Today I made a number of important discoveries.
1. Just about everybody in the world knows 1980s love songs.
We were on the beach having dinner when we were talking about what we do in our spare time. Nadia (over here running a community vegetable farm from the UK) talked about how much she missed her friends who could play music; Nuro (a local Mozambican who speaks really good English) mentioned that he had a guitar … and I (me) mentioned that I could play (and dance!).
Before we knew it, we were singing and playing to all my favourites: ‘Eternal Flame’, ‘Nothing’s gonna change my love for you’, accompanied by an unhealthy proportion of Whitney Houston and Richard Marx songs, listened to by a crowd of thousands (of stars). The amazing thing? Everyone knew them! (including these Portuguese nurses that turned up later in the night!) The 1980s, and love songs … man, they bring the world together.
2. Badminton. It’s a truly global game.
Of all the things I was expecting to see on the beach in the wilderness, a badminton court was not one of them. But there it was – it took me four days to find it, but here it is. Me and Nuro (pictured below – yes he may be fitter than me (marginally?!) but I’m the superior badminton ‘athlete’) played, and I haven’t exercised this much for a long, long time …
3. Marijuana. It’s a truly global drug.
Later in the night, the Portuguese folk brought out “Malawi Gold” – marijuana. Maybe it was because I was playing the guitar too loudly and/or long?
At only five cents a round, I must admit, I was tempted to buy (well, at least bargain, and then re-sell on the black market) (just kidding). This stuff is grown all around Lake Niassa/Malawi, somewhat illegally. But without electricity, what else are the locals to do?
1 comment:
Question is... did you try out the "Malawi Gold"?
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