Kande Beach and Nkata Bay

Alexio was supposed to arrive Friday morning. Silly man missed his flight. Actually, once I found out the reason why, I couldn’t decide what degree of upset I was with him – his mother mailed me a birthday present, and getting it from the post office took longer than he thought, and he was late for check in so they wouldn’t let him through.

I’m pretty sure he was dreading the call he had to make to say that he wasn’t getting on the plane, and I certainly wasn’t happy being on the receiving end of it. He was true to his promise to be here on Friday though, and ended up spending a fortune flying to Lusaka (Zambia) and then routing here, finally arriving Friday evening.

Our plan to drive north to some beaches wasn’t totally abandoned however. Friday, while I tried to calm myself down with deep breathing exercises, Mom went with the rest of the family in their car to our first destination: Kande Beach.

Alexio arrived, as per Plan B, later that evening which allowed us to make a cameo at Sharon’s going away party, which was great.

Saturday we got up and joined the rest of the gang, and had a great time hanging out. We stayed in small chalets right on the beach, and got to listen to the waves all night (there were surprisingly large waves considering we were at a lake, not an ocean!). Sunday we tired ourselves out playing in the surf before the Family headed back home and Mom, Alexio and I continued another hour north. As per our plan, we ended up in Nkata Bay, at a lodge with millions of steps to get you from the beach below to the restaurant up in the mountainsides (with all the various accommodation options somewhere mid-mountain). Alexio and I were fortunate to get the most interesting room in the place – a 2 story tree-house style room. It certainly had an appeal, and a nice view, but I almost chickened out of it because of the sketchy bridge with widely spaced planks that you needed to take to get there, and the super steep, thin plank stairs that you descended from a trap door in the bedroom floor to get down to the bottom (where the bathroom was). Alexio literally had to descend before me and talk me through it (Mom said that I made him go first so that he would break my fall if I fell). We spent time on the beach, had another birthday cake, and went on a sunset boat ride that we weren’t completely convinced we would return from because they had trouble starting the motor up again once we were out on the lake.

Mom and Alexio seemed to get along and it is nice that they now know each other. I know many of you who email her have already asked for the inside scoop on what is it about this guy…you’ll have to let me know what she says!

Our treehouse room......me not enjoying the walk to get there...
...or the stairs to get down to the bathroom.
Atleast the view was good.

They made me sit behind these stinky fish for like an hour. The ones on the sticks were used to throw into the water so that fish eagles would swoop in to eat them


Mom wasn't sitting as close to the fish as I was, nor was she downwind.

That's why she is smiling.
Birthday cake #3!

Mom and I buying stuff we don't need on the beach...

..and from the market. Isn't a smile supposed to be contagious?
Alexio laughing because he wasn't bothered by any of the sketchyness of our tree house or the smell of the fish, and wasn't lured into the evil web of beach vendors and carvers.

He did miss his flight though.