Village on the Beach

Sunday 18th

At the moment sitting in a Beach Lodge "Cool Running' overlooking Lake Malawi at Senga Bay but no it's not a  nice sunset. We in the middle of a electrical storm absolutely tipping , deafening  on the tin roof with lightening  all around. We were lucky as we had just finished our meal. There are six of us here from VSO for a conference tomorrow. The staff have bolted everything down and disappeared, were also having a power cut, the only other people are the campers in their vans locked away. And what worst they have closed the bar it's yet 8.

The last few day days has been bad for power cuts. On Saturday we only had power between 14:00 and 15:00 before returning at 20:00. Most days there is a scheduled 5 hour period when you will not have power ( different timing each day). This is because the Electricity Company cannot generate enough power, so every area has to have blackouts.

So you always have to charge your phone/laptop/torches when you can as for cooking as everything is electric the idea is that you buy a charcoal bbq which is fine for the meat but then you ned to cook rice/pasta on it as well so takes an art.

We also get water cuts not many so you also have to be prepared and have enough water available for sinks and to cook.

For shopping in the city there are plenty of supermarkets selling most things but not the range as in the UK.

Plenty of Beef , Chicken and Goat, very rare you find Lamb or Pork. Fish you can find in certain places but not a choice.

Vegetables you can get Tomatoes, Potatoes, Cabbage, Beans, Carrots and thats about it.  Plenty of fruit Bananas, mango, paw paw, oranges and apples. So for eating we can cook most things.

When eating out there is plenty of bbq chicken and meat or stewed meat served with rice/chips or a mash of maize which is very popular. Price ranges for the main meal from £1 to £5.  Tonight as were on the lake for the first time I had a 'butter fish' it's a large fish about the size of a salon but white it was good. that was with chips and cabbage for about £4. Most places don't do starters or deserts!  There are always sellers selling samosas and donuts. 

Senga bay is a long beach with several lodges but is a working living stretch, lots of fishing but the locals all go to the beach to wash themselves and their clothes. back from the beach is a mass of huts most have some animals then there is a maze of narrow streets  not wide enough for cars, the locals don't have cars anyway. They walk everyware or catch the mini buses or ride a cycle.

Below a selection of photos this week.

The kids are football mad. On the Sunday they told me the Liverpool score from saturdays game and the scorers!

The last one was a trip to an island with a local fishing boat where they cooked for us some Butter Fish on a made up fire on the rocks.