Lusaka to Lilongwe

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Trip Start Apr 03, 2008 Previous
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  Lilongwe, Lilongwe, Malawi
Sunday, May 4, 2008

Heading away from Lusaka was definitely in the mix of cards for me.  Lusaka itself was not what i would consider or call an enjoyable city, but it is definitely the real Africa.  If you dont believe me, visit it and head immediately to the local markets.  I was the only white boy within a sea of black Zambians, and being called 'Mr White' or 'Hey White' definitely was an interesting experience.  Nevertheless, I must point out that Zambians overall are very friendly, and for the most part I think intrigued to see me just chilling out, walking alone and visiting their city.  It was in the market that I met 4 entrepreneurs selling cable wire and electricity outlets.  They invited me to sit and talk with them, and I did as such - talking about issues as American versus Zambian politics, the state of the Zambian economy and agricultural sector, traditional ceremonies of Zambians during weddings... All in all, sitting there with those guys was great, as for the most part I have felt kind of isolated by myself.

Chipata

So transit once again, only this time from Lusaka eastward toward the Malawi border.  The bus ride was undescribable, yet enjoyable.  A 5:30 departure time eventually took off about 6:15, after the bus driver and workers had loaded the bus with entirely too much stuff.  There were people standing and sitting in the aisles, there were bags of who knows what (although it smelled of chicken or horse feed) again in the aisles, but this time I was fortunate to have sat next to a skinny young Zambian student (Economics) so I had decent space to myself.  No Nigerian sitcoms, but this kid and I sat and talked about him starting his own agro-processing business in the medium term future.  Interesting guy actually.

I decided to stop in Chipata, a non-eventful town even recognized as such by most of the tour guide books that I have read.  Rather than head up to South Luangwa National Park (with the hopes of spotting a leopard), I headed to the border around 8am crossing by about 30 minutes later.  The wait itself for a shared cab, as taxis only go when in fact they fill with 5 people (four in back, 1 in front of toyota corolla).  The ride itself did not last long, as we ran out of gas about 6 miles from the border.  No problems - the driver hopped on a bicycle that was passing and went to fill the tank.  Two hours later,  I hit Malawi

Chipata 2

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First impressions - the further east I go, the more it hits home that I am in Africa.  All the roads are covered with people, walking with wares on their head, bicycling with bags of rice or maize, or donkeys pulling carts bogged down with what must be at least a thousand pounds of seed or corn, etc.  Horns are honking, people are swerving all over the road, and just the scene of ladies with tree limbs or bags of food balanced on their head makes me realize I am fortunate to be travelling this route.  Good stuff, truly.

Lilongwe seems a good city, although small.  Again, there are people everywhere on the sides of roads.  And the kids - goodnight!  There are masses of children everywhere, playing near the road or babies tied to their mothers backs with some pseudo-sheet they are using as a carrier.  Upon arrival, I was escorted to a small lodge near city center called St Peters Guesthouse.  I was wondering why they would walk me out of the way, thinking that possibly i would get mugged or beat up.  In the end, these guys were great and really were plugging just some artwork they had produced.  Of course, the sucker in me caved in and I of course bought two of their paintings for a reasonable fee. Another painting I ended up trading one of my dirty shirts for - Mario you were right

Chipata 3

!  I will end up getting rid of a lot of older clothese this way i guess.  Sounds good to me!

Having spent the afternoon just strolling around being constantly approached by hawkers for souvenier stuff (all wooden stuff, quite nice actually but i was not buying), in addition to countless rastafarian types trying to offload some of the 'Malawi Gold' that is ever so present in this country, I decided this capital city was actually quite interesting.  Come evening though, I decided that I needed to test out the local nightlife, and thus headed to local bar Diplomats.  The next several hours were pretty interesting - met a guy dressed as a hip hop R&B star complete with a Maryland Terrapins letter jacket, a guy by the name of Cheese and Toast, and two other locals who entertained me with stories for the evening.  All in all, I am still impressed by this place, and now see why Malawi, considered one of the poorest countries in the world, is coined as the 'Warm Heart of Africa.'  These people, with little if anything in their pockets, are humble and extremely friendly.  With this as the capital, I expect that my travels both north and south along Lake Malawi all the way to the Mozambique border to the south will enable me to meet even friendlier people.  Although I cant see how...

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Chipata 4	Chipata market	Faster than our car for sure	Lilongwe and washing clothes
Malawi highway 2	Out of gas in Malawi

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