I am Nancy Kerrigan - WHY ME! WHY ME!
Trip Start
May 29, 2007
1
28
41
Trip End
Jul 18, 2007
Lilongwe,
Malawi
Monday, July 2, 2007
There were two men on my right. Each man had an oversized 50kg sac of maize on his lap which was conveniently infringing on the ten square inch area that I foolishly considered to be my personal space. A single man sat to my left. He was a very small man. He was smashed against the window like a bug that had just been swatted on glass. At least that wasn't me.
Today has been a frustrating day. Our minibus left from the Ntcheu bus depot (which is in fact a restaurant parking lot) at 9:45am. We were headed to Lilongwe to go on our Zambian safari. The ride was less than pleasurable. For three hours, 24 of us were smashed into a vehicle slightly larger than a minivan. Enough said.
The Lilongwe bus station was a wild. Imagine your local mall parking lot on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving. Keeping the same number of parking spaces, double the number of cars and then convert them into minibuses. This is still an underestimate of the number of vehicles smashed inside this bus station.
The wandering that would follow would be more frustrating than the ride up. We began walking. According to Aaron, the safari office was within a few blocks of the bus depot. Aaron was wrong.
Keep in mind, this is the worst section of town. It's not as if we were walking down the sidewalks of Beverly Hills. Inner city Chicago at 10pm would best describe the safety of our location (no offence chi-town).
After an hour of disoriented roaming I was highly aggravated. I felt we should call the safari office and have them pick us up. Aaron thought otherwise. He finally broke down and asked a young local woman to point us in the right direction. Turns out, Aaron mistook Malungolungo road for Malduna road. This knowledge added fuel to my fire of frustration. The woman kindly pointed us in the right direction.
The area she pointed to was another 2-3 km away. This was hardly the situation I wanted to be in. Our circumstances could be summarized by:
Two stupid American travelers No clue where we were at No clue where we were going (and where we were going was 2-3km away) Passports and Wallets on hand Suitcases a prime target for theft and contained our digital cameras, video cameras, laptop computers, mp3 players, and headphones.
Basically, we were at the mercy of the people. Thank God for the safeness of Malawi.
Aaron received directions from the safari place the day before. Instead of asking for an address, he asked for proximal landmarks. He was told the office was by a ShopRite, a National Bank, and a Post Office. Any Malawian will tell you that these three markers are located every few blocks in downtown Lilongwe. This added to my irritation.
Sweaty and upset, we finally located the ShopRite. After searching around the ShopRite for another half hour, Aaron took my advice (which was offered every 3 minutes since leaving the bus station) and called the safari office.
What an idea! As I expected, the safari representatives dropped everything they were doing to come pick us up. From the point they fetched us, it was a kilo walk to the office. We were not close at all.
The safari office tripled as a hotel and restaurant. It was a lovely establishment garnished with wooden carvings and colorful tapestries. We checked in at 2:00pm. From there we had banking to do and lunch to eat.
Obviously, lunch was the first priority. Nado's African fast food was the restaurant we chose. The result was an awfully mediocre and unhealthy lunch. Nevertheless, my frustration faded with my hunger as we ate. I forgave Aaron for the idiotic and uncoordinated plans, or lack there of. My irritation would soon return.
Since we booked our safari so late, it was necessary to pay for our visas at the Zambian border. This had to be paid in USD. GREAT! I had no US currency whatsoever. Thus, I had to withdrawal the money in kwacha and then buy USD (at an exchange bureau) for a handsome fee of 8%. Cue aggravation.
Prancing about a high crime area in the late afternoon is not my idea of a good time. Nonetheless, we accomplished all the required tasks without conflict. Again, thank God for Malawi being a safe place. Now was the question of where to stay.
Dr. Chilopora spoke with his daughter Maggie, who lives in Lilongwe, and set-up a night's stay at her house. We had a safe place to stay and it saved us money! This was perfect!
Maggie's cell phone number was given to us and we were told us to call her upon our arrival in Lilongwe. Turns out, Maggie had to take a trip business trip to Zambia that day. This meant she would be out of cell phone service until 5:00pm.
To pass the time, we stopped at a bookstore close by. Perusing through the various titles burned an hour and then we returned back to the safari office. By this time it was 6:30. A second attempt to reach Maggie was successful. She was on the road back from Zambia and wouldn't be in Lilongwe until 8:00. This didn't sit well.
Despite the hotels unspoken disapproval, we sat in the lobby for 2 hours. After all, we had no where to go. While waiting, we had a drink at the hotel's bar. This proved to be a highly effective method of stress relief which, after that day, was much needed.
Maggie arrived at half eight (8:30) and we promptly left the hotel. To my surprise after ten minutes of driving we arrived at the 3 P's Lodge. Apparently, the power and water were out at Maggie's home. We tried to explain that this wasn't a problem, but she wouldn't have it.
To summarize: We waited in Lilongwe for 5 hours for Maggie to return AT A HOTEL. She picked us up and drove us to A DIFFERENT HOTEL.
That being said, thank you Maggie for coming to our rescue. You went completely out of your way to help us and it was nice to see a familiar face. Thanks Maggie!
3 P's Lodge was a stylish place. There was pleasing décor and it was generally clean.
At this point we were famished. Our belongings were tossed into the room and we traveled on a b line to the kitchen. Dinner took an outrageously long time to be served, but it was well worth the wait. The grilled chicken was more than delicious and the rice was, well, rice.
It was a frustrating day, but I kept a good attitude. It's hard to remain upset when you are on the road to Zambia; home to one of the most beautiful national parks on earth. No worries Aaron. After all, I wouldn't be going to Zambia if it wasn't for you anyway. Cheers!
A soak in the tub followed dinner. Normally, I don't like sitting in a tub for sanitary reasons, but the shower was broken in our room leaving a bath as my only option. Sure enough, it was relaxing. Clean, warm, and full, I laid in the wooden framed 3 P's Lodge bed. Sleeptown - population: Phil.
The journey is still unfolding. More to come.
