Mumbo

We're back from the lake! We got back on Sunday night but we had no internet until yesterday afternoon. Last night we had "family" time and played Cranium so I did not have time to post. Angela leaves tomorrow. We are having her going away party tonight. We are having friends over and Simoni is making pizza (if he can find dough). I am going to miss her so much! She has been on of my roommates this whole trip, and for 2 of the weekends we have shared rooms just the two of us. She is such a good friend and great person. Today I'll go to the hospital, then when I get out I will go to Blantyre with her. The rest of us leave on Saturday. I cannot believe that our time here is almost up! It has been so much fun and such an amazing learning experience!

Well we certainly picked the right trip to take on our last weekend! We had a blast all weekend! Friday started out great when our hired minibus showed up at Terrie's house. It was hot pink. Who can go wrong traveling across Malawi in a pink minibus?

Here is a picture I took of our sweet ride:



We arrived at Gecko Lodge on Friday at about 2pm. The drive took 6 hours and the roads here are not good, so we were all pretty exhausted once we checked into the lodge. Well, it was the perfect place to be exhausted. No one had any plans or expectations for us. We ate lunch, and then read and laid on the beach or in the hammocks until dinner. It was so relaxing. All you could hear was the peaceful sound of the waves crashing against the shore. In the evening was ate dinner and hung out at the bar. There was a party going on at a different lodge. Angela, Kim and Katherine (a girl that we have befriended here) went to the party, while the rest of us crashed early. The 8 of us stayed in one big dorm room that had 8 beds, and 3 fans. Katie and I somehow ended up no where near the fans that night, and we both woke up completely drenched in sweat! The bad thing is that since we know the symptoms associated with various diseases we were both convinced we had Malaria or TB due to the night sweats and feeling feverish! I think we are ok :)

Me, Katie and Kim at Gecko:



The next morning we said goodbye to Katherine and left for Mumbo Island! Angela and Tom kayaked 10 kilometers to the island! Pretty impressive!

Here they are:


The rest of us took the easy route.

Here we are on the boat over to Mumbo:


Even though we did take the easy option for getting to the island, it was not without adventure. The boat ride took 1 hour and half way to the island it started storming. It turns out, the "roof" of that boat doubles as a sieve in the rain! The 5 of us got drenched, and we were so worried about the two in the kayak. Luckily we all made it to the island in one piece.

Our paradise, Mumbo island:





Unfortunately, it did rain all day Saturday & Sunday, but that did not slow us down. We snorkeled, kayaked, read and played games. Shant, Angela and I played speed scrabble while Sammie and Tom became Boa champions (an African game like Mandala). Angela & I were roommates and, in our opinion, we had the best view of the lake from our room.


The 7 of us:


As our pink minibus rode into the sunset on Sunday evening I couldn't help but get nostalgic. The 7 of us bounced around phasing between laughing & joking to daydreaming & sleeping, all strangely content in this foreign country. I am going to miss my 7 roommates so much. I feel so blessed to have been able come on this trip. It is definitely an extra bonus to be here with such an amazing group! I am so lucky.