January 23, 2009

Rain, rain and more rain. It is definitely the theme of the month. No, it doesn’t generally rain all day, and yes, it does cool things off to a very comfortable temperature, but we do find ourselves saying: enough already! But say what we will it is going to rain, and then some, for the next month at least. So it is grin and bear it time. The rains have turned everything beautifully green. The fairways on the golf course look like real fairways now. Unfortunately it also means the rough is impassable and those long fairways are pretty formidable when there is little extra roll on that ball.

Our trip to Zomba, former capital of Malawi, was also pretty soggy but interesting. The landscape is quite different as it is nestled at the base of a mountain. The major economic force in the region is the university which was relocated here from Blantyre to compensate for the loss of the government jobs when the capital was relocated to Lilongwe, an astute political move. Unfortunately the stunning views of the Zomba plateau were obscured much of the time by cloud; however, our knowledgeable guide made our hike to the Falls and various lookouts quite interesting. He also protected us from the ever-present rock sellers. And once again we were astonished by how much cargo a Malawian can manage on a simple bicycle. Transporting stacks of firewood down the mountain is grueling work, to be compensated at the end of the day with barely enough money to survive and maybe a cold home-brewed beer before having to haul that bike all the way back up the mountain again to the home village. Life continues to be quite harsh for people who live in those remote villages.

Back in Lilongwe our time has been consumed with school and travel plans for the upcoming holidays, not to mention trying to figure out how and when we are getting home this summer. Both events still seem a long way off but getting anything organized here takes time.

Finally, a break in the weather: lovely, mid-twenty temperatures, quite hot in the sun actually, and no rain for three days. Being able to hang the laundry outside instead of having it add to the humidity in the house is even a treat. And the road crews have managed to fill in some of the potholes which multiply with every rainfall. Yes, we are enjoying it while we can.