Hello Once Again,
Malawi has not allowed us to write a blog, so we apologize in advance. Being one of top ten poorest countries in the world, Malawi does not allow one to do many things. We'll get to that...
We left GHTA about a month ago, after a wonderful graduation. We brought in a former student to cook for the two hundred or so people attending. It was a proper celebration. Of course we did not have water that day, so Pat was busy fetching forty kilos at a time at a furious pace. We figure almost a thousand pounds of water was hauled into the party for washing dishes, cleaning the toilet, and drinking. Besides the water issue, the graduation went on without incident. Husbands kissed wives, children hugged mothers - everyone cried. It was the kind of experience that is hard to describe - it could only be felt. It was a special day for everyone involved. After many moving performances by the students, we had to bid farewell. While GHTA has several challenges ahead, like any NGO, we were privileged to have been involved. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped us, from Monica, the founder, and Victoria, our mother hen, to the fellow volunteers: Tina, Alex (who is going to Tulane for law school - congrats!), Charlotte, and Anna (who is now very close to having her baby - congrats even more!!). Also our Tanzanian teachers: Rahim (Mr. President), Herman, and Mauleed. We became close with all of these people and truly enjoyed their company - so again, thank you. We wish everyone the best and good luck with the continuation of the organization. Who knows what part we may play in the future of GHTA, but it is a place that should exist and we will always promote its just cause.
After our departure, three days of grueling travel greeted us in the face. Our second day, traveling across southern Tanzania, was truly death defying. We've had some close calls over the last year and a half, but nothing so scary as this bus. At times we were in the air a solid foot when going over speed bumps at a hundred kph. The driver passed slower vehicles around completely blind turns. We had no choice in the matter, and we were scared for our lives. Thankfully we have not experienced anything like that since, and after another day we made it to Malawi and a beautiful beach in the north - Chitimba. Here we came into contact with the overland truckers. We had previously met a group in Zanzibar but we had no idea the trucks were so big. Basically what happens is Westerners pile into the biggest Mercedes truck you've ever seen and travel from Cairo or Nairobi to Vic Falls or Cape Town (or reverse). They drive all day, and pull into different camps to party by night. All their food is cooked in house, but backpackers have sprung up along their route to let them drink and relax for a day or two. We were at one of these backpackers. By day we had the place to ourselves, a perfect beach paradise. By night, thirty drunk Australians and South Africans were raging at the bar. This really wasn't a big deal as everyone had to wake up early, and the beach was amazing. Lake Malawi is the third biggest lake in Africa, and it is a miniature Great Lake. You can see the opposite shore in the far distance, but it is a very large body of fresh water.
The lake sucked us in and we stayed for three weeks along its beautiful coastline. From Chitimba we made our way down to Nkhata Bay, yet another backpackers paradise. Getting there was not without incident, however. Malawi is in complete disarray. The newly deceased president (he died the day we arrived in country - everyone seemed to hate him) was not a smart man. He shut out the west, and now the economy is a disaster. One cannot purchase gas, wine, and many other essential goods (yes, wine is an essential good for us). The biggest bank note they have is equivalent to about three dollars. This is where our incident becomes apparent. Since there are not many ATMs and the maximum one can take out at a time is a hundrend bucks, we had to take out money several times in a row. After SEVEN withdrawals and a stack of bills thicker than the Weimar Republic, we made our way to Nkhata Bay. Here is where we got stuck - days spent swimming, reading, and drinking. We formed a solid group with Niko, an Italian guy living in Nepal, Dave, a Canadian who is bike riding from Johannesburg to Bulgaria, and the owner of our hostel, Sarah. We got to know many of the locals with the best names of all time: King Soloman, Best, Goodluck, Mr. Fantastic, Fountain, Innocent, etc...We made a home made pasta dinner (thanks mostly to Shauna and Niko) and enjoyed the best meal we've had in Africa. Two days turned into nine days and we almost stayed another week before coming to our senses. We wanted to take the weekly ferry down the lake, a unique experience, and delaying at Big Blue (our hostel) meant seriously rushing through Mozambique and its perfect beaches. Within a couple hours we booked tickets to sleep on the top deck, under to the stars, to Monkey Bay. We secured two mats and shivered under our towels/blankets as it got surprisingly chilly. For two days we chugged down the lake, taking in the beautiful coastline. We stopped from anywhere between one and eight hours at different ports of call. Our second night two Mozambican men got drunk and beat up a crew member, which did not end well. Once they were discovered about ten other men brought them up to us, on the top deck, handcuffed them, and beat them senseless. It was violent, with full kicks to their heads and all the other stuff one could imagine. Shauna couldn't really take it. Our eight hour stop over came when we dropped the two men off, barely able to move, at a police station where who knows what happened to them.
Finally we made it to Monkey Bay, where we decided we needed a little pampering. We borrowed a phone and called Norman Karr Village, the best call we've made in Africa. This place was luxurious but tiny, and it was owned by the friendliest South African couple ever. They were charging us a hundred dollars a night, and after three nights we said we needed to move on because we couldn't afford it, they offered us two nights free. This included three fantastic (and balanced) meals and activities (snorkeling, cliff diving, feeding Amazing Fish Eagles). We played all day and drank much sought after wine with Taffy and Jane (the owners) by night, discussing life. What should have cost twelve hundred dollars cost us six. It was the perfect ending to two and a half weeks on magnificent Lake Malawi. Taffy, in an effort to find wine and petrol, even drove us to Zomba for free, our next destination. They also gave us American dollars to get into Mozambique. Zomba was Britain's capital for Malawi and it shows. It has a golf course. It also has the Zomba plateau, a beautiful mountain range. This is why we stopped, and we hiked about ten miles before returning to our hostel, exhausted. It was great to work out again after being so lazy.
From Zomba we made our way to the Mozambican border. It took us eleven hours to go less than two hundred miles. TIA. Next is another two days of hard travel before getting to the azure waters of the southern Mozambican coast. Whale Sharks, here we come!
Until next time,
S&P
Malawi has not allowed us to write a blog, so we apologize in advance. Being one of top ten poorest countries in the world, Malawi does not allow one to do many things. We'll get to that...
We left GHTA about a month ago, after a wonderful graduation. We brought in a former student to cook for the two hundred or so people attending. It was a proper celebration. Of course we did not have water that day, so Pat was busy fetching forty kilos at a time at a furious pace. We figure almost a thousand pounds of water was hauled into the party for washing dishes, cleaning the toilet, and drinking. Besides the water issue, the graduation went on without incident. Husbands kissed wives, children hugged mothers - everyone cried. It was the kind of experience that is hard to describe - it could only be felt. It was a special day for everyone involved. After many moving performances by the students, we had to bid farewell. While GHTA has several challenges ahead, like any NGO, we were privileged to have been involved. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped us, from Monica, the founder, and Victoria, our mother hen, to the fellow volunteers: Tina, Alex (who is going to Tulane for law school - congrats!), Charlotte, and Anna (who is now very close to having her baby - congrats even more!!). Also our Tanzanian teachers: Rahim (Mr. President), Herman, and Mauleed. We became close with all of these people and truly enjoyed their company - so again, thank you. We wish everyone the best and good luck with the continuation of the organization. Who knows what part we may play in the future of GHTA, but it is a place that should exist and we will always promote its just cause.
After our departure, three days of grueling travel greeted us in the face. Our second day, traveling across southern Tanzania, was truly death defying. We've had some close calls over the last year and a half, but nothing so scary as this bus. At times we were in the air a solid foot when going over speed bumps at a hundred kph. The driver passed slower vehicles around completely blind turns. We had no choice in the matter, and we were scared for our lives. Thankfully we have not experienced anything like that since, and after another day we made it to Malawi and a beautiful beach in the north - Chitimba. Here we came into contact with the overland truckers. We had previously met a group in Zanzibar but we had no idea the trucks were so big. Basically what happens is Westerners pile into the biggest Mercedes truck you've ever seen and travel from Cairo or Nairobi to Vic Falls or Cape Town (or reverse). They drive all day, and pull into different camps to party by night. All their food is cooked in house, but backpackers have sprung up along their route to let them drink and relax for a day or two. We were at one of these backpackers. By day we had the place to ourselves, a perfect beach paradise. By night, thirty drunk Australians and South Africans were raging at the bar. This really wasn't a big deal as everyone had to wake up early, and the beach was amazing. Lake Malawi is the third biggest lake in Africa, and it is a miniature Great Lake. You can see the opposite shore in the far distance, but it is a very large body of fresh water.
The lake sucked us in and we stayed for three weeks along its beautiful coastline. From Chitimba we made our way down to Nkhata Bay, yet another backpackers paradise. Getting there was not without incident, however. Malawi is in complete disarray. The newly deceased president (he died the day we arrived in country - everyone seemed to hate him) was not a smart man. He shut out the west, and now the economy is a disaster. One cannot purchase gas, wine, and many other essential goods (yes, wine is an essential good for us). The biggest bank note they have is equivalent to about three dollars. This is where our incident becomes apparent. Since there are not many ATMs and the maximum one can take out at a time is a hundrend bucks, we had to take out money several times in a row. After SEVEN withdrawals and a stack of bills thicker than the Weimar Republic, we made our way to Nkhata Bay. Here is where we got stuck - days spent swimming, reading, and drinking. We formed a solid group with Niko, an Italian guy living in Nepal, Dave, a Canadian who is bike riding from Johannesburg to Bulgaria, and the owner of our hostel, Sarah. We got to know many of the locals with the best names of all time: King Soloman, Best, Goodluck, Mr. Fantastic, Fountain, Innocent, etc...We made a home made pasta dinner (thanks mostly to Shauna and Niko) and enjoyed the best meal we've had in Africa. Two days turned into nine days and we almost stayed another week before coming to our senses. We wanted to take the weekly ferry down the lake, a unique experience, and delaying at Big Blue (our hostel) meant seriously rushing through Mozambique and its perfect beaches. Within a couple hours we booked tickets to sleep on the top deck, under to the stars, to Monkey Bay. We secured two mats and shivered under our towels/blankets as it got surprisingly chilly. For two days we chugged down the lake, taking in the beautiful coastline. We stopped from anywhere between one and eight hours at different ports of call. Our second night two Mozambican men got drunk and beat up a crew member, which did not end well. Once they were discovered about ten other men brought them up to us, on the top deck, handcuffed them, and beat them senseless. It was violent, with full kicks to their heads and all the other stuff one could imagine. Shauna couldn't really take it. Our eight hour stop over came when we dropped the two men off, barely able to move, at a police station where who knows what happened to them.
Finally we made it to Monkey Bay, where we decided we needed a little pampering. We borrowed a phone and called Norman Karr Village, the best call we've made in Africa. This place was luxurious but tiny, and it was owned by the friendliest South African couple ever. They were charging us a hundred dollars a night, and after three nights we said we needed to move on because we couldn't afford it, they offered us two nights free. This included three fantastic (and balanced) meals and activities (snorkeling, cliff diving, feeding Amazing Fish Eagles). We played all day and drank much sought after wine with Taffy and Jane (the owners) by night, discussing life. What should have cost twelve hundred dollars cost us six. It was the perfect ending to two and a half weeks on magnificent Lake Malawi. Taffy, in an effort to find wine and petrol, even drove us to Zomba for free, our next destination. They also gave us American dollars to get into Mozambique. Zomba was Britain's capital for Malawi and it shows. It has a golf course. It also has the Zomba plateau, a beautiful mountain range. This is why we stopped, and we hiked about ten miles before returning to our hostel, exhausted. It was great to work out again after being so lazy.
From Zomba we made our way to the Mozambican border. It took us eleven hours to go less than two hundred miles. TIA. Next is another two days of hard travel before getting to the azure waters of the southern Mozambican coast. Whale Sharks, here we come!
Until next time,
S&P
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