Day 2- I'm here in Malawi!!

Blog entry #2 (Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009)

Hello everyone! I have arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi safe and sound. The trip up was easy, just a 2 hour flight from Johannesburg. My first surprise was getting off the plane on the outside of the terminal, because there is no terminal! Lilongwe International is the tiniest airport I’ve ever been to. But that is good because going through passport control and customs was easy. The taxi driver my organization arranged for me was there waiting for me. Walking around in my “Africa-appropriate” grey skirt still didn’t keep me from being stared at, but that’s okay. ☺ The journey from the airport to the hotel I’m staying at was quite long, but I got to see what felt like all of Lilongwe. This was the first time I’ve ever seen women carrying sticks and other items on their heads. Little children walking back from school without shoes. Men carrying dead birds, people herding cows, women working in the field---I just stared, amazed that what I had pictured Malawi to be was coming to life. There are a lot more mountains than I had thought there were. Due to lack of buildings and also because of the elevation you can see really far into the country. It’s so beautiful. Of course my cab driver laughed when I said that. It’s pretty hot here. Everything is in Celsius so I still can’t figure it out, but it’s HOT- like Miami in the summer hot. So at least I’m sort of prepared for that.

After I arrived at the hotel I figured I’d do some exploring and walked over to the currency exchange. It’s going to take a while before I become comfortable using the kwacha. The exchange rate is 166 Kwacha to $1. So when the skirt I purchased today was 2500 I was like what?? But that’s only like $15. My hotel is really nice, like 4 star U.S. nice. Too bad I’ll only be here for a few days. There’s a nice pool that I really would like to lay out at, but no one does—is it inappropriate to lay out in a bikini here? I’m thinking maybe. I’m watching African tv shows right now including African MTV which is not called that, but I’m calling it that. It’s interesting to say the least. It’s called Original Africa, actually I just saw that on the tv.

Anyway, I’m about to order dinner. This probably won’t go out today due to lack of internet availability. But I’ll figure out a way to send it in the next few days.

Peace and love to everyone back home!
Xoxox,
Alyson