Our Day at Mulanje!

"Moni" from Malawi! All is well. The internet has been down for several days now. The server is back up, but some of our access cards are not working. Peter gave Lexi and I each an hour, so I wanted to add a quick update! 

We had an incredible week in Zomba (more updates to come later). It was exhausting and it flew by, but each of us is working hard to try and get through to our students. It's already a challenge to teach, but with a language barrier, it's much harder than you can imagine. We've enjoyed teaching science lessons like the water cycle and the life cycle of butterflies, helping with English proficiency, and assisting the children with their math lessons. They're really a joy to be around, and with a class of 70, there's never a dull moment. Even with our language and culture barrier, it seems we can do no wrong. The children even bring us gifts each day! Their teacher, Macdonald (who we adore) has asked them to bring traditional Malawian foods for us to try. It's really special because the children are bringing things from home that they could indeed use themselves. We've been given nuts, eggs, sugar cane, casava, and tomatoes. While we wish we could enjoy all of these items (especially the chicken eggs), we just don't want to risk anything. We've re-gifted all of these items to our bus driver, Charles and Tennison, our housekeeper. They're both so kind and generous, and we know their families will enjoy these items. 

Today, we left at 8:00 sharp to travel 2.5 hours to Mt. Mulanje, the third tallest mountain in Africa. We were all tired after a fun "poker" night (there was never poker, it was just an excuse for Peter to throw us a little get together), and it was a long drive. We passed lots of little towns along the way (including Blantyre, another happening spot in Malawi). We also saw some very wealthy areas with beautiful homes similar to home. 

Charles took us a special way where we could see a lot of the tea plantations of Malawi. The tea crops went on for miles with rolling hills of lush green in every direction. It was beautiful and truly a different site than the dry brush of most of Malawi. Dr. Kelly said that the majority of the plantations are owned by British tea companies who export the tea to Britain. This is yet another example of the continuing British presence in Malawi despite their independence. We took a lot of pictures along the way, but Dr. Kelly said if we were to pull over it's apparently illegal because of child labor laws for the children working on the plantations. It's really sad to hear to things like that. We didn't see too many people working, but those that we did see were hard at work. 

A lot of the buildings along the way were surrounded by bricks with sharp pieces of glass on the perimeter rather than barbed wire. I thought this was a great idea rather than buying expensive materials. 

About an hour out, we started to see Mulanje in the distance. At first, it didn't seem that tall at all. But as we got closer, it was massive. It's truly incredible to see it up close. It was a little hazy at first, but the trees surrounding it were beautiful. It took us about 30  minutes from the main road to get to where we could begin our hike. The roads were not very smooth. Apparently, they've been working on the same construction project for the past year, but Dr. Kelly said it looked exactly the same as last year. Throughout the day, we saw lots of girls carrying piles and piles of sticks and wood down the hill, and it looked exhausting. They spend all day gathering wood for fire for the night.

About half way down the road, we saw a group of men blocking our path. Apparently the main road was out from that point, but they were also offering a guide service. You really need a guide up the mountain (even though we were just going up to the falls). A man named Samuel got on the bus to be our guide. At first we were leery of this stranger (you just never know), but he did a terrific job for us, and knew everything!

A little ways up the road before the hike, vendors were selling walking sticks for the trip. They were hand carved, but most of us decided it was too much of a hassle to take with us!

The hike started off pretty fast-paced, so Dr. Barber decided not to head up. At first, I didn't blame her! Let me just say that today's hike was the most physically exhausting experience of my life. Mom and Dad, you thought the Cascades in Virginia were a hike? Try hiking Mulanje ( and we didn't even go to the top!) We were all a little dramatic about it, but it was more like climbing than hiking. It took a little over an hour to get up the waterfall, but we saw so many beautiful views along the way. I took a lot of pictures to remember it! The altitude also made it challenging. Today was also one of the hottest days we've had. Samuel pointed out a lot of interesting sites on the way up.

After about an hour, we made it! The falls were beautiful, and it was well worth the hike! We rested and enjoyed our lunch which by then we really needed. We climbed out on a few rocks to take pictures and video, and it was really a perfect day. The water was ice cold! Brian actually dropped his tuna pack in, but Samuel jumped in to get it for him! It was so nice, especially when the water was freezing. After our rest and enjoyment at the falls, we headed back. Samuel told us about the annual race to the top that although it takes 1.5 days to slowly hike up to the very top (with resting), it took him 3.5 hours last year! It was incredible! Apparently, it's next weekend, but he said he'd never do it again! I'd probably die before I'd make it up there!

The way down was much easier! We enjoyed this part! We stopped at a beautiful lodge on the way down for restrooms and cold sodas. What a beautiful place to live and work! Charles was there waiting!

We had fun bargaining with the vendors for some great Cedar products before we left. I found some very nice things!

The trip back was somewhat long but very scenic- more to update later! Sorry this was so quick! 

2 more weeks in Malawi!