Merry Christmas

Well it feels very different here to back home; no tinsel, no tree and definitely no snow! The rains however have arrived on cue, the weather here has changed dramatically in the last couple of weeks and now it rains for about an hour each day. The rain is announced by a sudden drop in temperature of about 10 degrees which is incredibly welcome as otherwise it’s around 35C and very humid. As soon as the temperature does drop you know you have about 5 minutes to find shelter before the heavens open. The rain can be very heavy and on my tin roof sounds almost apocalyptic! It’s a refreshing change though and things are already starting to get much greener. The whole place seems to be coming alive which is great except that includes the insect world; millipedes a foot long, damsel flies as big as your hand and armies of flying termites which seem to get into your house whether you leave the windows open or not!

Today is my last day in Lilongwe before I leave for Likoma Island where I’m spending Christmas with Nat and Judy. Likoma promises to be something of a paradise; white sandy beaches and palm trees with the warm waters of Lake Malawi lapping at the shore. There is however very little phone reception, no ATM’s and only one shop so it could be quite a quiet Christmas. The place we’re staying at has a dive centre so I’m hoping to do some scuba while I’m there; I’m also going armed with a Christmas pudding courtesy of my father so we can inject a little traditional Christmas spirit.

The journey also promises to be an adventure, the regular ferry that runs twice weekly has broken down so we’ll be braving it on a local boat which no doubt will be packed with people, poultry and drying fish!

I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy start to 2014, I’ll be back on the 2^nd of Jan and will be sure to post some pictures as soon as possible.