Post 6

Hi all, hope everyone is doing well. So there's a bit to write about on this post, so it may go quite long. First off, I'm writing from Lusaka, Zambia not Tanzania. I'll get to why later.

First, seder. Seder was incredible for a variety of reasons. The Friday before a family of five Israelis showed up in Nkhata Bay, so our numbers kind of ballooned a bit, but it was fine. We got a few more chickens, one of which I killed, and put on a feast. There were chickens, of course, potato salad, a cabbage salad, a bean salad, roasted potatoes, chicken soup, roasted peppers, etc.. It was a real feast, especially for a seder in Nkhata Bay. In the end we were 16 people, but we had a few dropouts, so we thought it would be even more. Mr. Chocolate was not feeling well, so unfortunately he couldn't make it. In the end every Israeli in town came, we all had a great time, and got a bit drunk. The five us of us who were cooking all day had five liters of wine before the seder even started. We had another five liter box during the seder as well. There was very little service or any kind of ceremony. We sang ma nishtana, did a blessing over wine, and just ate. The way seder probably should always be.

The funniest and most bizarre part of the seder was having four nkhata bay policemen show up saying they were there to protect us. What happened is that one of the Israelis in town, Omer, father kind of freaked out. He heard something on the news of a high possibility of al qaeda trying to kidnap israelis abroad during passover. He than somehow got the number of the Israeli ambassador to Kenya whom he managed to convince and somehow contact the chief of Malawi's police. Whom he convinced to contact the head of the Nkhata Bay police department to send some people over to protect us. We were really confused during the seder what the policemen were talking about, but had a good laugh after realizing what happened. Don't worry, we fed the policemen well too.

My last few days in Nkhata Bay were great as usual, and it was very difficult to leave. I had originally planned to go to Tanzania, than I decided I would delay that a few days and go hiking in the area. Than Tom and Omer got this idea to drive to the northwestern corner of Zambia. None of us still really know what is there, but its remote, and its more for the experience than a specific place to see. So Tuesday morning we drove to Zambia, and last night made it to Lusaka. Today is kind of an errands day and tomorrow we're off to this corner of the country.

I'll get back to Zambia, but I have a few more things to say about Nkhata Bay. That place is one of the most incredible places I have ever been to. The people are geniunely some of the friendliest I've ever met. Its beautiful and the pictures will not even come close to doing it justice. The people I met and the experiences there were special too. Mayoka village is an eden and its owners, Gary and Kathryn, are some very, very nice people. I got to know many of the expats and long term volunteers living there who cooked for me, gave me internet access, and made me feel like I was at home the entire time I was there. Mr. Chocolate is possibly the greatest person I have ever met as well. I'm exaggerating, but he was quite a guy. When I said goodbye he said I would have to buy him a phone so we could stay in touch. It was very tough leaving the place, and I very much hope one day I'll come back, especially on Tuesday which is when Mayoka has a free dinner buffet.

Omer has a jeep, which is part of why I'm going on this Zambia trip. It's a different way of travelling, and one I probably will no have a second chance to experience. Our trip to Zambia quite eventful. We picked up a hitchhiker who is a peacecorp volunteer from Colorado named Dan. He has a really interesting blog, malawidan.blogspot, if any of y'all want to find out some more about Malawi. He's doing environmental and sustainable agricultre projects in northern Malawi. Really cool guy, and told me a lot of info about agriculture and forestry in Malawi. Unfortunately it was almost all bad news...

Malawi should be a completely forested country. Very little of it is today, and much of the existing forest is actually replanted foreign trees. Many of these trees, Eucalyptus and Pine, take up all the soils nutrients leaving the soil in very poor condition. Most of the trees are cut for timber and also to clear land for agriculture. The wood is mostly exported to Mozambique, which has stricter laws regarding forestry. Malawi is a very, very, very poor country with 85% of its population in rurul areas mostly in small scale agriculture. Almost everyone grows maize and tabaco. On top of tasting like shit, maize has almost no nutrional value, and it destroys the soil as well. Tobacco, obviously, can't feed you, and it really destroys the soil. So why do they plant them? The government a few decades ago was bought out by business interests, and made its citizens grow these crops. There are other more sustainable and nutrious crops grown, like Cassava, but not too much. It gets much worse...

Today Monsanto, wikipedia them if you don't know who they are, sells Malawi its maize seed. The seed is genetically modified to not be able to reseed. So Malawi has to rebuy seed every year from Monsanto at quite a huge cost. The government makes the population use this seed through laws, subsidies, and a variety of other methods. They do it, because they get money in their pockets from monsanto, and pressure from the US govt. Everything I'm writing is what Dan told me, so I should note that I haven't investigated it at all. But he seemed like he knew what he was talking about. The tobacco industry money in govt. politicians pockets is the reason tabacoo is still planted as well.

Both maize and tabacco are going to starve the country. They destroy the land and make it more and more difficult to replant. The deforestation means soil erosion is much more commonplace, and landslides are more and more frequent destroying crops. The trees that are replanted also strip the soil of its nutrients making agriculture more difficult. Basically corruption, and evil businesses are going to starve Malawi. It was very frustrating to hear this, although Dan himself says he remains optimistic. On an individual level he meets people who are starting small, but progressive projects to change the nature of agriculture and forestry in Malawi. He realizes change has to come from the top too, but he's happy to help where he can on the local level. It's a shame too, because the average Malawian is one of the friendliest people you will ever meet, and they don't deserve it.

After dropping off Dan in Lilongwe, Malawi's weird urban sprawl capital, we headed straight to the Zambian border. We got a flat, and sure enough, we had a nice downpour a minute afterwards. Not bad, we switched the tire pretty quickly, and got to the border.

The border crossing was the weirdest any of us had ever had. We gave the border guy our Israeli passports, and a few minutes later he asked us to come to an office. We go to the head immigration guy's office where he says he has never met people from Israel before. I think that's bullshit, tons of Israelis travel in this area. He than asks us if we know Jesus. He than gave us a 20 minute lecture on how we have to accept Jesus, how he doesn't understand that we don't but we live in Israel. I can't even remember the lines he used, they were so idiotic. In the middle of it all, he stopped turned to his computer and started some solider shoot it up video game. After ten minutes of that he went back on his Jesus talk. Eventually he gave us the visa and let us go, but there were a few minutes when I really had no clue what was going on. Very weird and not really pleasant experience.

We got to a place called Chipata that night, just over the border and yesterday drove all the way to Lusaka. They speak widespread english in Zambia, and its most known for Victoria Falls. I may or may not get there. We're first driving to this remote northwestern corner right at the convergence of the Zambian, Angolan, and Congo border. Its safe there, no worries. We'll than make our way back to Lusaka and if there's time drop into Victoria Falls. I think we'll have time, but we'll see. Tom has to get a flight in a few weeks, so that's what's limiting us. I'd love to get to Victoria Falls, and there's a 100 meter plus bunjee jump there too I'd like to do.

After we get back to Lusaka I'm heading north for...Tanzania. I'll be taking a boat up lake Tagan yika to the chimpanzee park, Mahale Mountains, in Tanzania. From there I'll continue to Rwanda and Uganda. Having said that my plans have changed enormously, and I imagine they will continue to do so. I'm happy to be having some cool adventures, be travelling with some nice guys, and hopefully it will continue that way.

The other big news is that I have finally uploaded pictures! You can apparently view these facebook albums even if you are not on facebook. The following links should take you there, or you can view through my facebook profile. I've also loaded videos too, but that's only through facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097783&l=2caf9&id=2606069

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097784&l=c234f&id=2606069

I will be out of internet contact for possibly the next two weeks, although most likely less. When I'm back in Lusaka I'll post about our trip to the this northwest corner, which none of us really know what there is to see. Zambia's a beautiful country, so I'm sure it'll be nice.

tchau, Ben