No matter how many traveling badges a person acquires, there’s always another on the horizon. Mark and I have already sewn on haggling badges, communication badges, luggage toting badges, and preparation badges, but this trip has earned us a few more. The one I’m most proud of is our thrift badge. This one has been earned by washing our own laundry, hitch-hiking from one location to the next, walking rather than taking chapas, sleeping in the dorms rather than private rooms, and eating only five times a day (don’t laugh, this is really an improvement).
Since our arrival in Lilongwe, we’ve been walking up a storm… and even into storms, which is why it was unfortunate that I chose today as the first day in 6 full weeks to actually do my hair. I washed it, dried it, boosted the roots with hairspray, and curled the ends with a curling iron. Yeah, it was hot stuff… for about three hours. We were walking to Old Town, about 2km away when the skies parted and floods from heaven drenched us in a cooling rain. My wet hair went right back into a standard low pony tail. Our cameras were saved by my waterproof pack cover (thanks to the prepared badge). We waited out the storm by hopping into a bus with some locals, then got a ride from a English mom in a Land Rover. Wet, but undeterred, I skyped my folks from Nando’s, a nice restaurant with wifi. Meanwhile, Mark stopped next door at Constantini, a John Deere tractor shop, to pick up his backpack which had been under construction for the past 24 hours. Basically, one of the wheel bearings locked up and the pin melted the plastic which rendered the wheel worthless- this was a problem because he was dragging around 70 pounds of gear. When I think of his wheel, I think of our thrift badge because we spent a majority of yesterday chasing around town for a replacement ball bearing. The directions we received were misleading (and by this I mean inaccurate), so the route was quite long, maybe 5 miles in total, but we did eventually find those darn ball bearings, and a coke, and a chocolate doughnut (you see how quickly those 5 meals add up?).
Anyway, it got me thinking about bits of wisdom I would give to someone visiting Lilongwe. So, here it is, a list of unsolicited advice based on my experience over the past few days:
1. Don’t trust directions from anyone (when all the information is conflicting, just pick a direction and expect to walk a very long time- the town is laid out on a cross, and eventually you’ll find what you’re looking for).
2. Look down back alleyways. Legitimate businesses with and without signage exist in the shadows.
3. If you buy one thing, be prepared to be swarmed by “additional purchase opportunities.”
4. If you think something is free, think again.
5. Expect to pay muzungu prices (as well as bribes).
6. Lilongwe, like the rest of the world, has what you need: Coke Light in the glass bottle, Cadbury chocolate bars, wifi internet service, English, showers, toilets, etc. Finding them in working order at the exact moment you discover you need them can be a challenge, so to the best of your ability, use your plan ahead badge.
7. When asking how long it may take for something to be done, you might hear the clever response, “how long is a piece of string.”
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