Madidi Lodge Lilongwe

... Mama Rulas campsite just at the border of Zambia and Malawi. We spent all day long on the truck to get to the campsite so by the time we had some dinner and put up our tents we were all pretty tired and were only fit for bed.

We left Mama Rulas very early in the morning because we had to cross the border into Malawi. Border crossings usually take about an hour to get through so we have to give ourselves plenty of time. The border didn't take too long ...

... some others came but left before the end so they wouldn’t puke.

After watching this I went with a couple of the locals to eventually buy a couple of paintings (Johnathen) and a personalized frame (Simon) for about $30. Johnathen taught me the easiest level of the Bau game involving coffee beans. There are 4 levels in total and the game does become strategic at higher levels.

In the afternoon we had some fun and games in the form of an Olympics ...

... beer and dance. Well I had that beer and we had lunch with a lovely American couple. The lunch lasted 3 hours as here when you order even a sandwich it takes at least 2 hours before it reaches the table in front of you. As I was saying lunch was great, kids had there in their rooms and we just going to do more work on the blog so that everyone can have a look at the pics.

... to miss seeing lizards running about and the beautiful, strange and exotic flowers. It's also been a great bonus that Christianity is so common here. Most minibuses have bumper stickers on them saying "God is good" and "God is able". Plus the worship here is so different. The Malawians just abandon themselves to praise, they don't care what anyone thinks and their singing is remarkable. Definetly going to miss the African music!!
We all feel we have learnt something from our ...

... kids were going to be alone all day with nothing to do as the school was on holidays and the orphanage was closed for the duration of the break. Yes apparently kids are in orphanages only during school season ( read between the lines to have a couple of meals a day) the rest of the time they are back with their extended family. So we went back to our room to get ready to have dinner at the farm and, this is when we noticed that bees ...

... shame! We didn't want to leave that place, it was paradise!
Yesterday we started our programme in an orphanage called House of Hope. There were about 70 children, ages ranging from 5-15 years old. We separated them into 2 different groups, younger ones and older ones. Jenny, Katherine and I took the younger ones and had great fun colouring in with them, singing songs with them (they absolutely loved the hokey cokey!!!) and reading the story of Noah's Ark to them ...

... got a shared taxi to the Zambia-Malawi border and took a matatu on the otherside to Lilongwe.
Lilongwe is amazing, Malawi is amazing. Its as many times nicer than Zambia as the amount of Zimbabwean Dollars you can get for a pound. We stayed at a great backpackers hostel last night. Today we are going to try and find some stereotypical golf outfits and go to the golf course for a spot of golf.

We plan to stay in Lilongwe for a few days.

... worth it. The sun was out and it was a lot clearer so we could see a lot. The mountain is awesome, we crossed through lots of different types of terrain. There was jungle, open plains, forest, long reeds. Also, we weren't even at the highest peak, there were mountains soaring over us. I can totally see why some people love mountain climbing. You're on top of the world but at the same time you realise how insignificant you are. If it wasn't such a drama I'd do it more often! I doubt ...

... wonder why on earth you would ever feel homesick or want to leave! Then down at the bottom of the market there was this huge barn place with looooaaadddss of people on sewing machines and sorting through hgue piles of clothes and things, and looooaaaddds of gorgeous materials and everything it was SO cool! And THEN because of Lilongwe river it cuts the marker in two, so youve got the clothes bit and then on the other side of the river youve got the food bit...OH my goodness to ...

... around the bar for a bit. Saw a girl from one of the other trucks we had been passing along the way, Aussie chick who knows everything.... what is it with east coasters???? Stu spoke to her whilst Jamie got picked up by two old gay guys. Hahaaaa another one Jamie!! We called it a night pretty much straight after dinner whilst the others stayed up merrily drinking. Getting old!