Stuck in the mud

First of all, you may have noticed a few changes around here. After many years, I finally decided to give this blog a little overhaul. One, I was just tired of the old layout, and two, we are thinking about the possibility of moving on from Malawi some day - not any time soon, but still, the idea is out there - so it felt like I ought to transition to a style and name that would work somewhere else, not just here. Anyway, I hope you like the new look.

Last week I went up to one of my favorite places, Nkhotakota, again. I have written before about how crazy things always happen when I drive up there, and this trip was no exception.

The usual road, which runs along Lake Malawi, got washed out by heavy rains the day before we were to leave for Nkhotakota, so we had to take an alternative route, up north on the main highway, then cutting across the country through the Nkhotakota Game Reserve, a national park.

I've never been through the game reserve before, and it was a beautiful drive. Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy it much, though, because we were all hanging on for dear life as the car slipped and slid through the mud. We got to a very nasty patch about halfway into the park, where three trucks were blockign the road, bogged down in the muck. Unwisely, we decided to try to go around the side of the stranded trucks...and got stuck in the mud ourselves.

Here are the menfolk (mostly occupants from other abandoned trucks) discussing what to do:

And then we ladies decided to take matters into our own hands:

Finally, just before dark, a construction vehicle showed up and pulled us out! Hooray!

Seriously, there's never a dull moment around here!