LATE breakfast, 0800! The day was already sunny, hot and sparkling. Further, it was already clear that pretty much the whole Malawian world, at least the car-owning part, was about to descend on Kande Beach to enjoy Christmas Day on the sand and in the surf.
There has been much discussion among our group about the wisdom of bathing in Lake Malawi, given the rather conflicting advice surrounding bilharzia. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.
Finding that some sort of signal has been known to turn up at the site office every now and then, I nip over there to try and send the 5 or 6 blog entries which have been queuing up for days. Each para takes an eternity, and photos at least double that. Thus, a 20-minute job takes 2.5 hours.
The morning having thus been taken up, it is soon time to reconvene at the truck - we have been asked to keep away until 1300 while the team prepares for lunch - and there is just time for a cooling shower beforehand. The effort that the team, of just 3, remember, has put in is utterly remarkable. It would have been tricky for three to have prepared that standard of meal in a regular kitchen, never mind out of the back of a truck. Prawn cocktail, Leg of lamb, chicken stuffed with blue cheese & cranberry, a second chicken stuffed with olives, cauliflower/broccoli au gratin, stuffed pumpkin, roast potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize fritters, carrot & pineapple salad. With both pink and regular champagnes, crackers, etc, etc, etc. All washed down to the accompaniment of Michael Bublé and Simon & Garfunkel, inter alia.
After that lot, sweet course had to take a rain check, and we all disappeared for two hours, to return at 1700 for Mike's mum's special of steamed golden syrup pudding with added extra dried fruit & nuts. Oh and chocolate ice cream.
The beach began to clear just as soon as the sun went down, and all was quiet by 2000, except for the turn entertaining those at the bar. Thankfully there were only two other overland trucks on the campus overnight, and the night was not the slightest bit rowdy. An electric storm added the son et lumière to round off the day/night.
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