Zomba, Finally! (June 24)

Today we finally got to leave that crazy hotel in Lilongwe and start making our trip down to Domasi (where the schools are) and Zomba (where we will be staying). The luggage took up an entire 3 rows of the back of the bus so everyone was crammed in, and it was pretty uncomfortable but we managed. The drive down was 4 hours long but broken up by 2 trips. We first stopped at the Dedza Pottery shop and did some shopping. The pottery was beautiful and I bought a few things there. It is all hand crafted and hand painted, I was amazed at the talent these people have. We also ate there for lunch and it was great. The surroundings were sooo pretty, mountains everywhere and it was so peaceful to be in that type of environment. Funny thing happened though, I managed to drop my camera in the toilet (before I used it)!! Luckily, it was in the case and I grabbed it out quick enough that it wasn’t ruined.. and the case dried in the sun while we ate lunch.

Afterwards we drove a very short distance to see where they make recycled paper from Elephant Dung. I really wanted a journal from the shop but one of the people on the trip bought them all out! It’s okay though because the experience was still fascinating. When we left the shop we got to meet the man who actually made the paper and he showed us how it was done. So creative, and the paper was so lovely. The paper from elephant dung is a brownish color, and the other paper is white-ish. The best part by far though, was the little kids from the village. As soon as our bus pulled up they all crowded around and wanted to see us. They were pretty skeptical at first (I would be too!) and didn’t really understand what our cameras were, so they kept running away from us when we tried to get pictures with them. Once we showed them what they looked like on the camera they were so excited!! They loved it and a lot of them were even posing with us. We played some games with them in the street while we waited. The older kids spoke English, but the rest just followed us around smiled a lot. A few children even had their younger siblings on their backs. None of them had shoes and the little clothes they had were very insufficient. But what great kids, and fun!

Our next stop was the Lizulu Market that literally bordered Malawi and Mozambique. I got a picture of me standing with one foot in each country!! Totally reminded me of A Walk to Remember, but still cool. There were massive amounts of people it was ridiculous. We didn’t stay long because we needed to get to Annie’s Lodge before dark. We finally got there and once we did, they had no power. So we loaded our luggage into our rooms and used our flashlights to guide the way. In this part of Malawi though, they often lose power because it’s so expensive. But now they have a generator so we were able to go downstairs and still eat dinner, and have a beer, because they actually have a bar here. This place is beautiful and much nicer than the Budget Lodge in Lilongwe. Oh, and the land we saw on the drive down was mountainous and so empty; it was very peaceful and so weird to see because it was completely untouched. There weren’t even wild animals. Fortunately we got to see the sunset over the Shire River in passing, and that was incredible.

Tomorrow we’ll visit all three schools, even though VT is only teaching at the Domasi Government School. I’m very excited. But for now, it’s time to get hopefully a good night’s sleep, finally!