Mangochi

THIS WAS IN APRIL - DON'T KNOW HOW TO INSERT IT THERE...

Went to Mangochi with Jurie, Liinu and Dominique after lunch.

Maize fields full and high and planted right up to the edge of the road. People build rickety little double storey structures that they make a fire under to cook meals and then sleep on the top under a sparsely thatched roof – have to keep a constant presence in the field in case of yellow baboon raids.

Road through the National Park is so beautiful after the rains – huge trees all a rich green against the enormous granite boulders. Even the baobabs were full of leaves and fruits.

Was exhilarated to get out of the village after two weeks in base camp… even if only to Mangochi – a one-horse town if ever there was one. Still, it has big trees lining the streets and is not bad. It also has a great market and I shopped enthusiastically for chitenjes to cover all the cushions on Mumbo. Got spirals and fish on turquoise spots and huge orange sixties flowers on brown squiggles and something that looks like cacti and lotus flowers - words cannot describe these visions! Going to mix them up and send Mumbo into a spin of patterns.

(Mabvuto, the little gnomish fellow who looks after the gardens here, has just brought me a jam jar full of incredible flowers for my desk – all sorts, even three waterlilies. He’s excelling at flower arranging these days!)

Took my first bicycle taxi ride. A bicycle taxi is a bike with a small padded vinyl seat stuck above the back wheel and two tiny foot rests. One perches behind the cyclist hanging onto the seat with one hand and one’s bags with the other. The roads are rather rutted and if you haven’t ridden a bike for a while, it takes a moment to adjust to the balance of the thing – especially when you aren’t in control. And your instinct is to hang onto the driver, but that is not good form and rather too intimate! I felt very self-conscious, a little mzungu lady with lurid rosy handbag and skirt hitched up, trying to maintain my dignity while the locals gazed! It was lovely way to travel, though, very peaceful and quite speedy really.

Liinu later arrived on hers and then Dominique on hers and we met up to discuss chitenjes with gusto. Then on to the fruit and veg market where I bought guavas, fresh speckled beans, avos and bananas and pumpkin leaves all for around R10.

Then to the second hand clothes market where I found a groovy pair of jeans in the perfect size (had to guess at a glance) for K400 (R20) and a vintage curtain for the same price. Bargains! It filled my heart with joy to be back at the market.

On the way home we bought school chairs for the kids - beautiful woven banana leaf ones, and I bought a set of circular baskets that fit into each other like Russian dolls - the biggest is the size of a hat box and the smallest about 10cm across. So beautiful and made by the sweetest crippled man on a crutch. I think I should send home a truckload of Malawi treasures and have a huge sale on our stoep - what do you think?