The View from Above

For my easter holiday this year I wanted to do something that I've never done before. I wanted to climb Mt. Mulanje. For those of you that do not know, its the tallest mountain in southern africa. I thought it would be a great way to get away for a bit and spend some time enjoying mother nature. I was originally going to go by myself but in decided to ask Christi to join me. That was a good decision and it was so nice to share the experience with someone else.

So we left Chipata early one morning and made it to Blantyre in one day. Several minibus rides later and several funny transport stories, we arrived at Doogles (a backpackers lodge) in Blantyre. Blantyre is absolutely beautiful. Its surrounded by three small mountains and sort of feels like you are in Europe. There are a lot of ex-pats and white people there which makes it seem so different from other african towns in my opinion. I have to say on the drive down there, even though I had to stand for lack of seating, the views were breathtaking. Malawi is gorgeous!

Upon arriving at Doogles we decided to stay in the dorms since we needed to save some $$. We walked into our room and to our surprise one of the beds had about 20 pairs of high heels under it. Strange. After a bit we realized our roomate was not a backpacker, but "entertainment" for the men at Doogles. Interesting. Since we were only staying two nights we decided we'd stay. I asked her how long she is staying and said she'd been there for over 2 months. Okay. Moving on.

We spent the next day in Blantyre checking out the sites. We went to this beautiful church, St. Michaels that was built in 1876 all by hand without modern tools. It was incredible. Then we went to PAMET (The Paper Making Education Trust). This place was amazing. They make handmade paper from recycled paper, banana leaves, animal dung, baobob bark and much more. Being a designer myself I could have spent the entire day there. It was very inspiring because the project was set up to teach people how to recycle and to help the school children get notebooks since so many schools lack the resources. They made incredible things out of the various papers and I think I bought one of every item. Later in the afternoon, Christi and I decided our trip wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Carlsburg brewery where we received a free tour and sampling at the end. I should say multiple samplings. We were the only girls in the tour. Good times. It was a great day in Blantyre. So we headed to bed and geared up for the big climb.

We headed to Likhubula (about 80km south of Blantyre) where we would spend the night before we went on the mountain. We took a small minibus to Chitikali where we would have to find our own transport another 12k to Likhubula. On the way down to Chitikali I got to talking with this guy George sitting next to me. Long story short I found out he was a guide for Mt. Mulanje and we decided to ask him to be our guide. He seemed really nice and knowledgeable about everything dealing with the mountain. Once we got to Chitikali George put us in the back of a full pick-up truck. However they managed to add another 5 people after we got on. When the truck first took off, Christi and I about fell out. We were standing in the bed of the truck against the cab. I felt like I was in a rodeo with the truck as our bucking bronco. The air was so fresh and the tea plantations were amazing all the while Mt. Mulanje staring us in the face off to our right. Its an understatement to say that I was a bit intimidated by how big it was. I thought to myself, "Julie, what have you gotten yourself into." If Christi wasn't there I might have freaked out. So we arrived at dark at a missionary where we spent the night. In the morning we met up with the Forrestry department to get our permits and receipts for staying in the huts on the mountain. After some frustrating conversations George, our guide and Diston, our porter brought us back to pick up our things and to head up the mountain. I had so many butterflies in my stomach yet I was so excited to be doing this. It was my first mountain!

We decided to take the Chapaluka path up to the Chambe hut for the first night. I knew it was going to be tough and I was correct. However we did really well. The views helped remind us why we were there. George said we were "above average" hikers and we only stopped twice the first day to have some snacks. A little over 4 hrs after we took off we arrived at Chambe hut. The hike was a continuous incline with many steep areas that were straight up. We walked through so many types of vegetation is was unbelievable. We walked through rain forrest which we called, "the enchanted forrest" (I swear fairy's were flying around) the jungle where monkeys were swinging tarzan style from vine to vine, we walked through valleys, over waterfalls, rivers and a burnt forrest which was like being in a bizarre dream. It was all so surreal and it was only the first day. The view from Chambe hut was of Chambe peak. Christi and I decided that we were okay viewing the peak from the porch on the hut. Since it was easter weekend, Chambe hut was quite crowded the first night. We met two friends, Marcus and Jos who were staying at Doogles with us. They are from London and we had a great time chatting with them and sharing our experiences. I was quite pleased with our first day. I slept like a baby.

The next morning we had to get an early start to make it to Thuchilla hut about six hours away. We started the morning with "the breakfast of champions" jungle oats and coffee. Then we were on our way. Today unlike the first day now felt like we were in Ireland or Scotland. Unbelievable. About an hour into the hike I had George take a photo of me and then we decended down into this valley. As we were walking I slipped, fell and rolled my ankle. I heard a pop and grabbed my ankle. I don't remember much, but my first thought was, "oh god, I just broke my ankle." We were above 2000 meters, what were we going to do. After some time I decided I didn't break it and had no other choice but to carry on. I was furious, how could I have done that. So we hobbled on to the nearest hut another two hours away. It sucked, but I still enjoyed the breath-taking views. We finally arrived at Chisepo hut where I was able to find an ankle brace. I was so relieved. After checking out my ankle with Christi and our guides we decided it was best we set up camp there for the night. It was super swollen and black and blue. We bathed in a pool near a waterfall. I think the freezing water helped my ankle. That night we constantly had a fire burning due to the rain and freezing cold. I had all my clothes on, hat, gloves, in my twenty degree rated sleeping bag and it was still cold. However I almost got lost going to the latrine. I couldn't see anything and momentarily panicked when I couldn't find it or the house. I can see how people get turned around on mountains. I started popping pain medication like it was candy to get me through the rest of the trip.

The next morning (Easter sunday) we woke up and took our time. We decided to head to Thuchilla hut (about three hours away) and then decend from there on Monday morning. It was the least steep route off the mountain and thats what I needed. So I was extremely dissappointed for not transversing the entire mountain, but what could I do, I was hurt. So the walk this day was filled with fog...couldn't see anything but whiteness. I have to say it was really cool. We felt like we were on the set of Lord of the Rings. However at one point a bridge was out and we had to climb over and under these huge boulders. Had my foot been okay this would have been an amazing playground, I just wanted to complete the maze of rocks without killing myself. We made it. Finally we arrived at Thuchilla hut and we had it all to ourselves. The hut is over 100 years old and very colonial looking. I felt like we had just stepped into another time zone. As the sun was setting the clouds began to separate and for a few moments had an amazing view. I was still nursing my ankle, but didn't really care at the moment because of all the beauty I'd seen that day and all the beauty that surrounded me at the moment.

Monday morning we woke early because we wanted to make it all the way back to Blantyre and with my ankle, we didn't know how long it would take. So when they said it was the least steep route, I'd hate to see the steep route. There were moments I was sliding on my butt down a granite rock with nothing on either side. Some moments I had to concentrate so hard on my foot placements so I woudn't step off the 6in ledge into nothingness. It was intense. By far the craziest hiking I've ever done. We got down in four hours and I almost started crying, not because my ankle was killing me, but because we made it. I climbed my first mountain and I was really proud of it. I'd never seen so many beautiful things in my life and I've never climbed over so many boulders, tree limbs, down valleys and up and down such steep terrain in my life. It was quite the rush. George and Diston were so great. They helped me so much getting through some of the rough spots. We shared many stories and had many laughs.

Christi and I decided celebrate upon arriving back in Blantyre with some Jack and cokes and a 5 star dinner. I had grilled calamari....couldn't believe it. We ate ourselves sick and fell asleep as soon as we finished dinner. We couldn't really walk the next day and my ankly was super sore, but we hobbled onto our transport and headed for Lilongwe where we stayed at the Peace Corps transit house. We met some great Malawian volunteers and watched really bad horror movies all night with them. We had horrible transport back to Chipata and were extremely relieved to have arrived back at the PC house.

Overall it was an amazing trip with a few bumps along the way. The views from above on Mulanje were some of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. It was a physically and mentally tough journey and one I'll never forget. I know one things for sure, I fell in love with Mt. Mulanje and I plan on going back to finish the part of the mountain we didnt get to hike...however I think I'll do it in the dry season where things aren't so slippery.

Msekera Farmers Field Day

Well the field day was an overall success in my opinion. It was on March 29th and over 600 area farmers attended. The field day was held at Msekera research center where they test different ways to grow crops using chemical fertilizers and natural fertilizers like tophrosia and manure etc. Their studies range from beans to peppers to maize to groundnuts. Its quite intensive and interesting. The field day showed all the farmers these various techniques starting from planting their crops to storing them. Me and a fellow pcv helped with the sessions on fish farming. However it all had to be done in Nyanja and needless to say we had to get help from our counterpart Mulenga. The sessions for cut a bit short and its difficult to explain fish farming in less than 15 min. However I think the farmers enjoyed it very much, especially with our exhibit of the different types of fish. There was much eating, singing and dancing afterward with a few speeches from several Zambian officials.

Apart from the field day I also was asked to paint signs for the research center. Here's one of the signs I painted - all by hand of course. This is graphic design at its finest in Zambia ;)

Tinayenda ku town

Yes, we walked to town. About a week and a half ago, my sister, Joyce (she's 19) decided to get up early and walk to Chipata. Its only 25k, but hey its full of rolling hills. We had an amazing journey. I was so thankful because we really got to know eachother and it was interesting to hear the opinions of a 19 year old woman in Zambia. It was a beautiful walk however got a bit hot at the end. It only took us 4hrs which I thought was decent considering all the hills. She was so happy because most people in Fisheni haven't done that before. They either bike or take transport. Its funny because now when anyone sees me leaving my house they always ask if I'm walking (or footing like they like to say) to town. No one really understood why we wanted to do that. They even offered me money, but I told them that wasn't the problem. Oh well, it was fun and I got to learn a lot about Joyce and her dreams for the future. She wants to be a nurse. It was some of the best 4 hrs I've spent in Zambia.

Walking in rural Zambia also allows you to meet some interesting people. Like for example the random group of uniformed children marching on the side of the road. We had one woman running to catch up with us because she wanted to beat us to town. She wasn't even planning on walking to town until she saw us. I think she eventually caught transport.

Once we were in Chipata I bought us lunch and we drank ice cold cokes. What a great day!