Day 2, The trouble with life is there’s no danger music.

Tuesday found us fairly early. Our flight to Lilongwe left at 11:20 AM, so we had agreed to meet the minibus driver at 8:45. Requested wake-up calls never came, so it was a bit of a scramble to meet the driver on time.

On the way to the airport, we got to see a bit of Johannesburg in the daytime. It’s a little bit like Atlanta, but there’s a vaguely European vibe around the entire place. I took a picture of this excellent billboard:

As we boarded the plane, there was a general sense of eagerness to get out and see the “real Africa.” The plane ride was uneventful, and we soon got our wish. Things were pretty different when the plane set down in Lilongwe. A dog was visible trotting down one of the runways.

Our extremely gracious hosts from Kamuzu Central Hospital picked us up at the airport in an older minibus. We sped away along the Malawian countryside, dotted periodically with the smoke plumes of trash fires, people resting along the side of the road, and women carrying heavy loads balanced perfectly atop their heads.

Traffic here takes three forms: the dangerously overcrowded minibus, or (despite the wide footprint of the capital city) walking and biking. We’ve been told that no matter where one goes in the distant countryside, there will be people walking roadside.

The accommodations are comfortable and dorm-like. Ms. Joyce runs the UNC Guest House, and she’ll be acting as a surrogate mother while we’re here. A few other UNC folks (a couple of medical students, an IT guy, and a lab guy) are sharing the building with us, and they’ve been very welcoming. The people have been uniformly friendly. After dinner at an Italian restaurant, we headed home in the streetlight-free darkness.

I’m hoping tomorrow will be sunnier and warmer – supposedly there are house geckos that live on the building. Seeing them would be a real treat. We’ll get a tour of the facilities and register with the Medical Council of Malawi, and then on Thursday we set off to the Home of Hope Orphanage.