I got my 35mm film back today. While most people now use digital cameras (and I do understand why) I still love my old Nikon. Papa gave it to me for my 14th birthday and it still works beautifully. One thing I love about film is the anticipation. I took these photos of a witch doctor ceremony at the beginning of our trip and have been waiting anxiously to see how they turned out. I am very pleased with the photos. We sat in a small room with all the people seen in these photos and listened to them sing together and dance. It was so interesting to see. Perhaps not the most authentic since we paid them to perform for us. Though we were there to watch them we were just as interesting to them. Not a lot of white women in Malawi.
If you look at the picture above you can see the woman on the right nursing her son. At one point there were about four women nursing in the room. Elena told me that breasts are not considered an erogenous zone down there. Obviously they are way too hum-drum. It's all about the legs in Malawi.
We went to a town market in Ngala to look for the beautiful printed fabrics all the women wear around their waists. Though we did not find any that we liked we did buy oranges and bananas. As Elena was bargaining down the price I took photos of these men with their bikes. The people in Malawi are very friendly and happy to have their photo taken.
This is where they sell the meat. On the left is the swaddled head of the cow and the wheelbarrow contains the innards. I was happy to stand and look from afar but Elena got right in there and checked it all out.
It is wonderful to look back at these photos and remember all the great things Elena and I did!
