We came back home in Lilongwe about 2pm yesterday.. We had a great trip. I think it was just nice to finally have some time as a family. Michelle's job has been relentless since we arrived, and to get away and enjoy being together with the kids was great... I have some notes regarding our travels and lots of great photographs.. But I just dumped alot of the photos in a slideshow and put some Allman Brothers music to add a little pep, so check it out...
Each place we went was beautiful and different and felt like another world... Malawi is a convenient place to travel because everything is fairly close to each other.. I don't think we had more than a 4.5 hour drive on the days we moved from different locations...
But during our travels I think we had some moments of breaking down and realizing we are probably ready to go home.. It is very difficult for us to "relax" here when there are so many people around us that are obviously suffering.. Is it possible to feel you are on holiday in the third poorest country in the world?? Maybe it is for some, but not for us... Everywhere we went there was something that made us feel uncomfortable/ sad, depressed, etc... All these beautiful places and such a sad state of affairs... When we traveled through Blantyre, the parking lots were full of people begging for food.. When we arrived at the foot of Mount Mulanje, There were at least 15 men who wanted to be our "guides" for hikes... When we told them we weren't sure what we wanted to do all of them ran several Kilometers up the hill and waited for us while we checked into the cottage.. Then, they waited outside our cottage while we unpacked and tried to settle into the cottage.. They just stood outside our house waiting for the opportunity to have a job... When we told them we would decide in the morning, some of them left.. But one in particular (Geoffrey) stuck around and gave us his story about how he was living in a church with his family.. They had no home because the flood destroyed their hut... He was honestly the first person that asked to guide us, and since there was no organization or structure to the "guide" situation, we decided to use him as our guide...
As he told Michelle, "there are days when I don't want to climb this mountain... but I know I have to .. I have to find money and maybe an opportunity to make my life better." The next morning , there were still several men standing outside our cottage waiting for any opportunity... So we gave them some food, agreed to have one of them watch our car for us, while Geoffrey took us to various places on the mountain.. Aside from that, there were children asking for food, asking for our bottles to take back to town for a refund... We gave away food, money, and clothing to a young boy who had an exposed bottom due to the fact that his pants were totally ripped in the back.. As we hiked in our rain jackets and boots there were groups of women gathering firewood for their families.. The bundles of wood had to weigh at least 50 pounds... they wrapped them in neat bundles, tying them with rags and put them on top of their heads. Geoffrey told us , they were from a distant village.. probably about 5 miles away since firewood is scarce where they are from.. The women get up around 4 am, make the hike to the mountain, then climb up the mountain, gather the wood, then hike back home... We were just there to swim in the waterfall... Makes you kind of appreciate everything and at the same time cry.. We then went to Zomba which was the kids favorite spot.. We pulled up to a beautiful cottage that sits on the edge of the Zomba Plateau... When we saw the place, we got excited.. It was quiet, secluded and had an amazing view... Then we noticed a small home that was occupied by a gentleman named Dunnex and his 4 children... He was the caretaker of the cottage and his home was right next to it.. The tough thing about his job was that he wasn't from the area, and left his wife back at their original home that was 4.5 hours away for this particular job..... He'd been doing this for 7 years... As he left, Michelle and I looked at each other and said.. "nothing comes easy here." His kids enjoyed spying on us and eventually played jump rope with our kids... We went horse riding in Zomba, and ate at an amazing Italian restaurant that was run by an Italian couple ... The name of the place was Cassa Rossa if you ever make it to Zomba...
We met two gentleman named Roderick and Douglas who wanted to guide us on hikes on the plateau... The men here are mostly wood carving artists and have makeshift displays and sell their work to visitors... There were alot of vendors / artists in the area, plus men and women who sell passion fruit, raspberries, and wood... The berries were unbelievable.. Oh yeah, and of course there were men and women gathering wood on the mountain only to load it on their head or bike and travel the 7 mile road back down to town... When I told Roderick that I didn't think we needed a guide or that I didn't have any money to buy wooden items from him, he noticed I was getting shorts out of a bag on top of our truck.. He said " I can trade you some of my art for those shorts?" I told him "no thanks" then asked Michelle if we had any clothes we were willing to part with... We got a few bags down from the top of the truck, got together about 8 articles of clothing, and I handed them to Roderick... the vendors swarmed him, start grabbing at the clothes.. Roderick demanded calm, and distributed the clothes as he saw fit.. Everybody got something.. and they were ecstatic.. he gave us a few carved elephants for the kids and we called it a deal... As we drove away, the vendors looked like an ad for St. Thomas school back home... one of the guys was putting on my old shirt right there in the middle of the road... We shook hands as we drove away and he said.. "thank you and God Bless you"...
The travel here is beautiful ... It's unbelievable actually ... The lake is gorgeous with islands scattered though out... There is snorkeling and cychlid fish everywhere ( as a matter of fact, the Newport Aquarium, as you enter the place, has a whole exhibit devoted to lake Malawi)... There are picturesque mountains, wildlife, etc... I've never been to a place so beautiful... and the people here are amazing.. As poor as many people are, they are wonderful and always make you feel welcome.. And it has never felt unsafe.. When they greet you they say.. " You are most welcome here."
I just think it is difficult to really feel happy traveling here.. at least it's difficult for us..We just have a hard time finding the balance ... Don't know if you can enjoy a drink on your porch with a sky full of stars above you, while the kids walking up the hill have their butt exposed due to a hole in their pants and are asking for food.. ... It's hard to relax and feel good about it ... Maybe we are naive, maybe we should just ignore the situations, but i find that impossible .With that said, I will miss the sensation of traveling/living here.. It feels new and unique and alive... That's what is so wonderful about Africa I guess.. As people always say, once Africa gets its claws in you, it never lets go... And I think that's why we came back.. I have no regrets and am grateful that we've had this experience again.. And I would recommend it to anyone..
Above is the slideshow I compiled and there are a few videos included in there.. One of them is of a small Cape Maclear children' s band.. They played buckets, junk guitars, and danced to songs about getting malaria and white people.. The name of the band is "the Eagles"... Sounded a little like Don Henley and Joe Walsh...
Hope all is well back home..
