Let's Go to Downtown Zomba!



 



First stop, washateria.  Main drawback - closed for 6 months during the dry season due to water outage.

You might want to shop for groceries at Peoples Kwiksave.  But first, you have to get through the assortment of  beggars at the entrance with handicaps, each sadder than his neighbor's. 

Look carefully to see the wooden "leg" on the woman to your right - a simple wooden stump painted black. 

I like to save at Shoprite that also
has front-entrance challenges.







Got plastics - chairs, basins, all types of containers, waste cans?  

If you need plastic, EVERY plastic store in Zomba carries the exact goods at the same prices.  I guess they compete based on location?  I haven't figured this out.

This could just as easily be Pam and young Markie-Parkie about 20 years ago, were it not for the Master Checklist for Dispostion of Human Beings where we were checked off as being 1) White; 2) United States of American (I am pledging allegiance to Old Glory right now!);
3) Endowed with optimal blessings - access to the finest choices in education, work and  healthcare.  The operant word here being "choices."

Who decides that?

More poly for purchase, there on your right.

"Casual" dining choices in Zomba town are few and serve up generous helpings of amoebae. Just like I got at  "Da Munch Box - there to your far right.  Grrrrrrrr! 

Here's how I imagined the name was contrived:  "Da" to reach the occasional German volunteer here; "munch" was a little more challenging but once that fell into place, it rhymes with "lunch," so the namer used "box."  Da Munch Box - rolls right off your tongue.

The Osman Wholesalers own the bicycle franchise in Zomba. Their policy is "no test drives and no returns" in spite of their use of shoddy materials and manufacturing practices. The pedals are plastic and the frame appeared to me to be steel, but hard to tell under the Happy Birthday print wrapping paper. All bicycles start here at $100 USD. 

These tables are set up around town by the cell phone vendors so people can easily purchase tickets with scratch-off codes that enable cellphone units or minutes. You can see them dangling off of the end of the unattended table here.

I'll head back towards my village (Chirunga) down the main Zomba road. Road runs south to Blantyre and north to Lilongwe, the most recent capital. 

The next shopping excursion will take us inside the downtown Zomba market where I buy fruits and veggies.  It's even more fantastic.

Stop back by soon!