Day 2. Fri 11th August
Lilongwe
I spend Friday morning shopping, and pick up various pens, crayons etc.
for the education project, although I can't find a new swiss army
knife. On one of several trips to ShopRite which is just over the road
from the Kiboko (next to the PTC) I notice that the main Shire Coach
Company bus station is just behind the PTC. I need to head down to
Blantyre next, so I enquire about a bus. There is one at 7 o'clock in
the morning which costs
MK2800, so I enquire of a passing minibus what
their charge is, and am told MK800. Given the amount of luggage I have
I decide that it is worth the extra money - it will be a good deal more
comfortable than a minibus anyway. However, I can't plan anything until
I have got my luggage back, so I go for one of the Bohemian Cafe's
delicious cinnamon bagels while I wait for the taxi.
The taxi arrives promptly at 12:30, and, thank God, my baggage is
indeed waiting for me at the airport. Judging by the two queues of
people, one of people reporting luggage not arrived today, and the
other collecting luggage that didn't arrive yesterday, this is not an
uncommon occurance.
One thing I don't yet have is the camping tickets for the Lake Of Stars
Festival (the festival tickets were booked in the UK). These must be
picked up from Wilderness Safaris, which is more than walking distance
from Kiboko. However my taxi driver is happy to call in on the way back
for no extra charge, so it's not all bad, and that's another job done.
It turns out the Blantyre bus is full for tomorrow, but I am first on
the waiting list, and am assured that I am more than likely to get a
place if I turn up at 7 the next morning. Kiboko don't serve breakfast
until 7:30, so I pop back up to the Bohemian cafe, who provide me with
a "bumper cheese sandwich" for MK400. I am served by Sarah, who is not
only gorgeous, but speaks completely accent free English, although she
is obviously Malawian. It seems that she was educated at an
international school in France. I would very much like to find out more
about her, but she is busy serving and declines my invitation to take a
break and join me for a coffee. Ah well, maybe another time.
Would you believe it - having searched all over Lilongwe for a knife, I
discover that they actually sell them in ShopRite. Mind you, it is not
a proper one, but a very cheap imitation. However, it has a bottle
opener, which is the main thing!
After a shower and a long chat with Gaynor on the mobile, I am off down
to Don Brioni's again. No sooner have I ordered my first Carlsberg
Green than I am accosted from behind. The whole Barefoot gang have
arrived - Monya, Ken's new office manager, Feye, also working for
Barefoot, and his wife Janneke, Oscar Ntocha the new site manager, up from Mwabvi, and even
Auxies, Ken's mechanic who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident a few
months ago. Ken has helped him a lot, and various people have chipped
in, as a result of which he has a proper artificial leg, and is also
using the crutches that I got when I broke my leg skiing and brought
over last year for Ken to donate to someone who needed them. Looks like
he did!
I hand over all the offerings from Gaynor (that'll lighten my load a
bit) and we all have a good meal and a good laugh. I tell them about my
plans to go up to the Lake Of Stars festival and Monya and Feye are
quite interested and suggest that just maybe they might be able to get
time off and borrow one of Ken's vehicles and we could all drive up
together, which would be great.
(Damn, I didn't think to
get a photo)