1. Food. Simply there is not much, or it is very expensive. There are hundreds of kilograms of tomatoes for sale, onions, bananas, a local type of spinach, rice, nsima (maize), casava, ... yep, that's pretty much it. Then you can buy white bread, and I sourced out some local good yoghurt. In the bigger cities there is more of a variety of fresh vegetables (debatable whether more expensive). Anything else, expect to pay through your teeth. According to consultants and such people, the lack of food is due to a) poor farming methods and lack of crop variety and b) lack of staggering of crop planting meaning when there is food there is too much food but no planting is done to ensure food during winter/the dry season etc.
2. Nali. The best thing about Malawian food - hot, spicey flavourful Nali sauce. In flavours hot, vey hot, garlic, curry.
3. Power's No. 1. A little sachet of alcohol spirits. Costs between 10 and 15 Malawian Kwacha (about 50-75c) and gets your powerfully drunk at 40% spirits volume.
4. A drunk country. According to independent sources (other travellers I met) it is agreed that a large part of the Malawian population is at some pint in the day 1)smelling of old alcohol or 2) drunk. I know this sounds like I am hating on the country. I am not. Malawi is truly a lovely country. But there is a lot of alcohol consumption.
5. They have Lake Malawi. Well I needn't say anything else really.
6. Two in one. Did you know that the whole of Lake Malawi is not actually IN Malawi. Yes, a portion in the north is in Tanzania and in Tanzania they call that part of the lake Lake Nyasa. But Malawians don't speak of this ;)
7. No dolla. There is a dire shortage of foreign currency in the country (after the president kicked the English Ambassador out of the country and thus England cut off aid money). And therefore there is a dire shortage of fuel in the country. Beware you can get stuck in place because vehicles cannot get fuel. Also the British money was used to pay the salaries of among others, Policemen. Now they are not being paid. Now they have been told to get their salaries from fining vehicles on the road.
8. One, two, three. Yes indeed, when I asked people in Malawi what the Chichewa words for one, two three etc were, I was simple told "one, two, three".
9. Rasta (non) loving. Apparently, and this I heard in Lilongwe, Malawians are not the biggest fans of Rastafarians. Therefore, thus and in conclusion, it appears that most if not all of the Rastafarians in Malawi now reside in and around Nkhata Bay.
10. Peanuts. Malawi probably makes some of the best roasted and salted peanuts (called groundnuts, or G-nuts) that I have ever tasted
Malawi, the warm heart of Africa
(PS which is true. It is the only country where, on being stamped into Malawi, the border official said "Welcome to Malawi, we are a country of warm-hearted people. Enjoy your stay". Therefore, in light of my sometimes harsh seeming quirks of the country, I wish to molify all readers by saying that while the above are my 10 quirks that I noticed in the country, all fits under the unbrella tone of warmth and friendliness as I experienced with the border official. And anyone who has ever crossed a border will know just how surly and sulky border officials can be if they choose so!)
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