While the challenges of here life are never-ending, I always manage to carve out some memorable weekends. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let them do most of the talking...
Two weekends ago, I was a "tourist" in Lilongwe. My friend Emma came into town and we took a tour of the nearby Wildlife Nature Sanctuary. It was surprisingly beautiful and a lot of fun! (And I think our tour guide secretly liked us...)
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This is how our tour started (the guide slammed a gun - yes it's
real - on the table)... |
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| They are being serious. |
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| A hyenas' den. Thank goodness they were fast asleep! |
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| Blood wood tree. It has medicinal value, and really looked like blood! |
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| We kind of saw a crocodile swimming here! |
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| The beauties of nature. |
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Me and Emma on a huge rock!
(Does anyone know which type of rock it may be?) |
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| A really cool seed. |
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| Our tour guide really liked us. |
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| I learned that a fig tree is a parasite! |
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| Bamboo in Malawi |
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| Loved the birds nests (right side). |
That weekend, I also attended my first Malawian wedding (and I actually knew the bride)! We went for the reception, which we thought would start around 12 pm (so we showed up 30 minutes after). Instead, we were the first ones there! Lesson learned! The receptions here aren't like in the U.S. or even other African countries I've been to, where there's lots of food, dancing, and sometimes drinking. Instead, it's almost more like a show where we're part of the audience, and we get up frequently to dance and donate. Sometimes they provide a snack like a piece of chicken or a donut, but you should definitely come with a full stomach and a full wallet!
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My friends (Eric and Emma) and I are the first guests to arrive.
And they told us 10 am... |
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| Here comes the bride... |
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| Bridal party. |
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Me and Emma. They moved us to the front row on account of
our tall azungu friend. |
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| The bridal/groom party dance to some Naija tunes! |
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| The bride, Aggie, gets down with her new hubby! |
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It's not a wedding reception if you don't get up, dance, and give
money...several times...(The secret, I'm told, is to carry small bills). |
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They asked people from the groom's side to give a special
donation. |
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| The beautiful bride!! |
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They asked people from the bride's side to give a special
donation, which I did (left). |
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| The receptions here are more like a show (with lots of donations!). |
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| Groom and Bride. |
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| More dancing and "making it rain." |
This past weekend was Malawi's Mother's Day Weekend, which is actually a national holiday here! With the long weekend, I decided to have one good night out at Harry's before joining some friends on the gorgeous lakeside in Cape Maclear. We spent the first day lounging around by the lake, and I attempted to use the traditional canoe (only fell in once!). We went on a boat ride to an island, bought fresh fish from a fisherman while on the water, and had the most delicious grilled
chambo I've had in a long time! And, although travel wouldn't be complete without a few hiccups, we had great tunes, great company, and great fun! This was one of the best weekend's here, and definitely the most breathtaking!
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| Gecko Lodge, Cape Maclear |
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| Ready to go swimming! |
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Our attempt to canoe. Our boat was a little off balance so I
gave my inner thighs a good workout while Renee used the
only one-sided paddle we were given to propel us. |
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| My friends Joyce and Renee lounging on the beach. |
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| Gecko. |
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| Sunset. Look at those kids showing us up on the canoe... |
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| It was a good night. |
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| We visited the island on our boat ride. |
Loved the pictures! As soon as I saw the gun picture, I thought sure enough she had another adventure :)
ReplyDeleteHey Yvette dear,
ReplyDeleteWHY did the guide slam the gun on the table?
How far were you from the swimming crocodile???
Re the wedding: Lol, so they don't feed the guests? That is such a surprise
When did the bride arrive?
You know I love, the dancing to naija tunes, what artist was it ? What soooong?
Describe traditional Malwaian dancing...
Were you on canoe in the ocean by the island??? Yvette! What about sharks???!!!
Did the canoe flip at all?
You have always been daring.... =)
kb
Indeed, Angela, this was another adventure!
ReplyDeleteKB, so many questions! Well, the gun was in case of a hyena (although I really think the guard slammed it for the effect).
I was quite far from the crocodile and unfortunately scared it away with my attempt to photograph it.
The wedding...ah yes...it's definitely not like any I've been to in Nigeria, Senegal, or Kenya. The bride came in around 1:30 pm for a 2 pm start to the reception.
Naija artist: Naeto C. He's huge here!
Traditional Malawian dancing...in general, it's much more stiff than Nigerian dancing. My favorite dance of the evening was a little step that the older people loved that had a little "hop" to it: step forward, step forward, lift leg up...step forward, step forward, lift leg up...I'll show you the video one day (but my internet is too slow to upload it).
The canoe ride was actually on Lake Malawi (although the beach really does look like the ocean). Since it was a lake, the most exciting things were fish and algae. The canoe didn't flip but I definitely managed to fall in...all in a days work!!