© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

We ordered some drinks and asked about accommodation. It turned out they were very busy, they could accommodate our friend, but they didn’t have anywhere for a couple to stay together. We decided to enjoy our drinks before we thought about what to do next. There was Richard, me, our Aussie friend, and two female nurses from Holland, all sitting together drinking and talking. I can’t remember what started it now after all this time, but there was a problem. A couple of guys who worked at Fat Monkeys, Richard, and our Aussie friend began arguing, it all got a bit crazy. So now Richard and I were pleased that they didn’t have any accommodation for us, they told us that they would have some for us the next day. We left, and had no intention of going back there, we didn’t want to give them any more of our money. We walked further along the beach until we came to Steven's Resthouse. Thankfully they had a double room for us. Our friend had decided to stay at Fat Monkeys, but the next day he turned up at Steven's, he didn't like where he was staying and he moved to Steven's. We stayed in a lovely big room, right on the beach. It had a shower that trickled water, mosquito nets without holes in them, and two very comfortable beds. After our first night there we realised that there were no mosquitoes, so we didn’t need the nets, which probably explains why they were in such good condition. It didn’t have any electricity, but we were given some candles so we were fine. There were some rooms behind ours that did have electricity, we could have moved but we liked staying on the beach. The bar, such as it was, had plenty of cold beer, so we were very happy. There were great views across Lake Malawi where we would sit, on the great big slabs of concrete that made up beach side tables and benches at Steven's Resthouse, and watch the sunset. We didn't eat at Steven's, I don’t think they served food during our stay, we used to go up the road to Thomas' Grocery, Restaurant and Bar. Thomas' was little more than a wooden shack, with a few tables and benches out the front. It was pleasant sitting outside eating, the tables were in the shade underneath a rough straw roof. We ate there most days, with our Australian friend, and occasionally an American guy we had met joined us. The American guy was on a strict budget, so he used to fill up on ugali, a tasteless white mass of gunk made from maize. Apparently after you eat it, it expands in your stomach helping you to fill full for longer. He would also finish off anything we left on our plates, he had a huge appetite. The food at Thomas' was very good, we ate most of the dishes on offer during our stay at Steven's. We ate a lot of the beans and rice dish, which was as you would expect boiled rice topped with a very tasty bean and vegetable concoction in a tomato sauce. The portions were always huge, one meal a day was usually plenty for us. We also ate omelettes and chicken, although the local chickens were very skinny with little meat on them, and we ate breakfast a couple of times, delicious pancakes, all served with mugs of hot tea. Steven's was such a relaxing place to stay we didn't want to leave. Practically every day we would say that we would leave tomorrow. Tomorrow just never seemed to come! We had wanted to get a boat, the Ilala, from Monkey Bay, hopping on and off, during its journey along Lake Malawi. The whole journey from Monkey Bay in the south to Chilumba in the north, takes about three days. It stops at around a dozen or so towns along the way, and we had been looking forward to joining it. Unfortunately at the time of our visit the boat was out of service, and would remain so for the foreseeable future. We were disappointed but still happy to stay at Cape Maclear Beach as it was so relaxing. It was such a lovely place, the locals were friendly and we felt no rush to move on. We often sat on the beach admiring the views, but we never went in the water. The area is known for Bilharzia or schistosomiasis, a disease that occurs all over Africa. Bilharzia is transmitted by tiny worms carried by water snails and infected humans. As Bilharzia can be contracted by swimming in lakes or shallow water, we thought it best not to get our feet wet. For many years the health and tourism departments in Malawi told people that there was no risk of catching Bilharzia as Lake Malawi was Bilharzia free. Many people believed this story, even some of the well known travel guides printed that there was no risk of contracting the disease. We knew that the water for our bathroom came straight from Lake Malawi, we wanted to be extra careful so we always brushed our teeth with bottled water. As for hair washing and showering, we didn’t bother ... only joking, we behaved like divas and used bottled water for that too! It’s amazing what you can do with a huge bucket and a jug, my hair had never been so soft! The fact that there was a large disease control centre for Bilharzia up the coast from Steven's, should have been warning enough for everyone that Bilharzia existed in Lake Malawi. Eventually we forced ourselves to move on from Steven's and Cape Maclear Beach. We had arranged a ride on a van from Steven's back to Monkey Bay. When it arrived it was already full of people, with about ten squashed in the back. It was similar to the one we arrived on, a van with an open flat bed at the rear. We jumped up and tried to get comfortable, as we knew the journey was fairly long and very bumpy. As first it wasn't too bad, but once we started to drive round the bends some of the sacks we were sitting on shifted. So now we were clinging on for dear life. Richard has much stronger arms than I do and he was managing to hold on. I was not doing so well, and as we sped round a sharp turn in the road I found it very difficult to stay onboard. I could see the dusty track flashing by below me, and I just knew I was going to fall off. Just as I lost my grip and feared I would be thrown to the ground, a large local lady who was sitting behind me grabbed me round my middle. I couldn't believe it, I don't know which was more shocking, her grabbing me, which made me jump, or the thought of hitting the ground. I was so pleased she did grab me though, I couldn't thank her enough. She just laughed and smiled, and for the rest of the journey kept a firm grip on the neck of my shirt. I felt like a naughty little girl, I could barely breath with the front of my shirt being pulled up against my throat, but I also felt a lot safer as I knew there was no way this lady was going to let go of me.

MONKEY BAY

Needless to say, when we finally came to a halt in Monkey Bay we both breathed a huge sigh of relief, we had made it alive! We were going back to Blantyre and then to Zimbabwe. Unfortunately we had to spend the night in Monkey Bay, as the bus for Blantyre didn’t leave until 4am the next morning. I don't remember where we stayed that night, it was somewhere on the main road. We chose it because it was close to where we needed to catch the bus the following morning, we didn't want to have to walk too far in the pitch black. Our room was okay, although quite dirty. We spent the early evening drinking in a couple of places on the main road. Then we bumped into the American guy we had met at Cape Maclear Beach. We carried on drinking, we were all getting quite tipsy so we thought we had better get something to eat. We found a restaurant that looked busy and went in. We all ordered some food, which we ate outside in the back garden. The owner came out and joined us for a while, and we all chatted about her life in Malawi. The American guy was enjoying flirting with her, so after drinking several more bottles of Carlsberg Richard and I went back to our hotel. It was gone midnight, we had to be up at 3am to catch the bus. In retrospect we wouldn't have bothered with a hotel room, we could have just stayed in the bar until our bus arrived. We managed to a get a little sleep, and then it was time to walk to where the bus would arrive. It was literally pitch black, we could hardly see a thing, thankfully we had our torch with us. We managed to walk to where the bus would pick us up, it was eerily quiet. There were no other signs of life, I sat down on a step for a while. Richard was wandering around, then we heard snoring, we scanned the surrounding area. We saw a shape on the ground, in the area where the snoring seemed to be coming from. It was a man asleep on the dirt, I guess he was waiting for the bus too. We were a bit early for the bus, but better early than to miss it, we wouldn’t have wanted to spend another night in Monkey Bay. The bus arrived roughly on time, excellent, the snoring man roused when it pulled up and he got on too. It was not a large coach sized bus but was fairly modern and comfortable. We sat together and snuggled up, sleeping most of the way to Blantyre.

BLANTYRE

Arriving back in Blantyre it seemed so noisy and busy, after the peace and quiet we had enjoyed at Steven's, Cape Maclear Beach. We walked from the bus straight to Doogles, hoping they would have a room for us. Thankfully we were put in the room next to the one we stayed in the first time we were there. It was roughly the same as our previous room, except the shower was better with more hot water, lovely. We both fell in love with Malawi, we met some lovely people, ate some good food, relaxed, and enjoyed the beauty of this wonderful country. It’s easy to see why Malawi is referred to as the friendliest country in Africa. All too soon our time there had come to an end, we were sorry to leave, but we would happily return to Malawi again in the future. I think we only stayed at Doogles for a coupe of nights, before catching a bus to Mozambique and then on to Zimbabwe.

Oceania