From Tanzania to Malawi

Stonetown girl
Originally uploaded by camandkristin

August 11 finds us sitting on the shores of Lake Malawi, on our 18th day on the overland tour. Ironically, we are currently sitting IN our truck, seeking shelter from the howling wind and blowing sand. Not exactly the “fun in the sun” lakeside experience we were expecting to have…

Since writing last, we departed Zanzibar and returned to Dar Es Salaam on a rough two hour sea journey that left 80% of the passengers ill and making good use of the sea sickness bags. The boat had barely left the harbour and they were passing out the black plastic bags labelled “Sick Bag”, which we took to be a bad sign. Fortunately everyone in our crew managed to get through the trip by moving outside and staring at the horizon- but it wasn’t the most pleasurable experience, made worse by the sounds of fellow passengers puking on all sides… (In fairness, the sea sickness may actually have been less painful than on the trip over to the island where the torture was two hours of a movie called “Vivian”. Plot line: girl is in car accident and loses both her parents and both her arms (picture actress with arms held behind her back and oversized tshirt to “conceal” them), mean Aunt and Uncle kick her out of the house and take her inheritance, boyfriend Felix leaves her for dirty skank Candy, Vivian cries (a lot, and loudly), Vivian finally gets her money back. Literally the worst movie ever- made even worse by the fact that we watched Part 2 before Part 1.)

After returning to our camp, Cam had an odd reaction to his sun exposure (probably combined with the doxy drugs) that left him feeling like a meth addict who needed to scratch bugs out from under his skin. Nothing but time seemed to soothe it, so it was a pretty uncomfortable night for him.

We left Dar and headed into Baobab Valley for a night which, although it had no real “event”, was a nice time where we ended around a campfire roasting marshmallows- we were blown away to learn that about half the people there had never roasted a marshmallow before! What the heck people?! Kristin was sure to demonstrate many, many times how it’s done :)

Next stop was Old Farmhouse- another intermediate point where we were treated to fresh homemade bread cooked over the campfire. After hearing the rave reviews of how wonderful (read: hot) the showers were, Cam and I headed off to what we hoped would be the first hot shower we’d had in days. Nope. Cold. Somehow we managed to hit the shower block during the ONLY time in the day when there was no hot water to be had (note that we are now on day 7 without a hot shower). And- in case you’re picturing this inaccurately- it is not hot in Africa right now. That night we were dressed in shoes, socks, pants, long sleeves, and fleeces, and huddling as close to the fire as possible, while still freezing.

We made another stop in Tukuyu for a trip to a tea farm, where the highlight was the little boy who ran straight up to Dad, grabbed his hand, and walked beside him hand in hand. It’s those spontaneous moments that are some of the most special- when we were walking in Stonetown, navigating through the labryinth of streets, I spied a little girl standing against the wall- her gold party dress quite a contrast with the stone walls and road. After I’d passed her and turned to wait for Cam and Malin, she looked at me and I smiled- she then cracked a huge grin and broke into a run straight for me, leaping into my arms. I held her for a while, but even when I put her down she dove back into my legs. Eventually I had to actually return her to her Dad- either that or find room for her in the truck and bring her home :)

Anyway- we crossed the border into Malawi yesterday after a slow, but simple, border crossing. Immediately all the kids have started yelling “Give me pen!” which is hard to hear as it carries with it a whole range of tough issues. Since we’ve been in Africa, the kids run to the truck as we drive by and wave and yell, and when we’re stopped they’ll often motion for things or food, but in Malawi this “Give me pen” line appears to have gone viral. I suppose we can only blame ourselves, though. At least they’re not yelling “Adopt me, Madonna!”…

Our first stop in Malawi was at another beachside campsite, similar to this one minus the wind… We spent our afternoon playing beach volleyball which was quite fun considering everybody was an equal level of bad.

Anyway- as you can see there hasn’t been any major “events” lately- the trip is in a bit of a transit stage, where we are enjoying moving through the landscapes and camping at a slightly more relaxed pace. We have 9 or 10 more nights, until we strike out on our own at Victoria Falls. That should bring a whole new type of experience- probably one where we eat worse and get lost more, but we’ll do it on our own schedule :)

That’s it for now…
Until next time,
Kristin and Cam.