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Published: April 27th 2006
Filled to the Rim
From Tete, the girls and I piled into a Chappa (along with lots of other people) to get to the border of Malawi. You can see Vicky in the rear window.After going through immigration and entering Malawi, the girls and I waited at border for a large bus to take us to Blantyre. But after we realized it would take forever for that bus to leave as locals had tons of crap they bought in South Africa and had to claim them at customs, we got into another crowed chapa for the 1.5-hour ride to Blantyre.
We arrived at Doogles, a famous backpackers in Blantyre, and we secured some dorm beds. I was tired, sweaty and in need of a shower badly. The girls and I had a few beers at the bar and dinner before calling it a night early. Doogles did not provide mozzy nets and I did not have one. So I spent the night listening to mozzies buzzing by my head. I woke with about 10 bites on my shoulders. It was then I upgraded for $5 to my own room with a net.
In the morning, I walked around town a bit. As I have found in all of Africa, I was amazed at how this city had a balance of both modern living and pre-industrial revolution living. One minute you are walking among
Oh, nuts!
When ever the Chappa pulls over to pick up people (which seems like it is every 5 minutes), locals selling peanuts and other goodies mob the van. wooden shacks on dirt paths where people have torn clothing and no shoes. Then you turn a corner and you are walking along a paved road where Land Rovers are drivng past. This truly is a land of HAVES and HAVE NOTS. Will they ever find a balance here?
There is not much to see in Blantyre and we only spent one day (two nights) here as we were on our way to Lilongwe. The following day we got on the Deluxe Express Bus for the 4 hour trip to Lilongwe. The bus turned out to be very nice and even showed a movie (Blue Streak...I always think about my cousin Lee when I see this movie).
Upon arriving in Lilongwe, we decided not to take a taxis to our destination (which would have only cost us $3 USD) because Vicky (having lived in Lilongwe for four months about four years ago) said we could easily walk to Kimboko Camp site. It turned out that Vicky was a bit off as it was over 3 kms to the site and the girls were not used to carrying their large backpacks more than four feet...so it became a long
Border Crossing
I approach the border of Malawi with all of my worldly possessions. hike to the camp.
At the camp site, we each splurged on the A-Frame single rooms for $8 (of course it meant using general showers and bathrooms located about 20 meters away). We decided we earned ourselves a nice meal after the long hike so we hit Don Brione's for some italian food.
The next day we went to visit the school Vicky worked at four years ago. I told her not to expect them remembering her because it was a while ago. We get there are of course the awkwardness begins for Vicky and Charlotte as, of course, no teachers she remembers are there (one even died two years ago) and no one remembers her. I calmly walk around laughing a bit and then begin interacting with the children of the school...which by the way were all girls. We spent the rest of the day strolling around town and taking in a few sights (not many here) before I left the girls in the hands of an English guy they met earlier in the day. I headed off for a cheapie dinner at a Muslim joint. I ended up chatting with the owners about Lebanon (their home)
Relaxing at Doogles
After a long overland journey, nothing better than kicking back at the bar. Do I have to drink all of this? and how my friend Kirk goes once a year and raves about it.
That night I feel asleep to the sounds of barking dogs....long story!!
The next day we left at 5am to catch a bus to Nkhata Bay.
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