and I think we all felt hopeless as we drove away to our lovely lunch. Sometimes the stark difference between our lives and that of the average Malawian is full on. 

Happily I couldn't get much signal so my detox was much easier to manage. Especially as on my way I'd spent a fair amount of time strategizing on the unforeseen school closure the government had announced due to a severe outbreak of cholera and typhoid in Blantyre. Plans changed, emails out, online classrooms to be set up, INSET delayed. The start of term is not likely to be quite what I'd or anyone else had been planning. Sarah, who is now a dab hand at planning for outbreaks of various kinds, had attached a vaccine clinic at the school. I'm hoping there's one next week too. Mum and her regular donors have helped with more money as we intend to bulk buy chlorine and aim to get clean water to the township that neighbours our school. 

It was a wonderful break and now I need to get up and dressed to go and get our car that has been in the garage for about 6 months!