Malawi Mel Gibson?

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May 11, 2006 - Day 26 - The morning had another optional game drive or walk, but I decided no to do it. I woke up early and had to go to the bathroom, but could hear hippos that sounded awfully close, so I waited until Barbel was awake at 5:15am for her 6am walk and we walked to the bathroom together. Afterwards I got a bit more sleep. Had a morning shower, so rare for me, and some breakfast before breaking down the tent with Ashley’s help. We were supposed to stay at this campsite for two days, which would have been wonderful. I wanted to sit at the river and watch animals all day. But we have an Argentinean in the group and he needed to get a special visa sticker in his passport for Malawi, which he could, ironically, only get after we crossed the border into Malawi in the capital city of Lilongwe. So we had to leave about 9:30am when the game drivers came back and we drive all day. First we had a tire blow out on the bumpy road back to Chapata. It was fixed remarkably quickly. The boys hustled together and got the spare off the roof, which took some coordination and a laundry line. Then Walt and Anna-Marie changed the tire pretty quickly. We were stopped for about 25 min altogether. We had lunch at the campsite we had used just before going into the national park, played with the Jack Russell there (they are the most common dog I have seen in Africa) and got on our way. Stopped in Chapata for some more groceries, which we seem to do in every town we pass, and a new tire, and then we were on the road like mad freaks trying to cross into Malawi before the border closed at 6pm. We got across the border without too much hassle, except for Alejandro. But they let him pass and on we went. Still had to go all the way to Lilongwe before we could stop for the night. At 8pm we stopped driving to get some food to eat, as it would be too late to cook for us. There was an option of burgers or pizza, and I shared a Spicy Roquefort Chicken pizza with Lorens, which was good but neither spicy nor as good as the worst meal Anna-Marie could cook up. Who knew a night out for dinner would be a disappointment that way? We finally pulled into the campsite after Walt got a bit lost in roundabouts that had closed roads - it just magically appeared. Set up in the dark and hung about a bit before calling it a night.

May 12, 2006 - Day 27 - Drove into Lilongwe and we were all dropped off to change some money and do some shopping and email while Walk took Alejandro to the embassy for the sticker in his passport. We had no idea how long it would be because they could decide to take all day if they wanted to. In the end it was about 2.5 hours that we waited. Alejandro had to pay an additional $20 or so, on top of the $125 he has already paid before leaving Argentina. He had all the paperwork ahead of time and had done everything right, but that doesn’t matter if the border official or embassy rep is in a bad mood. I was excited to get to email and was upset to find that hotmail didn’t agree with something and I could only open two emails and send none. They charged me less because of that, but I would have rather paid more and been connected. Oh well. We then had another long drive ahead of us to get to Lake Malawi. It was a cooler, cloudy day that turned into an occasionally rainy day. We stopped at a forest for lunch and then moved onwards. We drove through the largest manmade forest in the world, pines that were all brought in from Europe. We ended up driving until 7:30pm and once again set up in the dark. What does one do on these long day drives you ask? Well, there are so many options - reading my book, reading other peoples books, playing cards if you’re invited, sleeping, eating and talking. So there. Jealous? Waited a bit for dinner and used the time to walk around a bit with Jules, checking out what we could see in the dark of the third largest and most species rich lake in the world but she made a wonderful Russian pasta something or another. Yummy. Talked to Jules and Jon for a while and then headed to bed around 10:45pm.

May 13, 2006 - Day 28 - Woke up to another cloudy day - not what you want when you’re at the beach. Lake Malawi looks like the ocean, the way Lake Michigan does. Washed some clothes by hand - I have gotten filthy during the last week - and hung them up on the enormous wash line that Elizabeth gave me when she went home to Austria. We put it up in Sarah’s chalet (there are three doing the accommodated version of this trip instead of camping) in case of rain and are hoping the clothes will dry in this weather before we leave in two days. Here’s to no mildew. Thomas asked me to wash his clothes as well - a clever ploy he could pawn off as a joke if it backfired. It did. Using the day to catch up and read Mark and Ashley’s new Lonely Planet Africa book to update my eight-year-old information about Madagascar and Egypt.

May 14, 2006 - Day 29 - Today was the best day of this half of the trip so far. We began the day with an optional village walk in Mbamba village that I decided to do. We had a guide from the village and he took us to the hospital, the primary school, and church. At the hospital we learned that a lack of anti-malarial drugs is the biggest problem they have, so I donated some of mine that I just happened to have in my bag at the time. Malaria is one of the things I am most nervous about on this trip - I am on medication for it, but it is not a guarantee and there is no vaccine. So I am as careful as I can be. We even went into the “maternity ward” to see the two babies that were born the day before. The ward was a single room that we crammed into and stood right next to the new moms still in bed. It felt terribly intrusive and we were out of there shortly thereafter. At the school I donated a little bit of money and took their address so that I will be able to send them something in the future. They are particularly in need of pens, papers, general supplies. In fact, every child you meet in this part of Africa comes up to you with an open hand and says “Give me pen.” It is strange and yet a refreshing change from “Give me money” that you hear in so many other places. The only disappointment was that it was a weekend so we couldn’t see how the school actually functioned - I just know that there are about 100 kids per class. Enough said. At church, we were welcomed in (and this was during a proper service) and made to stand up and tell a little bit about ourselves. Then we were all called up to the front while everyone sang and came up to shake our hands and say hello. My mom would be proud that I went to church and even donated a little bit of money. I think they made us all Christians…Somewhere between the hospital and the church I found myself with child - with someone else’s child anyway. She attached herself to my hand and was mine for quite a while.

We saw a little bit of sun poking out on the walk and then it went back to cloudy before we got back to the beach. Sarah had put our clothes outside to finish drying and they were done by the time I got back. Then we had some lunch and then it was time for shopping. There were several shacks lined up outside the campsite where guys were selling their carvings and paintings and Malawi chairs. Most of these guys come up to you on the beach and try to get you to come buy things. They also came with us on the walk to chat us up and then get us to buy things. My guys were Black Mamba and Kingfisher - yeah, that’s right. There was also Sweet Banana, Sugar and Spice, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Benjamin and Peter. I ended buying a painting from Mel Gibson and three from Benjamin. Ben had another two I really wanted but that were too expensive. In the end I only had a little bit left and traded two hair bands and this tiny bit of money for an elephant bum keychain with my friend’s name carved in it - the only friend who I think would appreciate it - do you know who you are?? Later in the afternoon Richard gave Jules and I two bags to trade for whatever we liked - Jules wanted the paintings of Benjamin’s but he was gone for the day. In the meantime, Austin and I teamed up to trade my bag for a Malawi chair and two paintings for me, and a painting and two wood carvings for him. Not bad. For supper we went as a group back to the village and had a proper village meal. It was rice, pork, cassava, spinach made from cassava leaves, and eggs in a tomato sauce. Really nice. I even saw someone walking around with the bag I had traded an hour before. Then the village kids danced for us and sang to a drum. Then it was our turn, we had to get up individually in front of everyone and dance with, and like, a child that we were assigned to. It was hilarious. There was a lot of butt shaking going on and I had a front row seat. Good times.

May 15, 2006 - Day 30 - Jules and I tried to barter this morning for the paintings with Benjamin, but we just didn’t get anywhere. We started at six paintings for one bag and went down to one, but he wouldn’t budge unless cash was part of the deal. So there was no deal. We left around 10:30am and got on the road for the remainder of the day really. We stopped in town to buy groceries and this took forever - there wasn’t much to pick from here. No fresh bread because the town had lot power for a while. We finally drove away and far enough outside of town to prepare and eat lunch around 3pm - we were so hungry by then. The scenery on the drive was really nice though - mountainous and very green with lovely trees. We finally got to camp in Chitimba in the dark and had to set up our tents that way; becoming quite a trend. Took a shower immediately - it was cold but I had been on several days of shower strike due to the cold lake water showers at the last site. It was fine. Dinner was yummy - schnitzel, gem squash, potatoes and salad. I joked around with Thomas that he left Germany to try African food and ended up with German food anyway.

May 16, 2006 - Day 31 - Had to get up at 5am this morning to do the optional 10 hour hike up to Livingstonia, named for Dr. David Livingston. Had some breakfast and made a take away lunch - a sandwich, orange, clementine and to hard boiled eggs. Found our two guides Washington and Peter and by 6am we were on our way. Some of the walk was on a road, some was via shortcuts that were steep and hard to climb because it was wet clay. We finally made it up to town and the place where we camped out to eat around 11:30am. Took lots of breaks along the way, including a beautiful waterfall where Thomas loaned me some money for a Coke (that I forgot to pay back - sorry Thomas!). up in Livingstonia there was a hospital, a university, and a church that we were able to go into. Finally we started down and it was painful. Downhill is easier in some respects and harder in others. By the time we made it back I was in pain and tired. The road was 32 kms round-trip, and with our short cuts I think we still walked about 25 kms. It was never ending. And hurty. First thing I got a shower and then relaxed and played cards until dinner. Dinner was yummy again - pasta with meatballs and a secret sauce, sweet potatoes, salad, and coleslaw. I think Thomas and I were the last ones to bed at 9pm - it was a hard day.

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