Nkhata bay And Finally, Likoma

We woke up at Maroke village and had another lazy morning preparing for the chaos ahead.

We ventured around the Nkhata bay village, and purchased a few blankets. The people were very honest and laughed at many things we do. The currency is a little silly, the largest bill that ATMs give out is 2,000 Kwacha note which is worth less than $3. It was kind of fun to get such large stacks of dollar bills. They do have larger bills. The largest being a trillion dollar note!

Some people at the restaurant who were doing Work Away teaching summer school for the month gave Sasha the keys to their little library cupboard. Alas, no insect books but there was one battered book on the fish in the lake. If you have googled Malawi, you may have seen that it has the most diverse population of Chichlids, a freshwater fish, in the world. People love to study them because of the very diverse adaptive radiation they show that make Darwin’s Finches look like simple child’s play. Many small bays of the lake are split by deep water that isolates the species of fish and they diverge into new species quickly. The most amusing part is their reproductive dance. The males that are usually drab get very colorful, and make a nest shaped like a sand volcano. They shimmy towards a lady fish, making sure to show their sides where their colors are most apparent. They head back to the nest and hope the lady fish follows. If she does, she lays her eggs and then scoops them up in her mouth, before nuzzling his anal fin. He fertilizes them and they grow and hatch in her mouth. As they slowly get larger she can open her mouth and let them all go out to eat nearby plankton. At signs of danger she opens her mouth again and they all hide. As they grow, there is not always room so some are left behind, and if she is nearby other chichlids the babies are easily mixed up. They have found up to four fish from different broods in one mouth!

The next day we started our morning by taking the kayaks out and paddling our way to the Illala boat dock where we were disappointed to find that it had not arrived overnight. We sat having lunch at our hotel and around 3 watched a large boat come by, and it was time to start heading down. We lugged our bags up the beautiful yet annoyingly uneven and wandering stairs with the help of David from the hotel and took a taxi to the boat dock. Ryan, David and the taxi driver all left with the first round of bags on their heads to start loading the boat. Sasha stayed behind to watch the rest of the bags. (2 suitcases, 2 backpackes, 2 duffel bags, 2 bins of food, a cooler. toilet paper and several jugs of water.) While she was waiting a man came up to Sasha from behind shouting “My brother! My brother!”- as she turned he realized his mistake and quickly changed to  – “My Sister! How are you?”. Thanks for those new pants, mom.

People were everywhere and transporting everything you could think of on this boat. And they were in a hurry to do it! People want on that boat and they want on now. We elbowed our way to the top, and sit on our little castle of stuff. While Sasha was watching the side wondering how they were going to load those large wooden chairs, a young man called John who had one eye clouded over came to sit next to Ryan and chat, and it wasn’t very long before he asked for money to pay his school fees. After Ryan said no, John continued to sit very close. We arrived around 4, the boat wasn’t set to leave until 8. The hospital administrator we met the day before, Francis, arrived around 6. He saw us sitting up top and was confident he could get us one of the fully booked cabins. We told him it wasn’t possible and we were fine here on top, and he disappeared for an hour or so. “You should smile! They held a cabin for you!” he showed us to the owners cabin, the only one with a shower (one of two on board) and a bathroom (one of 3 alleged bathrooms). It turns out perhaps they took pity on our sweaty selves the day before when we went to check our reservation and held it without our names, or perhaps our reservation from months before really did make it onto the books.

With our stuff tucked away, we went back on top of the boat new and more relaxed people. We saw a group from Mayoke village, who we had warned earlier of the lack of cabins. They were a research group from Austria going to school in Zambia, trying to see if the money and aid they had been sending was making a difference. He said it was difficult to tell in interviews, as everyone will say yes of course the money is good. They had bought some mats to sleep on, and we offered use of our bathroom if need be.

The boat set off an hour early (or technically, 23 hours late), which is unprecedented based on our experience so far of the place. We watched the sun set over Nkhata bay, and then watched the lights slowly disappear. Emphasis on slowly, this is a very old boat. A man with a thick gold necklace approached and told us he could get us a motorcycle to Mango Drift (A backpackers hotel) once on Likoma. We told him we were set, but asked about the Chichewa on the island. Turns out it is a good thing we didn’t try too hard to learn it before hand, as on Likoma there is a mix of Chichewa, Tonga, and at least one other unnamed Mozambiquian language. He was right, we had spent our time up until them perfecting our “Mouya Bwanji” (How are you) and whenever we use it on the island people just laugh and shake their heads. We went to the cabin to sleep, and then woke to the bells at 2am. We try to look outside, though the pathway infront of our door is lined with sleeping people taking advantage of the open corridor. Opening the door over a quarter of the way brings it over a sleeping childs head. Francis opened his door a little as well and told us to wait, he would come get us. We sat attentively, then half an hour later started watching our last few episodes of downloaded Brooklyn 99. Around 4am someone jingles the handle. We open quickly excited to get underway on the final bit of our journey, but it is a guard asking for more money as we have a cabin. For a total of $40, it wasn’t too bad! Soon afterwards Francis really did knock, and we guiltily misplace the sleeping people on our many trips out. Men lowered our things out the side to a waiting rowboat tied to the ferry. Francis explains that sometimes the water is too wild, and the rowboats cannot be tied. When this happens, he must jump for it. People waiting to unload more things must wait for the water to die down.

They lower our bins of food using rope, and we were quite impressed with the patience they showed. Eventually our things are loaded, along with some heavy looking bags on top from others, and then it is time for us to load. We were afraid we would be asked to shimmy down the windows from the second floor were our things were loaded, but fortunately they did have a passenger loading section a level down. We clambered in and the sun began to rise. People kept coming, and finally we took off. In a circle. To the other side of the boat. Another 20 minutes of people piling stuff in, and we were on our way to the Likoma dock which was very close. On the way a man holding a boy with a leg in full cast welcomed us. We swear he said his name was Banana, but perhaps we are misunderstood again. His shirt was a map of the island, and he was quite happy when we complimented it. But then the awkward “So are you married?” question came along. Ryan simply says “We are together”, and so we were asked again and Ryan gave the same response. “Ah so you are siblings!” to which everyone had a hearty laugh at.

Coming to Likoma feels like finally coming home from a long adventure, we almost forget that it is just the beginning. We climbed up the hard cement bags that make up the base of the dock. Sasha carried one of the bags in her hand “Woman no!” said Banana and piled it on the dock for us. A truck backed up and we loaded everyone’s things. We began to pile in the back with our things as Vanuatu had trained us, but they refused to let us and sent us to the front seat. Our driver Charlie explained there were just under 20 trucks in driving condition on the island, only a few of which you could hire. He drove for the nicer hotel on the island, and said we wouldn’t remember him. So heres to you Charlie, we wrote your name down so we just might remember.

We make a few stops, and then pull up in front of a large white house. “This is you!” we bring our things up, and Patrick (the one we booked this with) gave us a brief tour and introduced us to a few people around. We asked were to get eggs, and two disappeared with our 2,800MWK (4 USD). We were told we would stay in the mothers union, which includes a room and some shared freezer space at the discounted cost of $1000 for the year. Instead, we have the Bishops House. We have the house to ourselves (probably? It wasn’t really clear), other than the kitchen which is shared. Not that we will cook much, we will pay our neighbors to make meals for us. We were originally invited to stay here, though there is an awful termite problem and they were confident the ceiling would fall in. But Some American research group agreed to pay full price to stay in the mothers union, so here we are. Ryan thinks it is awhile from collapsing, there are no tears or discoloration on the ceiling paint. It is a nice house with an excellent view of the famous cathedral out the front door, and good high ceilings. It did need a good scrub and there were a few cockroaches that ran out of the fridge. They probably left for good right? We swept the floor and then the walls, dirt fell from the corners of the ceilings – likely from the termites. We scrubbed the bathroom as well, which was a little caked in dirt.

Our neighbors disappeared again with 4 eggs and a cup of oil, and when they arrived again with some fried eggs and a large thermos of hot water for our first breakfast. We made some instant coffee and sat outside to watch the birds hop around. Large bees entered holes in a wooden bar above us, though not our sought after blue bee.

A kid in blue shorts who we think called himself “Brecisbee” came by and waved. Soon after, three more children arrived. They sat with us occasionally talking, they seemed to be waiting for something. We couldn’t get out of them what language they spoke, so probably not Chichewa, but two would spout a few good English words once in awhile so we do not know how much is understood. After a little Sasha went inside to get what they probably wanted- entertainment. She grabbed this fantastic spray bottle that a good make-up artist friend had given her (Thank you Ashley! It is probably our single favorite thing we brought) and sprayed the children. They giggled tried to get it all over their hands and faces. After awhile, Sasha gave one the spray bottle. They of course fought over it so she grabbed it again, and then we practiced taking turns. Someone produced a small bag of popcorn, and one of the girls with a “Birthday Girl” shirt grabbed a bite that included a little of the blue plastic bag they were held in and, well she chewed the whole thing and swallowed, seeming confused about why we were pointing at her mouth. They started chasing each other, while Brecisbee admired Sasha’s watch. She took it off and put it on him and practiced telling time. They became distracted by something else and start to run away with Sasha’s watch “Ahh! Are you giving that back?” “Tomorrow” he says. “No come back here” and he sheepishly returns the watch.

A beautiful orange cat was our next visitor. Asking around we found out that it was Joanna’s cat when she was here and now it was our cat. She took an immediate liking to us and Ryan gave her a stern talking too concerning her role in mouse, cockroach and spider patrol. She is terrible at her job, but does not seem to set of Ryan’s allergies.

A little later it began to cool off, and so we ventured down to the water. Along the way we discovered the market and different shops selling a little bit of everything. We pass a handsome broom, and tell the man selling we will come back for it, do not sell it to anyone. He laughs and says he is there until 8. We wander to the beach and put our feet in. Kids come running up and looking expectantly at us. They were a very cute and active bunch, many of the girls were wearing very fancy and worn dresses falling down their shoulders which did not stop them from jumping and rolling over each other in the sand. We started giving fistbumps and the mob was very excited, they kept coming back for more. An older girl (perhaps 13?) carrying a very small boy came and placed him in front of us. Sasha offered a fistbump and he turned away confused, while the other kids laughed and made his hand into a fist. We started playing thumb wars, and to be honest they were quite bad. We won every time, but also they may not have understood the rules. The kids were just fascinated with our hands and would study them intently, turning them over and sliding their fingers between ours. Soon they started chanting “Picture! Picture!” We asked if they had phones we could take a photo with and they just laughed. Sasha pulled out her phone and they instantly mobbed up for a photo. We are trying to avoid being obnoxious tourists and taking photos of other people kids, but they were very excited and the beach was beautiful. Ryan took a few of everyone, and gave Sasha back the phone. They mobbed it trying to look at their images.

The older girls kept stroking Sasha’s hair, and then one asked to braid it. She sat down and got 2 very nice small braids, and some tangles from the smaller kids. Other kids kept rubbing the sand off her feet and trying to put fingers in between toes and seemed genuinely surprised at the startled reaction. Sasha pointed out her nice Birkenstock sandal tan line, and they tried to rub that off too. Meanwhile, Ryan was having a bit of a rough time. These kids have clearly seen many tourists, and it seems a few very strong men had come by. They were very excited when Ryan would pick one up by the arms, and then soon around 5 would grab each arm and the number was increasing as other kids heard laughter and appeared to also grab his arms. These kids kept coming out of the woodwork! They would fall off and almost hurt themselves, as Ryan started getting rug burns up his arms. “Time to go!” he said and tried to run away with kids clinging to his legs. We made it back to the market as dark was falling with a large group of children in tow that slowly dwindled as we got further away.

We bought the broom (The man had indeed saved it for us) and a few other supplies that the house was missing. We bought enough that the man gave us a free lolly! We splurged on a large thing of cordial. The Bishops house does have a French Press, so Sasha asked for coffee and he produced some instant coffee. The coffee quest continues, there must be some somewhere.

We went to bed around 8, and a mysterious beeping sound kept us up. We searched the whole place, and finally settled for ear plugs. We sweated our way to sleep, to be awoken by something large, warm and squishy on Ryan’s chest. After a few moments of panic as we searched for a light we were relieved to find that it was just one of the earplugs that had fallen out in the night. We awoke again to a sound coming from the closet that sounded like a mouse eating all our food. Ryan went in search of the cat, while Sasha prepared with the broom. We hit the cupboard and the sound stopped, but we could not find what it had been eating. Then woke again to a rooster crowing. It is a myth that they sound off only in the morning. In truth, they do all night as well. It was too hot to sleep anyway.

We spent our Thursday finishing up with our unpacking and we took another trip to the market. This time with guidance from a local. We purchased a bunch more groceries and a pair of Orange and Black Facebook flip flops.

In the afternoon we met with Jolly the head teacher at the school that we will be teaching at. He gave us a tour of the school grounds and told us a lot of history of the island while we walked around. The original school buildings were an old printing press built by the original British missionaries on the island over 100 years ago. There are also several new buildings including the library, computer lab and Science lab which is slated to be complete in October. The carpenters had never made a science lab before, so they are making it up as they go along. They made a room for gas to light Bunsen burners, but no one in all of Malawi knows how to wire it well enough. Other schools hire someone from South Africa to come do it, but that is quite expensive. When we got to the library we were loaded up with stacks and stacks of textbooks for English, Physics, Maths, Chemistry and Life Skills and told to start getting familiar with the material. We also talked with him about the students at the school. Many of the of the male students don’t show up for class because they know that they can skip class for the day and make 20,000MWK a day fishing. Unfortunately, this opportunity is not available to the female students. However, they are often lured our of the classroom by the newly rich boys who show them a good time. It is not uncommon for these girls to get pregnant and to stop showing up to school all together.

Once we dropped off our course load, we went on a tour of the Cathedral. It was very large, though one of the towers is currently being occupied by bats and is unusable. Jolly showed us all the nooks and crannies and told us the significance of each room. The Cathedral is 115 years old and was built here by British missionaries who wanted to claim the islands for the British empire and ward off the influence of the neighboring Portuguese-influenced Mozambique.

The water was turned off this morning for an unknown reason, but our neighbors say it will be back on by nighttime. The power has also been turned off for 24 hours for maintenance though it is hard to complain when we have this beautiful house, power and running water in the first place.

Our neighbors brought dinner that was rice, and the same eggs we couldn’t finish that we had for lunch. We tried to feed it to the cat, who only made it halfway through one. They are excellent cooks, and very patient with us but we have different expectations on leftovers. We got rid of the other egg and only small pieces of tomato and spinach left, which they returned to us in a Tupperware the next day.