This morning we packed up our stuff but didn’t find a baby on our doorstep. Our wake up call was a knock at the door since they don’t have phones. BTW, apparently Club Mak has free Internet if you bring your own computer and go to a special room but I didn’t try it so I’m not sure how successful it is.
As expected, breakfast was amazing. Cereals, oats, yogurt, fruit, bread and pastries, cheeses, ham, omelets, and potatoes. Yesterday a bunch of us ordered custom key chains from the vendors in the canoes so we headed to the shore to see if they were ready with our souvenirs. They said they stayed up all night carving and were still finishing them as we waited. Some of my orders were wrong animals, but I was okay with that. Very handmade! Ha We quickly purchased our key chains and ran to the bus. We needed to leave promptly at 8:30am.
The ride was quiet and uneventful. I think everyone has had enough of each other and is ready to be at home. It's hard because after leaving Annie’s we felt like we were going home, but its actually 3 days before we get home. So these 3 days seem like they are dragging. We had goodbye dinners and celebrations days ago but we are still in Malawi. We quickly stopped at Liwonde to get gas and some girls bought some items out of the window. Dr. Kelly met the man who will be coming to VT in August to study. His name is Dennis and I would love to have lunch with him on campus to make sure he feels “most welcome”. We would have lots to talk about since I lived in his country for a month.
For most of this trip, our conversations all seem to revolve around food. We aren’t being deprived of anything, but we enjoy talking about food. Between our whole group, someone works at an Italian restaurant, Mexican restaurant, seafood place, and a steakhouse.
We arrived at Mvu Mission around 12noon and since were suppose to arrive at 11 we had to ask the man to take a short break and give us a tour ASAP so we didn’t run too late. Thankfully, he agreed. This place was really neat, it had a really nice museum, hospital and church. There were very few village children running around. The gift shop had some unique carvings but they were insanely priced so we just looked with our eyes. The tour started and was supposed to last an hour. There was 3 circular rooms placed in a circle. The first room explained the religious history; the second room explained some of the dancing and mask traditions in the center but the walls talked about the coming of age rituals. First showed pictures of birth, girls puberty rituals, boys rituals, marriage, chieftainship, 1st shaving, funerals, and how they remember the dead. It was very interesting but it was very hard to take it all in… information overload. The last room had a lot of artwork and showed a different type of dancing and costumes. Beadwork used to be a very popular art form and native to the tribes here but it has since gone away and we mostly see only carvings. There is one man in Lilongwe who does bead art. Only some of the rituals still take place today. The guide showed us a chameleon and explained it can look forward with one eye and behind them with another. The guide told us the chameleon represents that it’s important to remember to look into your future but never forget your past.
The tour finished and It was 2pm so everyone was ready to leave. We stopped outside of Mvu at the vendors for 20 minutes to shop/barter. They had some of the same stuff at the gift shop but it was much cheaper here. For the most part vendors really want bags and shoes. So those are good things to barter with instead of lotion and soap.
Last year they took a different road and apparently it was very rough and difficult on the bus. The bus ended up breaking down right by Mvu Mission and they were stranded for about 10 hours. The villagers all came to the rescue and built a fire to keep the students warm. There was an elaborate plan to get a mechanic from town to come fix the bus but somehow they managed. One of the girls went in the woods to go to the bathroom and she dropped her passport but didn’t even realize it since it was dark. This was right before they were leaving so it was awful timing. This one boy found the passport and arranged for it to get to the airport in time. What an amazing young man! I think he was very helpful in assisting them during their breakdown as well. Dr. Jones was very grateful and she said she gave him a significant amount of money last summer for all his help.
While our bus was stopped for people to shop, that same boy came up to our bus and Dr. Kelly and Dr. Jones remembered him! They hugged and introduced him as the person who saved them last summer. He showed Dr. Jones his entire house, built for his family from the money she gave him. What a great story!
After we left the vendors, around 2:30pm, we drove straight through to Lilongwe and made it there by 5pm. I put my ipod in and slept the entire way. We stopped once at a gas station and some basket vendors came to sell them for very cheap out of the windows. Almost everyone got a basket but no one has any space. Uh oh! Traveling makes me so sleepy. As we pulled into Lilongwe we recognized all the roads and buildings, it kinda felt like we were home.
We arrived at Korea Garden Lodge and got our room assignments. Our room was in a building on the opposite side from our room during the last stay and it is definitely an upgrade, we are in the “executive” rooms!! There is tile instead of carpet and its much more spacious. It even has a mini fridge!! The bathroom is large and even has a tub! Everyone was pleasantly surprised. Don’t worry, as always, we still saw lizards on the wall.
Thankfully Korea Gardens has free Internet so I opened my computer to check my email. The finish on the edge of my computer where my wrists sits has been eaten away. I realized that I put deet on my wrists last night and it must have eaten up the outside layer of my computer. Thankfully it’s just the outside finish. That deet is powerful stuff.
We went to the dining area to order dinner. Eight of us had fried rice, egg rolls and samosas. We didn’t realize they had samosas here. Now that we are obsessed with them, we notice them on menus and we are going to realize that they are everywhere. They weren’t as good as Tasty Bites and we are realizing that we will probably end up craving tasty bite samosas and Annie’s vegetable curry.
We spent the night online arranging to meet our families at the airport and also repacking our luggage. Everyone is terrified of the weight limit. I’m almost positive I’m overweight but 3 people have extra bags so I’ll have to shove some things in their luggage. Mona Lisa Smile was on TV, so I watched that and caught up on my blog. Lets hope that next time I post I’ll be at home and not stuck in Ethiopia.
We have a long flight ahead of us but I plan on taking Benadryl and I know I’ll be able to sleep just fine. This will be my last day to relax because once I get home I will have to start scrapbooking, movie making, editing this blog and writing my final paper. No shortage of things to do after the trip. As sad as I am to leave, there is no question in my mind…I know that I will be back to this country sometime in my future.
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