Closer to home

   6 Apr There wasn't too much to explore in Lilongwe. We spent most of the time re-stocking our food reserves and lazing around at the hotel pool. In the evening we had surprise visit and dinner invitation by the South African High Commissioner and her husband and subsequently spent a very interesting evening with them. 7 Apr After heading mostly south for more than 10 weeks we have now made a turn to the right and are going westwards. We crossed the border to Zambia today and are once again trying to get used to a new currency. I pulled half a million kwachas out of an atm this afternoon! We have pretty much lost overview of the various exchange rates and are happily spending without any real sense of currency value. 8 Apr We had a 50th birthday party today - and that's not an easy thing to organise if you want to entertain about 70 guests who have just cycled 190 km and your venue is a scorching hot soccer field without any water or other facilities. But Tony had done a good job. Ice from Lilongwe cooled the beers and we turned one of our water canisters into a punch mixing bowl and serving container. And as a birthday surprise some guys bought 50 dead fish at a local market and hid them in his tent - which caused a messy night time clean up operation. 9 Apr We were slightly hung over this morning when we continued our roller coaster ride over the - now Zambian - hills. I tried to keep track how many hills I want up and down, but lost count at around 80. 10 Apr Last year I followed the tour's blog with great interest (probably as you do now). When the guys got to Lusaka they only raved about a western style shopping mall with modern restaurants and even a movie theater. I remember thinking 'what's wrong with these people? Here they are travelling Africa and all they want is the stuff they know from home ...'. I shouldn't have judged them before I experienced the same situation - I just had a great evening out at the movies and dinner at Rhapsody's :-)