Mt. Mulanje (July 5)

We hiked Mt. Mulanje today. I wish all of you could have been there because none of my pictures are going to do it justice. It was absolutely beautiful. The drive there was 2 and a half hours so that kind of sucked but I listened to my ipod the whole way. Once we pulled in to the mountain area to start our hike everyone was coming up to our bus selling cedar walking sticks. They were beautiful, but I didn’t get one. They smelled amazing. Dr. Kelly said this is the only place in the country to get cedar, it comes off the mountain and only certain people are allowed access to it. So pretty much everything they try to sell you in the Mulanje area is cedar. We paid for a guide, his name was Lucius, and he was awesome. He didn’t talk very much but when he did he was pretty knowledgeable and knew the mountain very well.

I kept hearing the hike was really difficult, but it wasn’t bad at all. I actually thought it was even easier than hiking the cascades back at school. However, the cascades have nothin’ on Mt.Mulanje. At certain points you could see out over miles and miles, so we stopped a few times just to take it all in. Myself, Angela, Jess and I pretty much led the hike, so we got a few nice rests in there while we waited for others to catch up. Lucius took us up to the waterfall, which actually does resemble the cascades. Only in size though. This waterfall was moving much faster, and at the top in the distance was a huge mountain looking rock. Can’t find that in Blacksburg. There was a flat rock overlooking the lagoon and waterfall area where we all sat and ate lunch. It was so nice. And the weather was perfect. We couldn’t go in the water though, not because of parasites like in most areas, but because a lot of people live on the mountain and use the bathroom there, so we thought it safer not to swim. Some people went in up to their knees but that’s about all. We were all so fearful it was going to rain, and if it had, then the hike really would have been difficult.

On the way we met some pretty interesting people. One couple was hiking up at the same time; they were in the Peace Corps here, went to William and Mary and were from the Virginia Beach area. The one guy said he had always loved visiting and partying at Virginia Tech. What a small world. Also, these kids kept following us. They were a bunch of little boys that lived on the mountain. It amazed me that even in that area, with all the rocks and wooded areas and poisonous things that they still walked around barefoot. They knew all these crazy shortcuts and beat us to the waterfall. I got a bunch of pictures with them because they were cute, but towards the end all they wanted from us were our bottles, food, money and pens. I swear its like they’re all taught to ask for the same things no matter where you are. It’s really hard to say no, but you kind of have to.

We stopped at the little shop on the way out. Dr. Kelly gave us 15 minutes to look at things and find out prices on things we liked but we were told not to buy anything. Then we got back on the bus. All the craftsmen came up to the bus windows and their prices dropped a lot because they knew we were leaving and not coming back. I wanted two cedar picture frames, and the man wanted 750K for them. I wanted 2 for 200, and he laughed in my face. But, once on the bus, I totally got my two frames for 200 total. Dr. Kelly and Dr. Liz said it would be this way when we go to Liwonde (the wood carving place) on Wednesday, and to do the same thing so we can get the prices we really want. I had a seat to myself on the bus ride back so I laid down and took a small nap, but the roads in Africa are terrible. It’s so rocky that it became pointless because the bus kept tossing me around in my seat. We pulled over at a market, a few of us stayed on the bus because we didn’t need anything, but I regret that decision. They were selling PINEAPPLES. For cheap! So many people got them, and I couldn’t exactly go in there by myself once I realized. Especially not after a drunk man tried to get on our bus, but James scared him away with his walking stick, haha. We also pulled over on the side of the road to get pictures with the kids selling rats on a stick. This is not a joke, they actually sell rats and mice on sticks in some places out in the middle of nowhere. Clearly, no one was going to buy or eat one of those things, but we paid the little kids so we could take pictures of them. It was crazy, and pretty disgusting.

We had one of our “family” dinners again, buffet style where everyone sits together. Those are the best. The food is always sooo much better too. Peter, Annie’s son, and Brian (a PHD student at tech) showed up tonight as well. They threw this big party for us, and they did not disappoint. Unfortunately, my streak of not getting drunk in Africa definitely ended. Peter was giving out free liquor, and of course I had to try Malawian vodka. They had this stuff that he was giving us all shots of that tasted just like kahlua. It was way too creamy so I just kept handing mine off to other people. It was pretty cool for the most part. Jess and I were still the grandma’s of the group and came to bed around midnight. It’s a step up from our usual 8:45 though!