Jan 13, 2011 (Thur) – 2:30pm (+2 GMT)

We are on the bus on the way from Blantyre to Lake Malawi now. Jackie and Diane are sitting to my right and Megan is sitting to my left. We were sitting in the in bus for about an hour and fifteen minutes before it pulled out and during that time we had the vendors trying to sell us all manner of items. The girls purchased some chitenjes (a traditional colored fabric that can be used as pretty much any piece of clothing) during which process one of the men who was behind them asked me if they (the girls) were all mine and if I would give him one. The girls – especially Jacquie – did not appreciate that very much. If I had given in to her wishes to know his identity he would currently be suffering from as much physical damage as she could inflict.

One of the speakers for the bus – out of which they play quite awful music at ear splitting volumes – is sitting directly behind us so we have as much of our luggage piled on top of it as possible. They have an entire case of CDs up front so we are sure to be “enjoying” endless musical selections.

11:14

We finally arrived at the Gecko Lounge at about 10 pm after 8 hours of traveling, not counting the drive into Blantyre in the morning. The bus arrived, after a seemingly infinite number of stops, at Monkey Bay which was its final destination. Cape Maclear is somewhere between 20 and 30 km from there over washboard roads. The guy sitting in front of us on the bus offered to call his friend who had a taxi to take us since it was late enough that there were no more Matolas (pickup trucks overflowing with people) going. While we waited for his friend to show up a couple other guys said they would help us and call one of their friends and (after bargaining) said he would do it for 4500 Kwatcha ($30). His name was Duncan and he did actually seem to be quite helpful. He also spoke some of the best English I have heard from a Malawian. Unfortunately his friend ran out of gas (a common problem here) on the way so he never made it. The driver the first guy called showed up but he wanted 6000 Kwatcha ($40). Duncan tried to convince him to go lower but he refused. He said it was due to the lateness of the hour and the condition of the road that needed traversed. Duncan offered to show us to somewhere we could stay in town so we could find a cheaper ride the next day but we decided we just wanted to finish the trip and $40 split between the 4 of us was doable. On the way we made a detour to get fuel since apparently there is no fuel at Cape Maclear. The fuel stop consisted of a a little tiny village where they had a Jerry can with a hose attached to it.

Falls asleep...

7:30 am next morning:

As the driver got the fuel all the kids started looking in the windows and asking for money. Here they have an interesting thing they do where they often do not simply say “Give me money,” they say “Give me my money” as if it somehow already belongs to them. They gave me some very confused looks when I started demanding that they had to give me money. I told they they needed to give us money to pay for the taxi but they decided after a few moments of confusion that they did not agree with that idea. When the driver was done he got back into the car and to out utter delight brought an opened bottle of beer with him. Jacquie started into him like nobody-elses business. He promised he would not get drunk and would get us there without incident but we only felt slightly reassured. Fortunately we did eventually reach our destination after driving on oh-so-wonderful washboard for over an hour. It was to late to do check in but since we had a reservation they took us to our room and said we could do check in the next day.

The establishment itself has a wonderful resort feel to it. The staff are out cleaning up the beach early in the morning, there are hammocks hanging everywhere, the rooms are well sealed against mosquitoes, all the lawns are very well groomed and the whole place just seems to ooze with relaxation. We are staying in the “dorm” which is like a hostel area with many beds to one large room. However this is a much nicer dorm than most. It is split up into sections by reed walls, one room with four beds, one with two and one more bunk bed just kind of out in the “hallway.” There is a shared toilet room and a shower room but they are quite decent. It feels strange to take a warm shower after living without hot water for so long. The dorm has a bunch of lockers that can be used for your valuables. Every since traveling in Europe I have made it a habit to bring a small padlock with me when I travel so I was able to put things like my money and cameras and computer in a locker. If one didn't bring a lock they do offer them at the front desk for a deposit of 1500 MKW (Malawi Kwatcha). The one thing I could wish is that they had an honesty bar so that we could get drinks later at night. The bar was not open when we arrived and I was quite thirsty.

The lake does remind me of lake Michigan to a certain extent. Lake Malawi is clearer, you can see across it (just barely) and it smells a bit more like fish. The beach here is not as nice, it is more like fine gravel than sand and there is a lot of trash floating around from all the villagers. I'm looking forward to going out to one of the islands where everyone says the snorkeling/diving is amazing. I am also hoping we get some good clear nights since I brought my whole huge tripod to do some star photography.