We've just spent three days in Malawi which was chuffing brilliant - definitely my favourite country after Uganda so far.
Just half an hour or so after we crossed the border from Tanzania, you could tell we were in a different country. Apparently, Malawi is considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world which was reflected almost immediately in the lack of cars on the road. Everywhere we went, people were walking on the roads which made discreet bush pees a challenge.
Our big yellow truck isn't exactly inconspicuous so we tend to gain a lot of attention wherever we go - 16 muzungos peeing against a tree or squatting in the long grass has provided much entertainment for a number of Malawi villagers!
The other thing I've noticed about Malawi is how happy everyone seems to be. Almost without exception, kids in rural areas of the countries we've travelled through so far wave excitedly when they see the truck, but here even the adults smile and give us a cheery wave.
I was doing really well by not doing my usual thing of getting carried away and buying loads of African stuff... Until Malawi!
Not quite sure how my new teak chair, massive teak serving tray and teak African people will fit into my Welsh slate and oak living room, let alone how I'll get it back to Ton Teg!
Funny how a few midday beers can cloud your judgement!
Some of the places we've stayed in during this trip have been amazing and Kande Beach has been one of my favourites to date. It was on the shores of Lake Malawi, served fresh coffee, cold beer and gorgeous burritos, and most importantly, the weather was bloody gorgeous so I spent every spare second on the beach trying to rejuvenate my lovely Ugandan tan!
During our time here, we also had a hog roast followed by a fancy dress party.
The pig was from a nearby village and as it was so close to our resort, we were asked if we wanted to watch it being slaughtered. As someone who loves Sunday morning bacon buttie with the papers, I went because I thought I should know a bit more about it. I won't go into detail but the experience wasn't half as bad as I expected it to be - I almost expected to come back a veggie.
A few hours later, the pig was roasting over the charcoals and we were getting ready for the fancy dress. The party involved picking someone's name out of a hat and buying them as ridiculous an outfit as possible from a nearby town. Luckily for me, I got off lightly (Thanks Holly!) and ended up with an Aladdin-esque number that covered all my essential parts for the cereal box game which was won by our bendy PE teacher, Lauren. Other people weren't so lucky with their outfits!
The following night, we went to a village house and sat cross-legged on the floor eating local food whilst being entertained by some village kids dancing. Some of the bum wiggling, gyrating and thrusting Malawi dance moves wouldn't be out of place in a 50 Cent video- it was quite disconcerting to be ground up against by a six year old little girl!
They finished the night by asking us to do a sing and a dance for them but the only songs we could think of that we all knew were Jingle Bell Rock, I'm a Little Tea Pot and Incey Wincey Spider! To be fair, the kids hide their confusion fairly well, but you could see they were pretty underwhelmed, looking at each other as if to say, "Really? This is the best this bunch of muppets can do?!"
We left Malawi yesterday and have just arrived at Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, where we will be able to get online - yippee!
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