Saturday May 30, Senga Bay (night)

Last night we met a fella from the UK, also staying at the Wheel House. He had been working for the British Government for years in Liberia, and Sudan. Naturally he and Katie found much to talk and reminisce about. I found him an interesting and good humored chap, filled with stories too specific and lengthy to be recounted here. The short of it is that he has been everywhere. We slept in late this morning, swam, and sunned ourselves alternately. Had the last of our tomatoes and yogurt for breakfast. So far I've been eating very well. No starving in Africa for me. We took a long stroll up the dirt road leads to the Wheel House to seek some provisions at the "supermarket". We were joined by an entourage of giggling, smiling, and squealing children who did not leave our company for the duration of the walk. We sang songs, made up marches, played counting, clapping, and face making games. We stopped at a small (very small) market about 2k up the road and picked up some tomatoes and roasted ground nut (peanuts but chewier). We bought a big Squash (orange soda) for the kids to share, and stopped at another small store on the way back and purchased some bottles of water for us, and sweeties for 1 Kwacha each for the kids. We made them cue up single file and gave each kid one. Walking back I tossed around a guava fruit wrapped in string and plastic bags two of the older children. We parted ways at their village and continued on down the road home followed by a single tottering child who didn't speak, and didn't appear to understand English, but held Katie's hand the rest of the walk back, waving goodbye when we parted ways. The rest of the hot day was given over to reading, napping, and cooling off with a dive into the lake. Tonight we played cards with a perfect half-moon as a backdrop and talked about the States, the future, and what to do with our lives. We enjoyed another good dinner, although the cook the night before was better, and as I am writing this, we are sitting on the porch with the crickets and the sound of gentle waves on the shore.

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