Cape Maclear Weekend :)

August 10, 2009


This past weekend we went to Cape Maclear to escape work drama and relax for a bit. Cape Maclear was reported in my travel guide to be a backpacker’s “mecca” and tourist haven. It a very popular place on Lake Malawi and intersperses villages with resorts and hotels. We left Saturday morning and spent Saturday and Sunday night at the Fat Monkey resort area. Fat Monkey is a really cute backpackers place with rooms as well as cottages and a nice bar/restaurant area. They did a really good job of integrating the local vendors but maintaining limits so that guests were not harassed. The sellers were on the left side of the property in a bungalow and we could go to them to buy whatever we wanted. They sold everything from earrings and jewelry to patch pants to photo albums. A subset of these sellers organized boat trips to an island with snorkeling and lunch. Matt, Andrea and I decided to go ahead and do that. We met one of the guys, Loless (pronounced lawless), who is a tour guide with long dreads. He was very good at interacting with tourists and in some ways reminded me of Junior (although way more into drugs and not as nice or good-looking). Nevertheless, he had an outgoing personality and was fun to spend the day with. The island was primarily made of rocks (and was terribly inaccessible!) and when we got there, we saw schools of brightly colored fish. Loless brought us over early and we were able to get the best spots as he fed the fish and they all came up to the surface. Then boatloads of muzingu’s started coming over- seriously BOATLOADS. The guys collaborate and bring the tourists to this island and set them up for snorkeling and everything. Then they begin making lunch. Lunch was enormous fish (gutted and bleeding and some still breathing) and rice with tomato and spinach stew. (SIDE NOTE: I decided to become a vegetarian. I had not been eating a lot of meat so it shouldn’t be a hard switch. It is easy over here- the trick will be cutting out burgers when I get home.)

Lunch was delicious and soon we headed back for Fat Monkey’s because Andrea was burning in the sun. She went back to rest and Matt and I hung out with Loless some more. I can’t quite decide what to do with him. I don’t think he is entirely trustworthy (although I tend to assume that everyone everywhere is guilty until proven innocent) but he is a very likeable guy.

Another interesting thing- I was asked by two different men at Cape Maclear whether I needed a spare tire. I had told them that I had a boyfriend and they asked whether I needed this tire. One even went so far as to say that I should try many types of fruit because maybe I will discover a sweeter fruit than the one I had originally. Haha nice. But it is definitely interesting in terms of concurrent partnerships in Southern Africa and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Sometimes I can be such a nerd- making public health points out of pick up lines.

The next morning, we got up and headed to the beach area. Since we had all gotten a bit of sun, we started out sitting indoors and playing a game called Bawo. It looks similar to “mancala” but requires the thought and calculations of chess. We had a nice breakfast and then I headed to the beach to soak up a bit more sun. Matt, Andrea and Loless stayed there talking for a while and ultimately came down. Finally, it was time to go home and Maxwell, Abraham, and the girls came to get us. Vanessa and Natasha are such sweethearts. It was extremely dusty in the pick-up on the way home so I gave Vanessa my sunglasses so that the dirt wouldn’t get into her eyes. Little Tasha sat there quietly for a while but then it all became too much and she had to get moving. She was fidgeting all over the place and then stole the glasses off of Vanessa’s face. Poor Vanessa- she wanted them back but Tasha was being so bad. She let her have them for a while but soon it became an all too familiar pinching war.

Tomorrow, we are off to Lilongwe for a conference with the College of Medicine-Centre for Reproductive Health. My boss at Hopkins will be there as well. It should all be interesting. Work has been very stressful and I feel like I am in the middle of a battle. Working in an African context is very different from working in the United States and it takes a while to get used to and get comfortable with. On the other hand, our collaborators in Malawi have been pretty difficult. For example, they never should have left me in a new country at the airport by myself. All of the drama at work is terrible and it makes me want to come fly back tomorrow. But then, I look around at the beautiful country and remember the amazing people I have already met and I know I have to stay and continue on.