We made it to Malawi!

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  Lilongwe, Malawi
Friday, June 1, 2007

Wow! This is my first entry from Malawi, Africa. I am currently in the city of Lilongwe which is the capital of the country. This morning came very early because we departed from the Wallis' (the family Aaron and I were staying with) at 6:30am. We then checked into the airport only to find that neither one of us were able to obtain our tickets. In Aaron's case, for one reason or another, his payment was declined. Fortunately, there were still seats available and he was able to purchase a ticket at the counter. In my case, the ticket I purchased was bought with a credit card that I didn't have in my position. Thus, I could not obtain my ticket because the card with me for proff of purchase. To solve this problem, I had to purchase another ticket. I was relieved when the gentleman at the ticket counter told me that the purchase price for the 'previously purchased' ticket would be refunded.
 
Last night we finalized our travel plans for July 9-17. On the 7/9 we will hire a car (rent a car) in Johannesburg and drive to the Drakensburg Mountains (in South Africa). We will spend the night there and go hiking and climbing. The following morning we will drive to Durban, South Africa. Durban is on the beach so we can do a variety of things like Jet Ski, boat, scuba dive, or snorkel. 3 days will be spent in Durban. From Durban we will fly one-way to Cape Town, South Africa. This is on the southernmost coast of South Africa. We will then hire another car and go on the Winelands route over the next 4 days (July 14-17). Our Winelands tour involves seeing all the towns between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. After we complete the tour, we will fly back to Johannesburg and begin our journey home. Our flight arrives from Cape Town around 1pm in Johannesburg and our flight back to America departs just 3 hours later.
 
Now I can get down to the fun stuff. We arrived in Lilongwe today around 1pm. Mark Chonde picked us up. Mark's father is Dr. Chonde. We will be working in the Lilongwe clinic tomorrow with Dr. Chonde.
 
After the 20 minute drive into the city, we checked into the hotel we will be staying at for the next three days. The name of it is the Garden Court Hotel. The hotel is protected by a large steel and brick barricade. The room we are staying in has two beds, and a fan. It suits us just fine. There are a few cockroaches in the bathroom, which is down the hall, but other than that it is great. The layout of the city reminds me a lot of the areas proximal to San Salvador, El Salvador. This is because everything is protected by walls and gates. Also, the hustle and bustle of the main roads continues all day long.
 
We settled in to the room and then made for the streets. We were the only two Caucasians walking. I only saw one other Caucasian male and he was driving. Otherwise everyone had pigment to their skin. 
 
Because we wished to register our visit and find out about some risks inherent in Malawi and its surrounding countries, the U.S. embassy was our destination. Once at the embassy, we filled out forms and then walked back to the hotel. We were unable to glean anything from the embassy because they didn't provide any information.
 
At 6:00pm Mark came back to the hotel and picked us up for dinner. Mark, his wife, his sister-in-law, Aaron, and myself went for a meal. We ate at the club Mark's work owns.  They offer it to their employees as a work benefit. We had chicken and chips (fries). It was delicious. I tried Malawian hot sauce. The label of this hot sauce said, "Friends beware." Let me be the first to say that it was smoking HOT! It put some real kick into the chicken! We retired to the hotel afterwards and crashed.
 
Funny Saying Learned today:
 
She's worth a pie and a coke = she's worth pursuing
 
I'll let you know about the first day of the clinc as soon as I can! The journey is still unfolding. More to come.

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