Lake Malawi; February 17 & 18, 2007

A change of pace. A chance to see more of the country. 9 doctors and I, divided equally between a SUV and a truck, are headed to the southern tip of Lake Malawi.

9 doctors - count 'em - and me. I've never felt safer in my life.

I'm in Eric's truck, along with Devang, Anjalee (E's housemate) and Jeff. We meet Saeed, Maria, Amy, Nader and Ellie in a gas station outside of the city and we're off. Once you get out of the capital and start passing through other towns, blink, and you might miss a village or two.

The 200 km drive is really pretty. We encounter more ambulators and bikers in- and outside of towns. E's altruistic tapping of the horn when nearing bikers leads to a increased rate of 'bike wobble' and often makes passing these mediocre-at-best pedalers, problematic. But we manage - and do not sideswipe any.

Oh, the roads. The roads in Malawi have varying classes of quality. And this variation can change in an instant. Sure, one needs to periodically contend with the occasional pothole (of differing magnitude), but we traverse lengths of really crappy terrain - I wonder whether these things can still be called 'roads'. The first half of the journey is primarily on pavement. Then the road conditions worsen - fast.

The 'road' is wide, and this is a good thing. But across the 3-4 car-wide area, E must perform a ritualistic up- and downshifting slalom, searching for the best 'run' that I thought only downhill skiers were capable of. And we see bikers with overladen racks, we drive through detours, we view the scenery. Some areas look like landscape that should contain herds of elephants and giraffes - none appear.

We make it to Norman Carr Cottage (http://www.normancarrcottage.com/). And it's paradise.

A little bit of paradise...

Taffy and Jenny, the proprietors, receive their 10 children with open arms and make us feel at home. Beers, gin & tonics, Cokes are pressed into our hands and the lunch, served in the shaded dining area right on the beach, is stupendous. How many weeks are we going to stay here?

Taffy takes us on a mid-afternoon boat ride, we drop anchor and swim, snorkel and jump off rocks. Jenny stays home - presumably to ensure that our return to shore will be a comfortable one. Libations are always at arms length. We see and hear a handful of majestic sea eagles. The landscape is picturesque - lush, green mountains with bare rocks jetting out of certain areas. The weather is phenomenal. How many weeks are we going to stay here?

Back on shore, I partake in soccer games and rock skipping with the adorable local kids. I don't know who is enjoying it more - me or them. They are so cute. Their smiles are real.

The rock-skippers/soccer players and me

The team of 9 docs and I all fit and sit at the long table, and manage to mostly sit at the same spots at each meal. And after watching the sun set in Taffy's boat, a big meal and even bigger laughs, we all head off towards blissful sleep.

Much of the same the next day - and staying here for an extended period of time would make the days blend into one another - just as I would like it. Get up, eat, read in the shade, go swimming, make lunch and maybe some plans, take a nap, go swimming, have a beer, or maybe two, think about stuff, have some fruit, eat dinner, relax and then sleep.

The Mitsubishi Strada crew, aka E's passengers, i.e. Anjalee, Jeff, Devang, Lukas, take a different route back - via the Dedza pass - and other than a brief scare about running out of diesel fuel, we manage to thoroughly enjoy the sights and views of this beautiful country. What a nice weekend.