November 26, 2006

Full circle…..

The description that used to run under the header of this site said "dealing with the curveballs of everyday existence as I try and get back to Malawi - the place it all started when I came of age at the turn of the century" - in an old man movie trailer kind of voice - but true none the less.

January 13th year 2000 I stepped off a small plane in chileka airport and made home in the city of Blantyre - Malawi's largest city of two that could be termed as such - and even then you are stretching - you think "city", you think sprawling metropolis of lit up skyscrapers, criss crossing gridlocked traffic, commerce on all corners - the proverbial giant human ant farm in overdrive - all locked into one corner of the world - vibrant, noisy, full of life - heaving at the seams with folk from all over going about their daily.

Blantyre is the exact opposite of that to the naked eye - for the foreigner observing, Blantyre has a triangle of three main streets, one hospital, one school, one supermarket of note, one or two restaurants, a couple of hotels and five bars - two of which are safe to be seen in - along with a nightclub not unlike that seen in Dusk Till Dawn.

Sure it's a different case if you are a Malawian however - the city has around 500'000 to 1 million people depending on who you get to do the head count - it is the focus of the southern region and the hub of transit for the border at Mwanza that takes you into Mozambique and, via the Tete corridor, through Zimbabwe and on into South Africa. Like Jakarta in Indonesia and Saigon in Vietnam - it's the city that everyone gravitates towards to make their money - but it's lacking in almost every area when it comes to infrastructure and organisation and is several large leaps behind in terms of modern day technology - folk make their homes as best they can and local village life sprawls across all available land in the area.

At least that was the case when I was there - and friends haven't led me to believe anything much has changed.

Which is how I like it.

Peaceful and back to basics.

Blantyre is about a 4 hour drive from the place I always think about to help me sign off to sleep each night - I took the photo heading this post on the shores of Lake Nyasa at Cape McClear - and it's there that most of my best days upon this earth have been spent - Hammocks, red ripped sunsets and Kwasa Kwasa music - cold Carlsberg greens.

January the 13th 2007 I will be setting foot back upon the same tarmac of chileka airport and once again making Blantyre my home - for six months I'll be helping run the office where we source tea from the Mulanje and Thyolo districts and carry out blends in the whse next door - then tea gets packed and palleted before being shipped off around the world after making the truck journey to Durban down in South Africa.

Ever since I left I've always wanted to go back - I have such good memories of the place and the people I was with - could be risky to tarnish it all with a return - but I think it is that final adventure - that final kick to end my twenties before I turn 30 in June - the unpredictable before the conveyor belt of existence points me towards thoughts of settling down somewhere - kind of strange as I always thought it would take a good number of years more before such an opportunity came around - when I looked at my plans for the future this was were I wanted to end up - and now here it is all of a sudden.

Internet connections are not too hot out there but while it may not be ADSL it is still possible - I've decided to open this out to a few more folk - friends & family - it is harder to keep in touch and it will be a good way to talk to everyone all at once as well as being able to keep a photographic and literal record of life out there as well. Therefore come December time I'm setting up shop on wordpress, getting a domain name and hosting and sorting out a new pattern to proceedings - I'll transfer a bit of the archive across but on the whole it's a fresh start.

Last few weeks I've been working on ideas and planning for the new site along with dipping my toes into the world of torrent sites, downloads, disc burning and DVD's - a lot to learn but now I've got it licked - anyone wants any advice let me know in the comments and I'll point you in the right direction - I'm downloading day and night at the moment as six months I'll not have access to anything requiring download speeds greater than that which is needed for basic email.

But that's ok - my brother from another mother, Paul, runs a bar by the lake called the Gecko lounge these days - and it's got whisky, hammocks and a view of the lakeside sunsets.

Spo | November 26, 2006 | Comments
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