Waterfall

Saturday, August 31

We were all excited to sleep in with it being Saturday.  A little frustrating when everyone is up by seven and out of be by 7:30.  We had a great breakfast of pancakes and fruit at the hostel in the yard. We then planned the days activities and made a reservation with a guide for tomorrow.  Today we decided to go to Mulanje mountain as we heard there were waterfalls and cool pools that you could drive to. We thought that a day of reading and journaling would be perfect.  I packed a very full backpack with a change of clothes, charging block, computer, kindle, hat, sunscreen, camera, water, etc.

We headed off and drove through beautful scenery.  It is just weird to my brain because images of mountains rising straight out of the plains are just not what I have in my image file for Africa.  Disney has done a disservice to this area of the country. Along the way, we did drive through many large groups of people doing traditional dances.  They were weddings and some of the brides even wore white dresses. Where did they come from? After about an hour and a half, we had arrived at the red balloon on google maps, only it was a small village with no waterfalls we could see.  We then started looking for blogs by people who had gone to the waterfalls for directions. We turned off onto a very small dirt road.

A half mile down the road the car was surrounded by a mass of people danceing, chanting, tapping on the glass. It was hard to know if it was celebratory or aggressive.  Making eye contact with them seemed only to escalate it. It was really scary. At the first, backpackers inn we turned in and the security guard directed the people to continue on. It turns out that it was a back to school celebration but between the beating drum and the level of intoxication we were wanting out.  

We waited for the party to pass and then come back around.  We were an obvious spectacle. Then we drove on up the mountain to a car park.  We paid to have the car watched and after a LOT of persistence we hired a guy to be our guide.  We were told the hike would be about 30 minutes to the waterfall. No what we were expecting but fine.  We did not feel like we should leave anything in the car, So I dawned my super heavy back pack and off we went.

The sun was hot, it was dusty, monkeys jumped around overhead.  The road went straight up! By road, I mean a washed out dirt trail with large gullets just looking to twist your ankles and by straight up, I mean a steep grade that made your heart rate hit your target goal in 2 steps.  And 30 minutes was more like an hour and 15 minutes. I was cooked, done! The younger ladies were sweet but I was always the one stopping for the “scenic picture”.

The waterfall, however, was gorgeous and worth the effort.  God’s beauty is so amazing and the fact that it is hidden here makes it even more special.  We took pictures at the falls and the girls swam and then sunbathed. They have spent part of the evening making fun of the picture in which Lisa is making fun of how I handled it.  Whatever, I survived and I am not sunburned.

Another interesting moment, was a little boy fell in and was being carried off and our guide jumped in and saved him.  We gave him a big tip for that. The descent to the car was much more enjoyable. However, by the time we reached the car, we needed to hurry back to avoid driving in the dark again.  The car ride was quiet as we were so worn out but the scenery still intriguing. The amount of material that can be carried on the head is only exceeded by what can be put on the back of an old bike.

We arrived at the hostel and played cards while we waited on pizza.  I did share tonight that hugging Nina yesterday at the airport was the first hug I had in almost three weeks and how bizarre that is for me.  They really couldn’t believe we hug-they described it as so awkward. So I enjoyed excitedly hugging them when they had a good hand. Lots of laughing and fun.  We are heading to bed for a great sleep.