Hello from Zomba

5-28-16
Hello again friends and Happy 20th Birthday to our fellow traveler Rebecca!  Another day of travels is behind us and it was just as amazing of an experience as yesterday. This morning we left Annie's Lodge in Lilongwe to travel to our more permanent home in Zomba, Malawi. This 6 hour bus ride was filled with amazing new sights and questioned to be answered by our wonderful bus driver and friend, Andrew. We made multiple stops along the way, but our first was at Dedza Pottery and Shop at the end of a dirt road right off the main road. Here we had a chance to purchase beautiful hand sculpted and painted pottery of all sizes and styles.  We all stocked up on gifts for family and ourselves. I personally purchased items that I am excited to use in my new apartment next year. While we were here we ate a small lunch at the local restaurant attached to pottery shop. It was a wonderful meal with a beautiful flowers and view. We then walked down the road to a small art shop run by a man and his wife in their home. We learned that the husband had taken the majority of his paintings to Lilongwe to sell this weekend, but we were still able to view and purchase some of the remaining. These paintings are beautifully painted with some much attention to detail and color. The wife showed us their process of making paper in their back yard out of scrap paper. This process was not only amazing just in its self, but it made us realize and appreciate how innovative Malawian people are and how they are able to do so much, with so little.

We then hit the road again with our next stop being the largest open air market in the area. This market was spilt down the middle with half being across the border in the county of Mozambique and the other being in Malawi. This was a very amazing and slightly overwhelming experience as we were surrounded by friendly, but persistent venders trying to sell us their produce and products. This was our final stop of the day before reaching our final destination in Zomba. The Annie's lodge we are staying in now is breathtakingly beautiful. There are flowers everywhere in full bloom. We have only seen a few monkeys hiding the bushes, but are hopeful to see more tomorrow.

Until later friends :)