Chief's Chair

It was such a good idea. Funny how those ideas just never seem to work out the way you thought that they might.

I have wanted a “chief’s chair” ever since I arrived in Malawi. They are beautiful carven chairs that come in two pieces: the seat and the back. The seat is very basic but it is really in the shape of a paddle. The long arm of the paddle is then arranged through the slot at the base of the back piece and it is the main leg of this three legged chair. Hard to explain, I am sorry.

They are carved out of various types of Malawian hardwoods and used to depict village scenes but now mostly have animal carvings to please us tourists (I would have loved a village scene personally). The “environmentalist” in me shuddered a bit when I thought of the beautiful tree used for my chair…but I wanted that chair. In fact, I wanted two to be more precise.

So out Moira and I went last week in search of chairs. Neither one of us likes to bargain for things at all, nor are we very good at it. But I have a new strategy. I know what I want to buy while I am here, but since I have time, I will practice my bargaining on things I eventually want, but do not need to buy that day. Well the plan totally backfired on me because we got an amazing price on our first try. Maybe because we bought three?

I have seen them sold online in U.S. galleries $225 and ours were about $25 a piece and far prettier. Now no one here would ever pay $225, but still, I was quite pleased with our arrangement since he was initially asking more like $40. Nothing that I am sure that others haven’t arranged before, but this was my first real bargain. And while it was great deal, the ensuing experience is more that I bargained for!

I was planning on buying these chairs back in Lilongwe because how on earth was I going to get them around as I make my way back there?

That was mistake number one.

But, happily (and unhappily of course), Moira is leaving on Sunday and has a ride to Lilongwe. She is staying at the same place I will be at in a few weeks and they have agreed to hold them for me.

We decided that we are taking a change with the airlines and will try to bribes to get them on as our second pieces of luggage. I am fairly confident this will work. I am actually fairly confident they will be permissible if they are packaged right without a bribe. I believe this because the price to ship them is not feasible unless I am happy crossing my fingers for the next three months as they are sent to me via ground mail. So this will work. It will work if they are packaged nicely and I smile brightly at the airline attendant.

Which brings us to the second problem: packing them right. I was able to find, miracles of miracles, a place where I could get bubble wrap and tape, and I hunted today in the stores for boxes. I found two boxes, one for each of us, and they were almost the right size. Almost.

It’s a mess. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to pack them. Soooooo, luckily I was gchating with a most savvy, most fantastic, most well traveled friend who had a simple solution: pay someone else to do it for me.

So, here I sit waiting for that solution to pan out. I have offered to say behind while the others go out to celebrate Moira’s last night so our precious chairs can be packed tightly for the journey ahead.

I am including pictures of Moira’s chair. I, of course, wrapped mine up before it occurred to me to take a picture. I have one that is like hers, and another that is different, but you will get the general idea. They are so beautiful in person. Maybe if I ever have a semi-permanent residence some day, I will place them on the porch as a reminder of lovely Malawi.