Day 18. Sun 27th August.
Cape
Maclear
I
fully intend to lie in, but I can't get out of the habit of waking
early, and am awake at 7. I doze until 8 and then go for a swim and a
leisurely breakfast. I am hoping to do some snorkeling, but Leon has
explained that although he will happily take snorkelers out with a dive
trip, it is not worth his while to take the boat out just for
snorkelling, and certainly not for one person, so I need to join up
with a dive trip. Leon's dive shack is at the other end of the beach,
so after breakfast I head off.
There is an arrangement that traders are not allowed to do business
within the confines of the guest houses, which includes the area of
beach between the guest house and the lake. As soon as you step
across the line, however, you are fair game. The first to attack is the
local boat owner who runs snorkeling and diving trips from a
dilapidated craft that he keeps beached just one step beyond where the
Fat Monkey's fence runs down to the lake. After that the entire beach
is populated with locals selling everything from wooden carvings to
Malawi Gold and the favours of the local women, each guest house along
the beach providing a few minutes respite before the next stage of the
gauntlet is run.
I finally arrive at the dive shop to discover that I have just missed a dive trip. Oh well!
Gemma and Donna are just leaving for Monkey Bay on a matola with a guy
called George, who is apparently driving to Salima on Tuesday, and says
he can give me a ride. This fits in pretty well with my plans, so we
agree to meet at Fat Monkeys at 7 this evening to make arrangements.
Then
I run into Carl again. It
turns out that he has got together with the girl who tried to chat me up
in Doogles, whose name, I now discover, is Cynthia. They seem to
be happy to have some extra company so I hang around with them and we
swim and chat and have pancakes for lunch.
Over the course of the morning Carl tells me a bit about himself, and
he turns out to be a quite remarkable character. His name is Carl Janz
and he comes from Hamburg, from whence he set out in 1998 on a bicycle
intending to travel for "a while". Since then he has cycled (by his own
reckoning) 85,000Km. and has visited 45 different countries and every
continent on the planet. He flies across oceans, but otherwise travels
exclusively by bicycle (it took him three days from Blantyre to Cape
Maclear), and carries everything he needs with him.
He is now on his
way home to Hamburg, where he expects to arrive sometime in 2007,
having been on the road for nearly ten years. Surprisingly, he is
actually quite reticent about his life, although he must have a hundred
stories to tell. I suggest that he should write a book, but he doesn't
seem to think he would have enough material. I ask him the same
question everyone asks him - what has he been living on, but he just
says that he works when he needs to and leaves it at that. I have so
many questions I would like to ask it's hard to know where to start. I
have to wonder how he will manage living in one place.
After lunch I head back to Fat Monkeys for a nap. Rob and Ruth have
arrived, and Rob seems to have recovered from his tummy trouble. I chat
with them for a while, but Rob is more interested in the football on
the bar telly (fancy travelling all the way to Cape Maclear in Malawi
and then watching football).
The food is certainly better than Doogles and I have a pretty good
steak for supper. There is no sign of George, but Moses the barman
knows him and gives him a ring on the mobile (all this technology - it
sort of spoils it, somehow!). He finally arrives, and promises to pick
me up at 9am on Tuesday morning. Also, he says that while he is only
going to Salima, his driver is going on to Lilongwe and could take me all
the way. Brilliant! This will cost MK2000, which seems steep compared
with minibus prices, but he says he is only taking the three of us, and
let's face it, I don't have a lot of options, so it is agreed.
I spend the rest of the evening chatting to some volunteer students
working at Dedza - James, two Hannahs and Sam (female, so presumably Samantha). They are also hoping to
get to the Lake Of Stars festival, but they have no tents. I suggest
that Ken may be able to hire them a couple of tents, or if not he will
know where to find someone who will. I promise to make enquiries in
Lilongwe, and Sam gives me her number.