Lusaka and Lilongwe: I wanted to stop by the capitals of both the countries I'd be passing through just to check them out. Capitals are usually different than the rest of the country and can be fun visits.
Lusaka was nice. I kind of had to stay a couple nights anyway since the bus to Lilongwe left a few days later. First night I met a grad student staying at the backpackers and through her a VSO volunteer. Later I went out with them to an Indian restaurant (why I'm jealous of PCVs in countries east of Namibia) and met a bunch of other VSOs. It was a pretty good dinner and night all around. Definitely enjoyed myself. I think that's one of the reasons I like traveling: meeting people. Well, meeting nice, cool, interesting people - I don't care at all for the pushy, rude people I meet along the way. At the Backpacker stops almost everyone is pretty cheery and avoiding the unpleasant folks isn't too hard to do. This held true for Lilongwe as well. Was actually pretty pleasant getting off the bus as I didn't get immediately hassled by money changers or taxis. Funny thing about Lilongwe: instead of shouting "Hey India!" or "Hey America!" at me, they shouted "Hey Israel!" Good to know I can pass for an Israeli person. All in all the capitals didn't hold too much for me. I mostly used them as resting days and sadly the couple sights i did want to see were closed or my schedule didn't allow for a visit.
And, because I could, I went and saw Sherlock Holmes 2. Oh movie theatres, so nice. It was at the mall below...oh the development!
As for Senga Bay: Backpackers place was empty and I got a bracelet from a cool guy named Jimmy.
Oh, and all around Malawi there was a petrol shortage. So you get constant "street petrol" stops along the way such as this:
Cape Maclear: Had a lot of fun at Cape Maclear. Getting there was a little interesting. Took a very long and torturous bus ride but finally arrived in Monkey Bay, the place where you catch a ride to Cape Maclear. Arrived in the afternoon and there was no one around, kind of sucked. A guy offered to take me as a private taxi, no thanks, I'm poor. Sadly there wasn't anyone else waiting to share one, or even a Mutola. So that was a little disappointing because I really didn't want to wait around 8 hours or however long it took to get a ride. After about 15 minutes this guy offered to give me a ride on his motorbike for about three times as much as a mutola ride (and I think about the same as a shared taxi). Count me in. We strapped my hiking pack to the tiny rack on the back, guy started the bike and I hopped on the back. Was a little terrified at first as the bike wobbled like crazy but he finally got it under control. I didn't know Cape Maclear was tucked behind a little mountain pass (well, a "hill" pass), that was fun, especially with it being a dirt road with construction.
I may or may not have looked like this during the ride:
Anyway, made it to Mufasas (where I stayed) safe and sound and exchanged a lovely awkward goodbye with my newly intimately acquainted driver. I stayed at a place called Mufasas and got a discount because I was going to be staying there for 5 days. Was really nice and made me happy, 50% off :) It wasn't too crowded at first but after a couple of days it became fully booked. There was barely any space on the campground which means lot of neighbours!
The second day I was there I got talked into taking a trip out to this island for snorkeling and swimming. At first I wasn't going to go but then the boat guys talked some other groups into it which made it cheaper for everyone, so okay. This is what it looked like:
One of the groups was a bunch of Grad students from the University of Cape Town. They were really cool and a lot of fun to hang out with. And so was the other group which was a family group from Jo-berg. I hung out with both groups a bit afterward. Even went with Langley and his family to Christmas lunch along with another couple from.....Jo-berg? Not sure but Travis and Tori were cool too.
I spent the rest of my time relaxing and reading Catch-22, hilarious (and sad) book. There is an awesome Tea Shop maybe a 10 minute walk from Mufasa. They had an AMAZING Hibiscus tea which I thoroughly enjoyed. I wanted to try and buy some but they were out of packages - all the tea was brought up from Southern Malawi. I think I went there everyday for the last 3 or 4 days - oh, and they had these really good thin oatmeal cookies too. Sucked me in. After I finished reading Catch-22 I started reading some of the more current magazines they had: The Economist and Food & Leisure. Both of them made me yearn for getting back my old lifestyle. I miss cooking nice meals (now being in a town I do have the opportunity for it...just not the cash), visiting places of the arts, festivals, etc. I did get to explore and climb around on some rocks which made me miss that also. Funny part about that was those rocks were right alongside the lake, made to hop onto another boulder and totally whacked my foot or caught a sandal or something, then went straight into the lake. Backpack, electronics and all. Amazingly every has recovered, so that's awesome. Would've pretty pretty entertaining had I been hiking around with someone. I ended up having a kid paddle me back onto the beach in one of the dugout canoes they use for fishing. Made for a pleasant, active and entertaining day.
Nkhata Bay: This is where I was hoping to do some scuba diving lessons but alas that feel through. Was a little sad but then I got to "live it up" instead the last few days with the extra cash I had budgeted for. I stayed at the Lonely Planet "our pick" place: Mayoka Village.
Not such a great picture since it's a bit fuzzy at night but sweet buttery goodness that place is awesome!! It is built into the side of the bay which is somewhat rocky and steep. Definitely got some exercise getting around the place. But walking around the "village" invokes many feelings of paradise and serenity.
Exhibit 1: My camp spot.
And all of the staff were so helpful and friendly, was nice to just sit down and chat with them. Also the dinners: divine. They were a little more expensive compared to what you can get at a local place, though just about the same as any restaurant, but the meals were huge and SOOOOO good!
I was able to see Kim and Travis my first night there so that was good, I was really hoping to catch them somewhere in Malawi. Also saw Lindsay and Rachel when we went out to dinner so that was nice too. During the end I saw Lorna and her friend too so I wasn't completely devoid of Nam PCV contact during my vacation :) In between the start and end of my stay at Nkhata bay I hung out with a couple Malawi PCVs and a LOT of Zambian PCVs. It's always a blast meeting PCVs from other countries and always entertaining. For the most part I relaxed in Nkhata too, didn't walk around too much and did a bit more reading and playing games, just mingling with other people. Took a boat and paddled out for a hour or two one day but on the whole just nursed my feet.
Oh yeah! So I'm not sure if these were bug bites or infected blisters that broke open but I had some DISGUSTING infected somethings all over my right foot. Okay, well like 3-4 but still gross. They've healed since but I have some shiny spots on my foot now and my right hand has pretty solid scar - or large pink dot with a dark brown circle, your choice. I also met an Australian couple that was really cool. They're on a 4 year or so dream trip. They lived in Sydney and are engaged and were about to get a house but decided to scratch that idea and take the dream trip they've both wanted to. At the end of it I think they're planing to get married in Greece, romantic no? 4 year engagement trip, baller! New Years Eve was a blast too, I spoiled myself with food during lunch and dinner (Beef and Chicken wraps for lunch, Chicken Curry buffet for dinner...probably ate about 5 kilos of food that day...easily) then partied it up at night. We hung around the bar at Mayoka, got in some dance circle action, then headed to a cool place called Kaya Papaya. Had the turnover there and headed back home a couple hours later. A small group of us hung out on this raft they have anchored a little bit off the shore and watched the sunrise come up. It wasn't much because it was super cloudy so that kind of sucked but was fun and the water was still somewhat warm so no complaints. I headed out to travel back to Namibia the next day around noon. Was a little rough not having slept more than a few hours
Arriving in Namibia was nice, though it took a week for my stuff to be moved down from the North. Then after I "moved" to Mariental it took another week for me to get my own place (I crashed at a teacher's house). Add another week for my fridge and stove (at least I have some :P) to show up and I am still waiting on my desk and chair. Not too important but I'd like to be able to work/study somewhere other than my office or bed (the latter I'd like to have not be business related...or would I? zing!).
Anyway, that about sums up my vacation. Pretty good trip all around.
Pictures to come soon for this and the previous post! need to get a bit done and go through all my photos first. Hoping this weekend!
