George and Carole: Malawi Beat: Photos for "Malawi Has Been Perfect"--George's Blog

I. Introduction D. Malawi Has Been Perfect

When I posted the text for the section entitled "Malawi Has Been Perfect," I neglected to attached the related photos.

Here they are, with some short text.

View looking down into the Blantyre City market, close to the Blantyre Chapel and our residence.

One of many vegetable stands within the market. Tomatoes are typically stacked in this artistic fashion throughout Malawi.

Another example of the care taken by vendors to make attractive designs to entice shoppers.

This photo was taken in front of President Kanjala's home in Kampala. Don't know the name of the red flowering shrub.

Two months ago, in April and May these flowering trees could be found everywhere. The blooms are now gone.

These are large poinsettia trees, which we have never seen before in the United States. Reminds one of Christmas even though we are in June.

Beautiful delicate petals.

This photo was taken in Dedza, three hours north of Blantyre, in the gardens of the pottery factory.

For awhile we thought this was a hybrid form of poinsettia; pedals are similar, and the plants are blooming at the same time. But now we think we are mistaken.

This photo was taken in what is the only family owned tea plantation in the Thyolo District, south of Blantyre. The plantation has over 6 million tea plants and is owned by the same Scottish family for three generations.

The pale barkless trees are blue gum trees, used on the tea plantation to fuel the factory producing tea varieties. These larger trees are, however, very old and are now in a forest preserve where logging is prohibited. Initially, we thought our guide was saying "Brigham" trees.

A plantation worker picking tea leaves. During the height of the season (January to March--basically the rainy season), the plantation hires over 2,000 migrant workers to pick leaves.