Description of a morning in paradise.

Description of a morning in paradise, Monday April 27th

While dictated by the Corona pandemic, I find myself living away dreamily: The day starts with warm light, softened by gentle moving curtains

accompanied by exotic sounds

https://drive.google.com/file/d/17jv0OMuvlA0t04jcWKXyHIWvI5d2OwqF/view?usp=drivesdk

and the noise of slow moving water from Lake Malawi, splashing on the little beach a few meters down from our window.
Native voices start waking up, mixing with Baboon and Vervet Monkey screams and conversations in a language I have gotten used to but still don’t understand. Another day starts with no way out, but the air and water temperatures are reliable and life is easy. The windows in our room have no glass but mosquito screens and the morning breeze invites itself into our chamber, breathing on my skin like a lover’s touch. I often wake up - confused......am I still dreaming? James greets me: “Good morning, beautiful” These are his first words almost every morning and I am thrown into our new reality. I snuggle up, grateful to be alive with love and health in the most beautiful surroundings.
After breakfast with lots of passion fruits, bananas, oranges, apples, granola, oatmeal, yogurt, local honey and local peanut butter. It is so rich, I can’t finish the content of my bowl and leave half of it for lunch. The tasty Malawian Tea and a glass of water diluted apple cider vinegar are part of my breakfast gig. The first wakes me up nicely and the latter is good for my health...so I believe.
Now it’s time to rest for 1/2 an hour before yoga.  I set up a mat on the veranda, facing the lake and cue my little speaker connected to my iPhone for a little shuffling of songs from my music library.
I breath!
The local kids down at the beach are starting to have their daily -all day- party while washing laundry, themselves, swimming and splashing or jumping off a huge bolder.

The voices are incredibly strong and carry a long way. Often their conversations are held across the bay for much longer than any of us could care for. These voices and bodies are an example of human health and strength mixed with agility from infancy to ripe age. Natural selection is the rule in a poor country like Malawi were there is no medical infrastructure to speak of and only the fittest survive.
I am more impressed than annoyed by so much noise produced by a handful of kids.
My yoga session lasts an hour to an hour and a half while the beach party reaches its second or third crescendo. It’s part of the scene. I am content.
The soft air gets warmer and though I move slowly in my asanas, my body temperature rises and I am producing my own air conditioning in form of sweat.
GoPro version:

https://gopro.com/v/0rGJL2V6VyNle

iPhone version:

https://gopro.com/v/OWQV89bBRolry

A welcoming condition, since the lake is teasing me with its close proximities and I stretch my body and the time a little longer in anticipation of entering the cooler temperatures of the water in a foreseeable time. I meditate.
Then I change into my swim suit, grab some goggles from the hook by the house and make my way across the lawn, past the empty tables and chairs

from a time when this lodge had a well functioning restaurant, and skip down the three rough concrete steps to the beach continuing between a couple of kayaks

and a little beached motorboat.....into the lake with the largest population of freshwater tropical fish in the world.
The lake embraces me and I swim, losing myself in the element I have been drawn to my whole life. My goal is not too far from the beach ...a shipwreck, parts of it above the water line. I wear my goggles, scanning the bottom of the lake for hippos and crocodiles. I am still adventurous.

Now I am alone on a tilted, fairly small metal platform of the upper deck sticking partly out of the water. I splash the hot exposed metal with water to cool it off...keeping my feet in the clear water on the submerged slippery part of the deck. I lie down on my back, close my eyes and let the sun take advantage of me. I know I won’t be alone for long and only - maybe 10-minutes go by before the familiar sound of dog paddling water movements with lots of splashing sounds and loud laughter reach my ear. I am sprawled out on deck. Reluctantly but politely I make room for six adolescences joining my little island where only three people could comfortably find room to sit. I am used to sharing with my native neighbors, who -most days- strike up a conversation in English with me.....but not today. Today these kids were only interested in my goggles and so I give them a turn, watch them climb and jump and dive and swim while they were unsuccessful in giving me enough space for myself...climbing all over me, bumping into me in their loud way of being.
I am amused.
After a good while they politely thank me in English and hand over my goggles as if they were a price I just earned. I argue with myself if I should offer my services  teaching them how to swim properly. I leave my proposition for another day and dive off the platform into the water in direction back to the beach.
A few minutes later I make friends with the smaller kids on shore - letting them have a turn with the goggles too while I play with the sand in the sunshine.
I am happy.
I emerge from the lake and make my way to the house...only a few steps and I am home for lunch.