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Published: October 31st 2008
PART II (continued from Part I)
After breakfast we set out to Mzuzu, Malawi's third city, for the nation's big Independence Day celebration, which this year was being held in Mzuzu's soccer stadium. We had no idea what we were in for, whether we would get in, and whether it would be worth it...but we were going! It was a pleasant hour-long drive through a rubber-tree forest. Amazingly, you can actually smell rubber as you're driving through it! And local kids sell rubber balls all along the drive. Mzuzu is a very small but pretty town; all the streets President Bingu Wa Mutharika passed down were decked out with Malawian flags (and scores of police). At the stadium there were huge lines wrapped around the stadium, and lots of groups of women decked out in their Bingu
chitenjes (skirts of wrapped fabric bearing the president's face all over them!). We figured we would never get in, but walked up to the stadium to see if anything was visible. As we were heading up the hill to one of the stadium doors, a policeman saw us and struck up a conversation. We said we had driven to see the celebration, and
Bingu ladies
Check out these women--they are all decked out in their special-occasion chitenjes deocrated with the image of the face of the president, Bingu wa Mutharika! He usually has a contingent of them for every public appearance.I have to say this is one time that having the
mzungu passport really paid off. He told us to follow him, walked us right up to the VIP door and let us in. It felt horribly unfair to all the Malawians he shut the door to after us, but then again, this was probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance for us.
Once inside we found ourselves in the midst of the crowd, which was huge, and a display of military might. Soldiers in uniform were marching in tight formations, and there was some mock-combat production that involved colored smoke. It was pretty amazing being there, but I wasn't too blown away at this point. Then, out of nowhere, a military plane swooped down, just over our heads; the crowd ooed and aahed, and I think my heart skipped a beat! It was pretty exciting. Then, a helicopter descended right over the center of the stadium, and hovered while soldiers slid from its side door down ropes onto the field. Then, the plane that had swooped down earlier became visible overhead, and everyone's attention shifted to what we figured out were parachuters jumping. Amazingly, almost all of them managed to land
as planned on the field; only the last, unfortunate parachuter came down right behind the stadium wall (which was pretty hilarious, unless you think about the talking-to he probably got afterwards!). After the big military display the political speeches started (in Chichewa) so we decided to have lunch somewhere and head back to Kande for the last of the day's sunlight hours.
Back in Kande, my mission to darken got into full swing, while John Paul and Sebastien learned how to play bao (the neat pebble game you see in the photo) and Mike and Lesley were entertained by some local kids. John Paul and I attempted to ride a traditional pirogue without much success! They are very wobbly and uncomfortable, but of course the local kids just laughed at us since they have been managing those things since before they could walk probably. Someone in our group arranged a traditional dinner in the village for us so around 6pm we walked in the sand along a path lit only by starlight through traditional mud huts until we came to our "restaurant" for the evening. We sat outside on the ground, on a mat, with a kerosene lamp in
the middle. The wife of our host was cooking in an outdoor stove right next to us, and she prepared an amazing array of dishes. First we had sweet potato soup made with some tomato and onion for seasoning, then we had some kind of greens (mustard greens I think) also cooked with tomato, rice, kidney beans, and some hard boiled eggs cooked in tomato. I have to say I had been dubious of the whole thing; I have had the opportunity to have lots of meals like this, but with friends in the camp and in Lilongwe. I didn’t like the idea of paying to go “into the village” to try and get a sample of “traditional Malawian culture.” But, it turned out to be a really lovely evening, and obviously it is a very harmless way to employ the local population while also interacting with villagers on a somewhat deeper level than you could if they just come up to you on the beach to sell you something. I thoroughly enjoyed it and for people with no time to develop actual relationships with locals, it is a very reasonable and beneficial substitute, I think. The food was, in
all honesty, totally bland, but I thoroughly appreciated its simplcity, wholesomeness, and the fact that it was 100%!s(MISSING)low food (meaning it was not shipped on a plane from some far-off place and discharging all kinds of greenhouse gases in the process, but was grown right in that village).
After dinner we walked back to the hostel to play some pool and read; somehow despite my total lack of pool-playing experience John Paul and I pulled off not being the worst team! That credit went to Sebastien and Tayllor who lost every game they played 😊. It was supposed to be an early night because we were very eager to wake up for the sunrise in the morning—but John Paul and I were the only ones who actuallly managed to wake up at 5am. We parked ourselves on a pirogue to watch the lake change colors as the sun rose in the sky. It was the first time I had ever seen the sun rise over the lake, and it was amazing. I had planned to go back to sleep, but it was too beautiful out so we got our books and parked in a hammock in the shade
while we waited for the rest of our group to wake up. We had a boat trip planned to visit the island just off Kande’s shore at 10am; Mike and Lesley weren’t quite ready to get up at that ungodly hour 😊 so along with Sebastien we piled into a canoe for what was probably a 20-min. trip; the driver agreed to go pick the other two up in an hour. At the island there were a couple of local fisher boys with their canoes—and nothing else! Just beautiful rocks to dive from into crystal clear water.
I was a little too nervous to dive from the rocks, they were pretty steep. But here were these tiny little boys, no taller than my waist, fearlessly jumping in over and over. So after watching Sebastien safely take the first plunge, I dove in. It was exhilarating although not having done that in a long, long time I got serious butterflies in my stomach and water in my nose 😊. That was more than enough excitement for the day for me, so I was getting ready to get back to Operation Tan-A-Lot when Sebastien suggested that as the canoe bringing Mike
and Lesley reached the shore, we perform a synchronized dive to welcome them. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of feeling my stomach fly up into my throat again but I decided I should face my fear, so together, on the count of three, we jumped in and yelled “Welcome!” This time was much better; I pinched my nose with one hand which however less graceful definitely made the whole process less uncomfortable. I don’t know how impressed groggy Mike and Lesley were with our corny little display but after the second dive I guess the adrenaline was flowing and I couldn’t wait to dive again! John Paul, having been practicing his swimming for a couple of days now, wanted in on the fun and decided to dive. After a dramatic jump, he hit the water and started—drowning. I know it doesn’t sound funny, but with his arms flailing everywhere and the tiny little boys coming by on their pirogue to rescue him—I was laughing. I spent the next hour or so alternating between laying on the rocks drying under the sun and taking breaks from my mission to jump off the cliff—moving an inch or two up in
altitude each time—with the little fisherboys. One of them would stand on my left, the other on my right, and once I mastered the art of holding my nose without the use of my fingers, all three of us held hands as we jumped in. It was so much fun!
The big finale of the day was a really huge cliff on the island that our canoe captains directed us to. I don’t know how many feet high it was, but I can tell you that proportionally the ratio of that drop to my fear amounted to no WAY am I jumping off this thing! Mike and Sebastien were the only daredevils willing to take the dare offered by our guide. Mike went first; he walked up the edge of the cliff and peered off, went back to get some running distance, paused for what felt like an eternity, then leapt off. It was absolutely crazy—but he made it! Sebastien was next; like Mike, he walked up to the edge to get a sense of where to aim, then walked back to get some running distance, and paused. But Sebastien decided to come back for a second glance over
Sebastien at dinner in the village
This gives you an idea of just how by-candelight it was! the edge before jumping. He made his way back to his starting point, paused…and then came back
again to the ledge to look off! I believe he did that five or six times before finally jumping in. It was hilarious! In any case he is braver than I was; he actually dove in eventually (and survived).
We then had to say goodbye to our little fisherboy friends and make our way back to the beach before commencing the 4-hour drive back to Lilongwe. Everyone else played pool for a while while I soaked up every last possible drop of sunshine before we piled back into my car and headed home. Next time: yet
another independence celebration (can you guess which country's?) and my first Lilonwge dinner party.
Love,
Martina
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kpoms
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operation tan-a-lot
how did it work out!? definitely darker? i feel so bad for that one dude who landed behind the stadium! haha he must be so embarassed... but still that's hilarious.