When dehydration is a good thing

So we last left you just after Julie and I made it to Lilongwe. Other than the gentleman we met at the Internet "cafe", pretty much no one was nice to us. So much for the "warm heart of Africa". I think after leaving Korea Garden, we walked directly into the wrong part of town. It was a busy place and we passed the black market and a river where people were simultaneously bathing and peeing in... However, we found our way into another section of town where everyone was super nice. Julie tried to buy a postcard at this little sourvenir market and was instantly surrounded by about 7 men shoving different cards in her face. The post office was closed anyway, so just tried to walk away- but one certain vendor, Andy, should get some credit for his persistance as he followed us several blocks to Kiboko Safaris. We were able to purchase a SIM card and minutes for our phone and book a safari! We will be spending the last week of our trip on a Safari in Zambia!!!!! All those exclamation points should emphasize how pumped we are about this trip. All we have to do is find some sort of documentation that we don't have yellow fever... yet.

All in all, it was a successful afternoon of running errands until everything closed at 5pm. As we returned to Korea Garden for dinner, we met a young man named Happy George as he taslked to us about Malawi and tried to sell us his bracelets. But being the shoppers we are and with always an eye for a bargain, Julie and I returned to Korea Garden sourvenir-free (mainly because we had enough baggage to lug around alaready). For dinner, Julie had a delicious chicken kabob and I chose fish with garlic bananas- very unique, but excellent! Then I pretty much passed out in bed at the late hour of 8:30pm.

In the morning, we awoke at 545am, showered and packed, and hitched a taxi to the bus station in order to get a bus to Mzuzu, supposedly a 5 hour drive. I can't even accurately describe the chaos and trash that surrounded the bus station, but Julie and I found the bus quite quickly and loaded our bags. We were told that the bus would leave once it was full- and they meant FULL. People were standing in the aisle! So after sitting in our seats on the bus in the bus station for 2 hours, we finally began what turned out to be a 9 hour trek to Mzuzu. Apparently, this was a local bus that made many brief stops along the one road through Malawi at the small towns to drop off and pick people up. At every town, people came up to the windows trying to sell us hard-boiled eggs, cookies, rolls, bananas, and sketchy bags of water. Julie and I were afraid to leave the bus for fear it would leave without us, so luckily, we were dehydrated enough to last the whole trip without having to go to the bathroom!

Driving through the country of Malawi was quite a site. The scenery certainly changed as we traveled north. Cornfields lined the road almost for the entire trip. It was a lot like driving through Illinois- except with more goats and cows and shanty towns and women carrying pots on their heads. At first, the land was very flat, with bushes and mid-sized trees. Off into the distance you could spot random round hills/mountains popping out of nowhere.  Then the vegetation became very low-lying with only bushes and very small trees. Then finally, as we passed central Malawi into northern Malawi, the road became winding and hilly. There was lots of grass and very tall trees lining the roads. The stops became fewer and shanty towns sparser, and maybe even poorer. Instead of brick houses, we saw many wooden huts and shelters with no roofs at all. Fewer people wore shoes.

Finally, after sitting on a bus for 9 straight hours, we made it to Mzuzu (it will be a miracle if we don't have DVTs by the end of this trip). Our time there was quite a blur, as Julie and I lugged are bags through town in search of an ATM, all the while being harassed by taxi drivers and vendors. A word to the wise- if you are traveling to Malawi, Visa is what you need! It is the only card accepted almost anywhere. We had to find a specific ATM that accepted my Mastercard debit card. But we did. And we found a taxi to take us to Ekwendeni, since the mini buses looked a little sketchy and we were already weary from the crowd on our AXA bustrip up.

The taxi ride only lasted 25 minutes and the driver kept changing the radio station to find American songs. Enrique Iglesias serenaded us as we pulled up the small town of Ekwendeni. The taxi dropped us off directly in front of the guest house where we will be staying for the next 3 weeks, right behind a BEAUTIFUL church. After finding the guest house manager, Sam, and checking into a room, we unpacked. Sam cooked us a simple but delicious meal of chicken, rice, and some sort of green vegetable resembling spinach that he called "vegetable". We also met the night watchman, Ellison, father of 7 children and native of Lilongwe. Once again, I managed to stay awake all the way until 8pm! We were supposed to meet with Dr. Carol Jack, with whom we had been communicating, at 7pm, but she never showed... until she called and woke us up at the wee hour of 9pm. Time and schedules do not really exist in Malawi, but more on that later....

The bright sunshine glared into our room, waking us up at about 5:30am. Trying to sleep more somewhat successfully we finally got up, showered (no pool to jump in now), and got dressed for church- there was to be an 8am service in English and a 10am service in ___ , the language of northern Malawi. Sam cooked us eggs and toast and we made it to church on time... unlike the rest of the town. There were less than 20 people when we first arrived and were mesmerized by the adult choir, the Warriors of Christ. But after a few hyms when the church announcer asked guests to stand and introduce themselves to the congregation, we turned around to speak to at least 300 hundred people. The asked us to speak a greeting in , but I'm pretty sure we butchered it. Anyway, the service was absolutely beautiful and the sermon very touching. He spoke about what it is to receive not just a calling, but a holy calling from God. Julie and I prayed and listened and sang with what seemed like the entire town for two hours- such a beautiful service, with incredible choirs. After the service, Helen, a school teacher at the girls secondary school from Scotland who has been living here for 11 years invited us to tea and we explored the Ekwendeni and the market all afternoon, which brings us to now.

So, as you can see, we are finally at our main destination for the month. The trip was quite long, much like this blog post, but an adventure nonetheless (just like this blog post?). We will leave you here.