Brother-in-Laws by Bus: Voices from Malawi and More

Dan sharing a cup of tea with an Elland in Zimbabawe. He has a real way with the ladies!

Malawi has been great! Tons of fun, sun, hanging with the locals and just being a bum. Lake Malawi is full of beautiful water, smiling faces and a slow pace of life, which was definitely appealing to both Dan and I. We spent the first couple days in Senga Bay hanging on the beach and going to the local bars. After a near death experience in a dugout canoe, we decided to spend more time on land and less in the water. It turns out that Dan is quite the pool player, and he made a big impression at one of the bars. It only took a couple of games before people started buying us drinks! We spent three nights in our tent praying that the heavy rains would not leak through. Fortunately, they didn't!

After a couple of days, we decided to head north to Nkhata Bay to catch a ferry to some of the lake's islands. I have to say that the ferry ride to Chizumulu was about as uncomforatble as it gets, filled from top to bottom with piles of people and their things. Dan snuggled up on the floor with a handfull of children and had his temper tested by a local drunk man that fell right in his lap. Thankfully Dan recognizes patience as a virtue and refrained from throwing the man over board. We then offloaded the ferry into a small life boat and headed to shore. It felt almost like we were smuggling refugees under the cloak of darkness. As soon as we reached the island the atmosphere changed quite dramatically. It was the difference between night and day, from a slave ship to a private island resort.

On Chizumulu Island we met a group of Malawi Peace Corps volunteers, and were having so much fun that we decided to remain on Chizumulu for the entire stay (instead of spending a couple of days on Lakoma as well). Life on the island consisted of snorkeling in the crystal clear waters and a plethera of games. The island night was lit by fireflies and colorful conversations about Malawi. Christmas eve was spent singing broken lyrics to age old classic Christmas carols, and on Christmas morning Dan participated in the white elephant gift exchange with the Peace Corps volunteers. Dan ended up with a serong and tupperwar full of candy. This was a pretty good gift considering that of others (i.e. cigarettes, tuna fish, peri-peri hot sauce).

Overall, Malawi was fun and will be missed. We left Malawi yesterday and spent an entire day hoping from mini-bus to mini-bus and eating rice and beans. So far from what we have seen southern Tanzania is beautiful and full of hills and mountains. The Tanzanian people appear to be excellent farmers, for the hills along the road have been decorated with all kinds of different crops.