Finally home free and across the border in Malawi, I got a new sim card and quickly found a hitch out of town. My luck was definitely improving. The guy, with his wife and his daughter, took me through twisty roads, past lots of red brick and thatch houses, through hills with mountains in the distance, to Mangochi. When we got there, he wanted money, but I told him that I didn’t have any, but I gave them my last 3 oranges as payment. They seemed content with that. I soon hailed a taxi (called a “mini bus” here). I got on, and this taxi was trolling hard for passengers going wouth. There were 3 punk dudes, one driving/swerving/revving the engine and scaring little children, and two more to round people up. I was really tempted to get off and try to hitch, but I figured it would be dark soon, and a taxi was probably the best option at the time. When we finally filled up, the three punks got out, and thankfully another guy got in to drive. It was about 3 hours to Zomba, my next destination. On the way, I saw many mosques, baobab trees on the side of the road, and several groups of people parading down the street for what I assume was end-of-Ramadan celebrations. Lots of women were wearing hijabs, and the men were wearing skullcaps and some had long robes. On the way, I used my new sim card and airtime to Google for places in Zomba to stay, and I found a campground/hostel. I got off the taxi and asked where this place Pakachere was. I was pointed down a pitch-black path/road, and soon found it. I rented a tent for $7. The tent was cheaper than the dorm bunks ($10), came with a mattress and blankets, and was cooler being outside, without the annoyance of drunk/noisy/snoring dorm people. Perfect. That bed and tent was wonderful. After such an exhausting day, I crashed hard.
The next morning, I got pretty early and met this guy Wally outside. We got to talking, and I told him that I would soon be climbing Mount Mulanje in the south of Malawi. He decided that he wanted to join me and Katie (who I would meet up in Blantyre, a big city in the south) on the hike. Cool. Another person to split costs. We got a taxi to Blantyre, then to a big shopping center to get some lunch and hiking food. We met Katie there, then all got a taxi to our couchsurf host, Katherine, who was PCV Response volunteer. She was staying in a swanky part of Blantyre with Chichi the cat. We talked a lot about PC (she served in El Salvador but her service got interrupted for gang violence), and then we made an awesome carbo-load dinner of spaghetti, meat sauce, and garlic bread before falling asleep.
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