Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Visiting with the SACCO employees

hahaha...they all had to get in on the photo op!

Elephant Mountain, Malawi

The Mountains of Northern Malawi

Back to Lillongwe we go......

We travelled another 6 hours today to get back to Lillongwe.  The trip could have been made in a shorter time frame but we stopped to visit with 2 different SACCOS along the way as well as make several stops for some amazing photos!

One stop we made was in the "exotic forest", they have a pine tree plantation here and I felt like I was back home in British Columbia!  They have hundreds of trees and for every tree they harvest they have to plant a new one. I'm not sure what species of pine they are but they sure grow quickly!  The reach maturity in about 10 years....wow!

We made it to Lillongwe this afternoon and met up with Lennie and Roccio another CCA coaching team.  Lennie and I are friends from our trip to Ghana together last year and I've never received a warmer welcome.....it was awesome!  Lennie came running at full speed and gave me a great big hug! :)

We went to Mama Mia's for dinner and exchanged stories about our week, it was great! Then a storm rolled in and we had to make our way back to our hotel, which was a few blocks away.....in a downpour...and I mean a downpour...hahaha......the gutters which are about 1 foot deep were overflowing!  When we got back to our hotel looking like drowned rats, the staff came running out with umbrellas even though we were already soaked to the core and said "oh, so sorry".

They are so polite here they even apologize for us having to get wet in the rain.....love Malawi, and love these amazing people!

Heidi in Lillongwe