Melting in the heat!

Hi all :-)

Well I had an awesome weekend cycling around Zomba mountain. There were about 20 of us in the group (not all cycled, some were hiking). We had an early start on Saturday and got to Zomba which is about 70Km from Blantyre at about 10am. Some of us then cycled from halfway up the mountain to the top camp site which took about 2 hours. It was extremely rocky though the gradient of the track wasn't too harsh. My bike however was not at it's best! I had borrowed the very rickety looking mountain bike from the guest house which had 18 gears (after I fixed them up) and a bent steering axle which made the steering very stiff - not good for avoiding rocks! This meant although I had good intentions of cycling up to the camp site I had to walk halfway :-( Anyway I made it despite a few bruises from falling off the bike due to colliding with aforementioned rocks. I can't remember the last time I fell off a bike - no that's not true I remember now: I was about 14 and on my paper round and a bee flew around my face so I took one hand off the handlebars to waft it away, as this attempt failed I took my OTHER hand off which succeeded in getting rid of the bee and also causing me to fall off - DOH!

Anyway after getting to the camp site I met several other people including young families and we went on a hike up to Chingwe's Hole. The myth about this hole at the top of the mountain is that it is so deep it reaches to the bottom of the Shire river (approx 2000m) and a past president of Malawi used to throw his enemies down the hole! I don't know how deep it is but I couldn't hear the stones I threw down there reach the bottom! We had a Braai in the evening and watched out for the rumoured meteor shower (it didn't appear unfortunately). On the Sunday we went for a cycle ride up to Chingwe's hole and then further around the plateau to Queens view (unfortunately very hazy due to the very dry dusty heat), and then continued down back to the hotel where we started Saturdays bike ride. This time I had used one of the extra bikes someone had brought instead of the guest house bike - which was in perfect condition and rode beautifully making it very easy to climb the mountain. I definitely want to cycle around Zomba again, it was beautiful although hot (approx 36 degree heat).

Today in Blantyre we are all melting in the oven - it's in the high 30's! The hospital is extremely stuffy and there is a slight relieving breeze occasionally outside. I'm sitting writing this waiting for my last MORNING patient to have her X-ray (it's now 3pm!) This has happened as when I sent her she was at the back of the queue and when it was her turn it became lunchtime for the x-ray technician, when he returned from lunch there were private patients from the afternoon clinic waiting to be x-rayed. Therefore as she is a poor 2yr old with no money we are treating for free she has to wait until the paying patients are done. This is not hospital policy but apparently 'the way things are done'. It's weird to see the prejudice between rich and poor and even the colour of skin still, it doesn't seem to be intentional but I've noticed in clinics that more explanations are given to those who understand English (and are therefore 'better educated') and to those who are in the private paying clinics. Anyway I better disappear downstairs and see whether the child has had her x-ray yet, then I can get on and book her in for her much needed operation.

TTFN

H xxxxxxxxxxx