Our trip to Zomba-the drive

I love ABC and what we do here in Malawi. Constantly being out of your comfort zone can be draining though. We are always ready for a break from teaching, campus life and even grocery shopping. On our way out of town, Dan and I kept saying to each other "it is so good to be out of Lilongwe!".

I never felt so desperately in need of a vacation while living in Seattle. I think this is because Seattle is a big beautiful city with tons of things to do. If I ever got bogged down with school and needed to "get away", I would just go to Pike's Place market on a Saturday and feel refreshed. But here, going to the market is an emotionally draining experience that you have to prepare yourself for. There are no parks. There is no movie theater. There are no Thai restaurants or music shops or museums. We have no way to "get away" without leaving town for a few days. Needless to say, this was a much needed and very refreshing vacation.

I have tons of pictures and want to share them all. In order to do this, I am breaking up the trip into 3 parts-the drive, the hike and the horses. And so we being with the drive......

We took the M1, basically the major highway in Malawi. It's a two lane road busy with goats, ox and carts and bike riders. Zomba is a 4 hour drive from Lilongwe on the M1. It would be much shorter if you could go 60 mph the entire way and not have to worry about all the people and animals along the way. But, it makes the drive that much more interesting.

We passed through a lot of little villages and markets on our way. The markets and trading centers are situated right up against the M1. Again, this makes for an interesting drive. I never get bored on road trips in Malawi.
The drive is one of my favorite parts of vacationing in Malawi. I just wish we had a radio in our car. Sometimes I feel like I am in a movie. All I need is a soundtrack playing in the background. Almost the entire way, Dan and I say back and forth "did you see that?" and we also like to read the signs and various names of businesses to each other like "uncle Jack night club".

Mini series: Malawian advertising and billboards

Of course, a road trip in Malawi wouldn't be complete without seeing a million truck beds filled with people.


We drove through all four police stops without being stopped. It was so unbelievably wonderful.

Entering Zomba

I love the names of these stores:

Uncle Dan's cafe restaurant (for obvious reasons)

Enter 'n' Buy (so simple!)

I told you I have lots of pictures! Hopefully by tomorrow, I will have posted the pictures from our 4 hour hike. It was beautiful.