Location, Location, Location!

Malealea Lodge is one of my favorite places on Earth, and I'm glad that I'm located about an hour away!

   Location is important to realtors and prospective home buyers.

   It’s also vital to Peace Corps Volunteers.

   During Pre-Service Training, all volunteers get the opportunity to have a say in where they’d like to be placed in the country.

   I told my bosses not to place me in the highlands. There’s absolutely NO way that my black ass could survive a harsh winter with no central heating in the big mountains.

   And I didn’t want to be too far out there in a remote village. I’d go insane if I was in the boonies and it took me more than a day to get home. Nope, that life wasn’t going to be for me and I knew it.

   My bosses ended up doing right by me, though.

   They placed me in a rural village in Mafeteng, one district down from the capital of Maseru, which sells nice crafts.

   This makes accessing Maseru a cinch, since it’s only about 40 minutes away via public transport.

   There are other perks to my site location, too. Read on:

-Mafeteng, my camptown (or shopping district), is about 40 minutes away from my village via public transport. It’s a decent camptown that has a Western-style grocery store, a brand new Post Office and more importantly, a bakery that sells cupcakes.

-I’m nearly an hour away from heaven, AKA Malealea Lodge. The popular lodge is located in a remote part of Mafeteng but their homemade carrot cake makes every visit there worthwhile. And they have a craft centre.

This video shows the ride to Malealea Lodge. It's located what's commonly called the "Gates of Paradise."

-I’m nearly 20 minutes away from Morija, the craft and culture capital of the country. They have a nice little museum that features Basotho culture and history. There’s also a pottery studio nearby. Yes, please and thank you!

I love the bright, bold colors on this building!

   The Peace Corps really tries to take a volunteer’s site suggestions into account. The last thing they want is for the volunteer to ET (early terminate)  because they were unhappy with their location.

   They really listened to me, the crack, er, craft addict. They rightfully placed me near crafts cupcakes, culture and the capital!