Everything's growing!

Having only visited Malawi during the dry season I was completely unprepared for the landscape that greeted me. During the dry season red dust predominates and the maize has been harvested, leaving only the dried out husks in the fields. Women are laying out the maize kernals to dry and grinding them into nsima flour and the fields are burned in preparation for the next year’s crop. Burning fields also means it is mice-on-a-stick season – the mice are caught as they try to escape the inferno and are de-boweled, boiled, then roasted on a stick to be sold on the dusty roadside.

In contrast, Malawi during the wet season is a brilliant green! The fields are a contrast between the rich, dark earth and the bright green maize shoots. The market is full of fresh pineapple, mangos, avocados, and freshly roasted maize. Instead of cool and dry the air is hot and humid, only relieved by daily downpours. The air smells so clean and fresh after the rain! I’ve been on a couple of runs in the rain and it is so refreshing! The only downside to the rainy season is the mosquitoes. I am taking malaria prophylaxis and making sure to sleep under my bednet every night.