Well as it is warming up in Canada, it is cooling down in Lilongwe! It has only gone up to about 18 degrees in the last few days - I am missing the nice warm sunny days of March!
We will be staying in Lilongwe again for the third consecutive week and I am itching to get out and see another part of this country! I will just have to be patient though until next week - Thursday is a holiday, and we have booked Friday off, so we get a nice long weekend out of the deal. We haven't picked a destination yet, but were thinking of driving down to climb Mount Mulanje. I was thinking of waiting until we'd had the time to get a bit more fit, but I think we are ready enough, and our alternative plan of going to the beach on the northern lakeshore is a bit kaiboshed due to the chilly weather!
Any other ideas?
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
After Mangochi
Before anything else - I must take a minute to congratulate Jules on finishing his last exam - glad you persevered though my dragging you to Africa mid-way through a course - I am SO proud of you!!!!!!!!!!
I didn’t realize until my hasty post in the internet café in Mzuzu that I hadn’t blogged since my visit to Mangochi almost 2 weeks ago!
So I didn’t blog about our fabulous weekend after Mangochi! We had reserved tents in a resort on the southern shores of Lake Malawi – I had been there before briefly during a business trip, but Regan and Jules had never seen it. My first impression was that the shores are beautiful – the opposite shore is closer in the narrow southern part of the lake than in the middle, and so you can see the mountains on the other side more clearly. After dinner, we were shown to our tents only to find that they had reserved us two tents with broken zippers and no mosquito nets – obviously unacceptable in a country where Malaria is a frequent occurrence. We managed to argue our way into a room for the same price of the tents. It even had a TV, and a separate room for Regan and Wiley, so no arguing over leaving the light on to read – yay! We rejoiced over the TV – though I can’t bring myself to pay the price for it, and don’t miss it every day, it was amazing to find out how fun it was to have one for a few hours, even with 3 channels.
In the morning, we negotiated inexpensive breakfasts and then headed down to the lake. Unfortunately, we were told that we couldn’t have the room again for the same price and that no tents with zippers were available. For the price they were charging for the room ($12,000 KW – almost $90), I figured we might as well stay at a nicer resort. We headed down the way to Sun n’Sand, where we were able to finagle a room for $11,800 (should have been $15,000) and negotiated out of buying Regan and Wiley breakfast as we had brought cornflakes, so altogether got our stay for almost $10,000 less. Delighted with our (albeit tiny) room – TV with (gasp) 7 channels and (excited intake of breath) A/C – a rarely seen sight here in Malawi, we headed out to the Olympic size swimming pool. I must admit that though the view is breathtaking, the beach at both the first resort, Boadzulu, and at Sun n’ Sand was disappointing – the bottom was somewhat mushy and black in spots and there was a breakwater that kind of ruined the entrance for swimming…so we pretty much hung at the pool for the rest of the weekend – it was awesome and relaxing – reading books alternately in the sun and the shade, enjoying drinks by the pool, and watching a movie on TV. They even had African dancing after dinner in the restaurant! Arriving home on Sunday in Lilongwe, we felt relaxed and refreshed.
The following week was a busy one – on Tuesday we had a power outage and couldn’t make dinner until 9pm (oh what I would give for a gas stove!), Wednesday was my first volleyball game with my new team – unfortunately, we lost, but it wasn’t for lack of effort on behalf of our cheering squad – with our roommate, her boyfriend, Jules and Regan and other friends, I think there may have been more of them than of us playing! Anyways, we had pulled a late game, then stayed for drinks and an impromptu practice, making it a late evening. On Thursday, we joined the Portuguese club – after the great time in the Sun n’ Sand pool (I even got to do laps!), I decided I really would like to be able to have regular access to a pool in Lilongwe. The Portuguese club has a pool that is about 25m long, you can access it anytime, plus it has a fun high diving board (used mostly by shrieking children taking running jumps off the terrifying thing).
Thursday was also, sadly, Alexio’s (Heather’s boyfriend who had been visiting from Zimbabwe) last night in Lilongwe, so we went to a new place, Don Brioni’s. I have to admit to not being terribly impressed. The food was good, but portions were small and expensive – in fact it was the most we’d spent per person per meal yet, but weren’t wowed by it like we have been at other places. Friday, I stupidly agreed to join my friends Melissa and Heidi for a 2 hour yoga class. Tips for anyone who has not experienced yoga outside one trial class – you may not want to do 2 hours of advanced yoga with no training!!! Although it felt good afterwards, I think there were just too many poses I couldn’t do – think I will give it a miss until I can find a slower paced class.
The weekend was another perfect one – relaxing and all spent in Lilongwe. Saturday we got to go to a new superstore here – Chipiku – where we found some excellent deals, then to the Portuguese club for laps and sun and reading (and we managed to get our A/C fixed as well – yay!). Saturday night our new friend Carmen (who drove me to aerobics until I got my car) hosted a dinner party that was amazing – despite saying she couldn’t cook, she put on a meal to satisfy Martha Stewart and a dessert to match. We learned a new scrabble game and met new people. Inspired by the successful dinner party, we decided to host a BBQ Sunday at our place – it was so fun having friends over, and we have found some like-minded game playing people to hang out with for sure, playing Hoopla, eating, then playing Settlers and Pop 5 – a perfect night.
I didn’t realize until my hasty post in the internet café in Mzuzu that I hadn’t blogged since my visit to Mangochi almost 2 weeks ago!
So I didn’t blog about our fabulous weekend after Mangochi! We had reserved tents in a resort on the southern shores of Lake Malawi – I had been there before briefly during a business trip, but Regan and Jules had never seen it. My first impression was that the shores are beautiful – the opposite shore is closer in the narrow southern part of the lake than in the middle, and so you can see the mountains on the other side more clearly. After dinner, we were shown to our tents only to find that they had reserved us two tents with broken zippers and no mosquito nets – obviously unacceptable in a country where Malaria is a frequent occurrence. We managed to argue our way into a room for the same price of the tents. It even had a TV, and a separate room for Regan and Wiley, so no arguing over leaving the light on to read – yay! We rejoiced over the TV – though I can’t bring myself to pay the price for it, and don’t miss it every day, it was amazing to find out how fun it was to have one for a few hours, even with 3 channels.
In the morning, we negotiated inexpensive breakfasts and then headed down to the lake. Unfortunately, we were told that we couldn’t have the room again for the same price and that no tents with zippers were available. For the price they were charging for the room ($12,000 KW – almost $90), I figured we might as well stay at a nicer resort. We headed down the way to Sun n’Sand, where we were able to finagle a room for $11,800 (should have been $15,000) and negotiated out of buying Regan and Wiley breakfast as we had brought cornflakes, so altogether got our stay for almost $10,000 less. Delighted with our (albeit tiny) room – TV with (gasp) 7 channels and (excited intake of breath) A/C – a rarely seen sight here in Malawi, we headed out to the Olympic size swimming pool. I must admit that though the view is breathtaking, the beach at both the first resort, Boadzulu, and at Sun n’ Sand was disappointing – the bottom was somewhat mushy and black in spots and there was a breakwater that kind of ruined the entrance for swimming…so we pretty much hung at the pool for the rest of the weekend – it was awesome and relaxing – reading books alternately in the sun and the shade, enjoying drinks by the pool, and watching a movie on TV. They even had African dancing after dinner in the restaurant! Arriving home on Sunday in Lilongwe, we felt relaxed and refreshed.
The following week was a busy one – on Tuesday we had a power outage and couldn’t make dinner until 9pm (oh what I would give for a gas stove!), Wednesday was my first volleyball game with my new team – unfortunately, we lost, but it wasn’t for lack of effort on behalf of our cheering squad – with our roommate, her boyfriend, Jules and Regan and other friends, I think there may have been more of them than of us playing! Anyways, we had pulled a late game, then stayed for drinks and an impromptu practice, making it a late evening. On Thursday, we joined the Portuguese club – after the great time in the Sun n’ Sand pool (I even got to do laps!), I decided I really would like to be able to have regular access to a pool in Lilongwe. The Portuguese club has a pool that is about 25m long, you can access it anytime, plus it has a fun high diving board (used mostly by shrieking children taking running jumps off the terrifying thing).
Thursday was also, sadly, Alexio’s (Heather’s boyfriend who had been visiting from Zimbabwe) last night in Lilongwe, so we went to a new place, Don Brioni’s. I have to admit to not being terribly impressed. The food was good, but portions were small and expensive – in fact it was the most we’d spent per person per meal yet, but weren’t wowed by it like we have been at other places. Friday, I stupidly agreed to join my friends Melissa and Heidi for a 2 hour yoga class. Tips for anyone who has not experienced yoga outside one trial class – you may not want to do 2 hours of advanced yoga with no training!!! Although it felt good afterwards, I think there were just too many poses I couldn’t do – think I will give it a miss until I can find a slower paced class.
The weekend was another perfect one – relaxing and all spent in Lilongwe. Saturday we got to go to a new superstore here – Chipiku – where we found some excellent deals, then to the Portuguese club for laps and sun and reading (and we managed to get our A/C fixed as well – yay!). Saturday night our new friend Carmen (who drove me to aerobics until I got my car) hosted a dinner party that was amazing – despite saying she couldn’t cook, she put on a meal to satisfy Martha Stewart and a dessert to match. We learned a new scrabble game and met new people. Inspired by the successful dinner party, we decided to host a BBQ Sunday at our place – it was so fun having friends over, and we have found some like-minded game playing people to hang out with for sure, playing Hoopla, eating, then playing Settlers and Pop 5 – a perfect night.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Malwian Business Trip
At least this time I was actually packed and knew that I would be going out of town when I arrived at the office Monday. But I thought I was going to Mangochi and returning Wednesday, but within a few hours, the plan changed to me going to Mangochi and Mzuzu, then just to Mzuzu and returning Thursday. Followed by a trip to the bank to travel my travel allowance cheque, and load the gas card before driving north with one of CADECOM's drivers to Mzuzu.
Having forgotten my Lonely Planet, I had nowhere to stay and no idea where to start looking. After checking out one recommendation from some guy on the street, I texted my roomate Heather, who texted me back with numbers from our trusty Southern Africa guide. I am now in the second cheapest accommodation ever stayed in on business, the Mzoozoozoo - actually a pretty cool backpackery-type lodge. Again, I get a dorm room, but noone else is in it, so not bad at all for 800 KW ($5.92).
I would describe Mzuzu, but other than the tall tall trees and forestry operations I saw on the way up, I arrived at night and have been working today so don't feel like I have the feel of the place yet - will try to blog again when I get home - IF we have internet again - it has broken AGAIN, but Jules is working on it - wish him luck!!!
Having forgotten my Lonely Planet, I had nowhere to stay and no idea where to start looking. After checking out one recommendation from some guy on the street, I texted my roomate Heather, who texted me back with numbers from our trusty Southern Africa guide. I am now in the second cheapest accommodation ever stayed in on business, the Mzoozoozoo - actually a pretty cool backpackery-type lodge. Again, I get a dorm room, but noone else is in it, so not bad at all for 800 KW ($5.92).
I would describe Mzuzu, but other than the tall tall trees and forestry operations I saw on the way up, I arrived at night and have been working today so don't feel like I have the feel of the place yet - will try to blog again when I get home - IF we have internet again - it has broken AGAIN, but Jules is working on it - wish him luck!!!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Mangochi
I am in Mangochi again on business – I was here before, about four weeks ago, on another business trip. Mangochi is at the southern tip of Lake Malawi (though not right on the lake unfortunately), and has the highest concentration of Malawi’s Muslim population. It is quite warm in Mangochi, and has a very different feel than Lilongwe – more rural I guess – definitely more people biking and walking through the streets, with only an occasional car driving through. People are friendly, and there are many veiled women and children. There are definitely less white people here, though I am sure the population has seen their fair share, so I get quite a few more stares than I would in Lilongwe, especially as I walk to work rather than drive or take a bike-taxi.
I am here to help evaluate the results of a baseline survey that this office conducted prior to implementation of a food security, water and sanitation program. Not sure if I knew what I was signing up for – I came to pick up the survey results today and there is a BIG box of paper – handwritten surveys…I will do my best to get the data in today, so I can spend tomorrow doing analysis with the woman here who is in charge of the project implementation.
Tomorrow night, Jules is driving up with Regan and Wiley (Melissa’s son, who we have for the weekend) and we will go north a bit to spend the weekend on the southern lakeshore, where Jules and Regan have not yet been.
Although I love Senga Bay, I also loved the beauty of the southern lakeshore when I was here briefly before – you can see mountains all along the coast and the Cape sticking way out into the water.
I was able to send 2 CDs of pictures to Kate for uploading (THANK YOU KATE) so pictures are now available on my flickr account (www.flickr.com/photos/adventuregirl7), and I hope to insert some into my blogs soon (if I am ever home for more than one night!!!).
I am here to help evaluate the results of a baseline survey that this office conducted prior to implementation of a food security, water and sanitation program. Not sure if I knew what I was signing up for – I came to pick up the survey results today and there is a BIG box of paper – handwritten surveys…I will do my best to get the data in today, so I can spend tomorrow doing analysis with the woman here who is in charge of the project implementation.
Tomorrow night, Jules is driving up with Regan and Wiley (Melissa’s son, who we have for the weekend) and we will go north a bit to spend the weekend on the southern lakeshore, where Jules and Regan have not yet been.
Although I love Senga Bay, I also loved the beauty of the southern lakeshore when I was here briefly before – you can see mountains all along the coast and the Cape sticking way out into the water.
I was able to send 2 CDs of pictures to Kate for uploading (THANK YOU KATE) so pictures are now available on my flickr account (www.flickr.com/photos/adventuregirl7), and I hope to insert some into my blogs soon (if I am ever home for more than one night!!!).
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