My journey to Dedza

WOW! I am writing this blog entry now from a cute little hotel in Dedza Malawi called the Dedza Pottery Lodge. Dedza is south of Lilongwe and took us about an hour to drive here. The journey here was rather exciting- I saw soooo many cool things, including huge, strangely formed hills, TONS of goat and baby goats, cows, sheep, dogs, tons of little kids running around, women carrying baskets on their heads, men carrying huge amounts of tobacco leaves on their shoulders. This was a much different view, a prettier view actually, of Malawi. The hotel I’m staying at is known country-wide as having the most amazing pottery you’ve ever seen. They have a website and will ship you pottery with no charge for shipping and it’s guaranteed to arrive in one piece. The bathroom here at this hotel is done entirely in zebra tiles!!! The picture here is of our rooms-- and for those of you wondering what the blue things hanging from the ceiling are, those are mosquito nets. You know, so the mosquitos can't attack you in your sleep.
Their website is: http://www.dedzapottery.com/index.html

I’ve also decided in the past few days that I probably should be a vegetarian because I can’t handle looking at all these cute animals knowing that they will wind up on my plate. There is nothing cuter in life then a baby goat frolicking around. I’ve decided to make friends with every baby goat I see. I had an interesting day earlier this week when I went to the Ministry of Agriculture and saw chickens with their feet bound sitting on what I called chicken row (death row for chickens). These poor little chickens had their feet bound- I felt horrible, knowing I eat them on a daily basis. But I don’t think I’ll survive as a vegetarian....

Well I hope everyone is doing well. If you’re interested in calling over to Africa I now have a cell phone so I can give you the number. Of course you’ll have to buy a calling card b/c otherwise it’s very expensive. Or you can “skype” me at alysonclark5. Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Blantyre (in southern Malawi) and then back up to Zomba. It’ll be quite the journey and I’m sure I’ll have more to report then. ☺

Xoxoxo
Alyson