Elizabeth has been telling me about a really big market on
Saturdays in Malawi ever since I arrived in Kafule. She said it is a long walk to get there but I
told her that I was up for it. Unfortunately
the rain has thwarted our plans to go for a few weeks now but this weekend we
were finally able to go. Yesterday was a
beautiful, sunny day with a cool morning breeze; perfect for the long walk to
Malawi. So just before 6 am Elizabeth and
I set out. We walked, and walked, and
walked. Finally we made it to the River
Songwe which divides Tanzania and Malawi. There is a “bridge” to cross the
river (I use that term loosely, there is a vine to tight rope walk across and
two more vines at waist height to hold for balance). Anyway the bridge was not secured when we arrived. I assumed we were going to talk along the
river bank until we got to the next bridge.
I need to learn to stop assuming.
The man that arrived at the same time as us (on bike) picked up his
bike, put it on his head and waded out into the river. “That’s how we are doing this?” I asked
Elizabeth. “Of course,” she said,
kicking off her shoes. Hiking up my skirt
and stepping into the murky water I tried my best to suppress the fear of being
eaten by something in the water. But we
made it safely to the other side and the cool water actually felt really
good. I had made it to Malawi! Elizabeth and I walked for a ways longer and
finally make it to the market. She was
right; it was totally worth the 4 hours that it took us to walk there. There were tons of bananas and different
spinach-like greens, there was fabric and shoes and all kinds of other things
to buy! And there were lots of different
fried foods! After about an hour of
wandering around Elizabeth and I set out for home. The way beck was a lot more uphill so we knew
it was going to take longer than the walk there had taken. On the way, we were walking with some women
who were carrying big baskets on their heads.
I had told Elizabeth earlier that I wanted to learn how to carry things
like that. She asked one of the women to
borrow their basket, which I think they were happy to give up for a little while)
and Elizabeth showed me how to carry it (later last night I got to practice my
new skill because the water was out at the tap outside our house. So Dahlia and I walked to one of the pumps in
town and I successfully make two trips home with a bucket of water on my
head). Anyway, Elizabeth and I walked,
and walked, and walked, and eventually, a little over 5 hours after leaving
Malawi, we made it home, exhausted but so excited from all the day’s
adventures!
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