Well this weekend was...an adventure to say the least! We headed for Mulanjie on Saturday morning and finally set off an hour and a half after we got on the minibus when they decided the 25 people on it was plenty....! The journey was fine until we got to Mulanjie about 3 hours and a lot of minibus rearrangement later. The lodge told us we would be able to get a taxi or a pick up when we got there. No taxis in sight and only one pickup who tried to charge us 3000K (way to much) for a lift up the track to the lodge. We were getting a bit desparate and thought we would have to agree to pay this 'exorbitant' (the Malawians taught us this word from the english language...shameful! haha) amount until a really kind man from a tea plantation agreed to take us (i think we looked like we would burst into tears if he refused!). We made it to the mountain and had a really lovely walk to waterfalls and a big pool which you could swim in. It was really beautiful and on our return we had another food related result with an amazingly huge dinner at the lodge ( although anything that isnt rice and beans with salty cabbage leaves is a major result haha). Two friends of the housekeeper took us back down the mountain in the morning back to the minibuses. Apart from bring slow, mainly beacuse the bus stopped to watch a fight two women were having over a man with people watching for 50 kwacha a ticket, the journey was ok. Well, ok until we realised Laura's phone was nowhere in sight. Everyone got off the minibus and helped us look for it. Still nowhere in sight. Another really kind stranger lent us his phone and the two guys who gave us a lift had it in their car. One slight problem, we were in Blantyre and they were in Mulanjie (at least an hour and half apart). They agreed to meet us at four in a bar in Blantyre. It got to half 4 and we were still calm (african four means five)...at half five we rang them and they were in Thyolo...half way between the two and their car had broken down. Excellent. Luckily the kind stranger from the bus had let us buy him a 'green' to say thankyou for his help. Que his brother with a Rav4. He then drives us (not the guy we brought a 'green' dads dont worry) all the way back to Thoyolo to collect the elusive mobile phone. However, we arrive at Thyolo and they are in Limbe with the phone (ie- pretty much back where we started) All the strangers we had befriended then started shouting at each other down the phone in Chichewa...oops. The guys with the phone were as nice as pie when they spoke to Laura however. hmmmm. Finally at 6ish in the pitch black we were reunited with the phone (wooooooooooo). We then had the problem of getting back to the nursing school 70km away. Again, que stranger with rav4. He was a legend and took us the whole way back and didnt even want the millions of kwacha everyone asks us for! We couldnt believe how lucky we were....(although even a malawian gin while we were waiting couldnt mask Lauras stress hehe). It all turned out ok in the end though and we were safely tucked up in bed by 10pm.

We have started our last week in the hospital and are carrying on in the Obs and Gynae department. We are also doing some research into Rabies and policies regarding vaccination provision etc after someone died at the hospital from Rabies even though they had had a full course of vaccines which should prevent this. The doctor we were with in the medical department gave us a bit of Sherlock Holmes assigment to find out what happened so we have been visiting the District Health Office, the village where the man came from and have been asked to write an article for the Malawian Medical Journal. (check us out...and you thought we werent working! haha). It has been really interesting and seeing the villages was an eye opener.

We are not sure if we will be able to write again before we leave Zomba (sob sob) for the lake at the weekend (beach and sun yay!). Will try and write at the Lake or when we get to Tanzania.

Love to everyone

Laura and Emily xxx

p.s- mums start roast dinner preparation now, we are on the home run!

p.p.s- Browns: no jumping children yet. I did look when we went to the villages...... :) (we have fallen in love with a little boy on the way from the nursing school to Zomba town...we might bring him home.....)