August 2, 2009 - Hello from Malawi!

Somehow all that lay-over time (12 hours) in Nairobi ended up passing by. We each got about two hours of sleep at the airport and maybe another hour each on the plane to Malawi. Thank goodness they had free wireless connection so we could while away the time on the laptop. We were on a non-direct flight that made a stop in Lusake, Zambia before Lilongwe. So that added an extra hour or so to the trip. We couldn’t deplane so it felt a bit long.

I talked to a really nice woman from Lilongwe at the airport and then coincidentally she was in the seat next to me on the plane. She used to be a secretary then decided to open her own store (ladies fashions) and travels around the world, buying. Her store is quite successful and she is raising, I think she said five, young orphaned nephews. One is already in University and one will enter next year. We’ve seen lots of evidence of the extended family support on this trip.

Arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi on time and I held my breath til the bags reappeared on the baggage belt. Given the lengthy layover, I was preparing myself for a luggage problem but it all came through. Yay, Kenya Airways! We stopped at the Forex Change Bureau in the airport just to get a bit of cash to get us started. Kids, stay in school, learn your math…you really do need it This is the third currency we’ve had to wrap our heads around and it can be confusing. In all cases we end up with huge wads of cash that looks like a lot of money but in our dollars isn’t really.

I find it a bit scary going through Customs in foreign countries because you never know what to expect. After seeing many people opening their bags and the agents poking thru them, I thought we might be there for awhile but we were fortunate…they just waved us thru. Then John from CPAR was waiting for us out front so everything went smoothly. He dropped us off at our hotel, which is the same place we stayed last trip. We really like it…it’s right in town so we can easily walk places. I was excited about going to Shoprite, which is a big S. African supermarket that has lots of cool stuff. But unfortunately today is Sunday and it was closed

So we walked over to the outdoor market, by the river, we had visited last time. It was later in the day so there wasn’t too much happening…mostly just used clothes, and some electronics booths were open. We walked back to our hotel and then went down to dinner at the restaurant attached to the hotel. We ate on the patio…it was a beautiful night. A little chilly, but hey, it is Winter! I had a glass of wine with dinner, which was a real treat…only the second of the whole trip. The only problem is that I was soooo tired because we’d had so little sleep and it totally knocked me out. I couldn’t get into bed fast enough when we got to our room and was out like a light well before 9pm!