Malawi

Malawi...best country ever!!! Seriously this time! This place is like Africa's "hole in the wall". The best people, food, music, everything!!! The country is basically one huge lake, lake Malawi, with a strip of the beautiful countryside on its west side. The land is all big rolling hills, forest like green everywhere, and the reddest dirt we have seen in Africa yet. And the lake....wow! I keep forge ting it's a lake and not an ocean! It is really the color of Caribbean water. This country has a south pacific island feel with the stilted huts over the water (where Jackie and I are staying), with a lot of Rastafarian character of the Caribbean, and the most friendly African people ever! I don't know how we will be able to leave this place. Where we are staying could be the biggest international hippie hang out ever...haha we love it! That is one of the best things about this kind of trip. Almost every night we are hanging out with different people from different countries around the world, and getting to hear all kinds of different languages. For example, last night we hung out with a group of Israelis...kind of crazy!

Getting to Malawi took more time than expected. We left Zambia at 6 am Monday morning on a bus. We ended up getting to the border at 1 am, but the border didn't open till 6. So...we slept on the bus at the bus station while we waited, just a little sketchy...but we are alive. The cab drivers kept coming on the bus and bothering us, so we left for the border at 4 am just to get away from them. There we were at the Zambia/Malawi border at 4 am, freezing, and thinking we were going to be stranded for a few hours. Luckily, a couple South African women came through and asked us if we needed a ride! Then we had to take another 10 hour bus to get to where we are...holy cow! We finally got to Nkata Bay at 9pm Tuesday night.

More about the people in Malawi...I have always said that African people are the most friendly people ever. The people aren't just friendly here, they can actually have real conversation and are so down to earth and cool. We are very used to African men asking to marry us because they want to move to America or think they will become rich. The other night we were hanging out with a few of the local guys, just talking, and one of the guys said "I've always known I wanted to marry a white girl"...haha we asked him why and he said, "because those mixed babies are so cute!"...haha! Have I mentioned how cool the people are here?!?!?!

One day a group of five of us tried to take a canoe out in the lake to go to a beach. We got the canoe, and when we asked for paddles I'm pretty sure they gave us what were once shovels, but now eroded into canoe padles...that's Africa! The canoe was a bit rickety and we spent most of the time trying not to tip...we succeeded! People in Malawi are the most resourceful I have met yet. They make everything themselves, including the canoe and "paddles", and eat only what they grow. I think this another reason why I love the country so much. Everything was so natural.

The next day we went out on a larger boat to go feed the eagles, cliff jump, and play volleyball. I offered to help prepare the food for the eagles. A couple of the local guys and I scewered bamboo through fish to make them float on the water. When we got out on the water and spotted the eagels in the tree, the guys would call to them then toss the fish into the water so the eagle would swoop down and grab it right in front of us. We went to some big cliffs where we could climb and jump. Jackie and I were the only girls to go! Really, only a couple guys went also. It was a pretty high cliff and difficult to climb. I ended up scraping my legs up, bleeding, and got a couple nasty bruises...but it was so much fun. There are some great pictures of this, apparently I make some crazy moves falling through the air...I was awarded jumper of the day because of my wicked jumps. Then we went to the beach for some volleyball. My team of 3 dominated! I played with a couple of the local guys who were amazing! I could go on forever about Malawi.....more stories and pictures when I get home!

cliff jumping

From Malawi to USA

cheers Obama!

We left Malawi Sunday night at 10 pm to catch a bus to Dar es Salam, Tanzania. We were SUPPOSED to arrive in Dar Monday night around 8pm....hahaha...nothing ever goes the way it is supposed to in Africa. Our bus broke down twice, then the cops stopped us for 4-5 hours in the middle of the night. We ended up getting to Dar at 9am Tuesday morning. Over 30 hours crammed into a bus was not fun at all. Seriously, crammed into this bus. There were some people that didn't even have seats and were sitting on the floor. The guy in front me had his chair leaned all the way back, so I couldn't move my legs, or get out of the seat. We were in the same position basically the entire time. And we thought we had kankels before.....