The Candyman Can

The Candyman is this wonderful, old Malawian man. He comes into Mayoka every night. He sets up his chair and little bench with chocolate and candy and snacks which he then sells to the people hanging out in the bar. What makes this man such an icon to me is not that he sells candy but his look. The picture I took of him was in his “Sunday go to church clothes” (my line). But the first few days he was dressed all in purple, purple socks, purple shorts, purple shirt. Best of all is the hat. He has this purple, pimp daddy hat. It really gives him a pimp/fly guy look or maybe the crows Heckle and Jeckle. We couldn’t tell. It was a classic look.

My trip through Malawi was short and relaxing. I spent a few days on Likomo Island, a small island surrounded by Mozambique territorial waters but part of Malawi. I intended to spend a week here chilling but I got bored. We managed to find a district government boat going to Nkhata Bay and left the island early.

Nkhata Bay was more of what I was looking for. It is a backpackers/travelers gathering spot. After the 3 days alone on Metangula and the real dearth of travelers I had seen in Zim and Northern Mozambique I was looking for some chilling out around other travelers. Nkhata Bay served that purpose.

The jokes were usually something like. “This place is stressful…” “I can’t decide if I should swim and then have breakfast or have breakfast and then swim. I have to fit my yoga in there somewhere and then of course a gin run.” Or “maybe I’ll leave today, maybe tomorrow. Not really sure yet.” It was a great time of just hanging out and having fun with people.

Oh yeah, I did do some activities beside just eat breakfast and swim. I went on a night dive and watched these “dolphin” fish feed on other fish. I snorkeled and watched the cichlids. Cichlids are a species of fish found mostly in Lake Malawi and include all kinds of different fish. Some are big enough to eat and others are just pretty to look at. There was also a sunset cruise and a day of cliff jumping. Overall, a very pleasant 5 days of R&R that I really wanted and needed.

My last day in Malawi had a sad note though. I saw a dead person. We were in the minibus on the way to the Zambian border when we passed the body in the road. Apparently a woman had been hit by a car. I know she was dead because she was lying in the road covered and there was blood around. I think it was a woman because the body was covered in the wrap that a woman wears. I think the worst part might have been the lack of anything going on. There wasn’t a car around, no police, nothing. People were just sitting beside the road almost like nothing happened. I have heard that lots of Malwians are run over every day, it was sad.


Some pictures from Malawi

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