Around the 9 month mark I decided it was time for a break so I packed my bags and traveled to Malawi. In Peace Corps life, the stress comes from the little things that all seem to hit at once, combined with ever present homesickness, and you have an American on the verge of a breakdown, although thing were going really well, I felt that it was time to get away, get some much needed R&R and spend some time really reflecting on my decision to move to Namibia. I was ready to get out and breath for a minute.
The morning of April 23rd Derek, Shannon and I woke up, grabbed our bags and were on the road by 6am to catch a ride to the border in Katima Mulilo. It is a total of 2,000 miles from Rundu to Nkhata Bay, Malawi... 3 days, a private hike, 2 overnight coaches, 1 sketchy ass hotel (story to come later), 1 day bus, and a mini bus ride later were we finally in Nkhata Bay... we were dead tired, but we were there.
We arrived pretty late in the day, but two days earlier than we had anticipated. Our accommodations were booked at Mayoka Village, but we spent our first few nights at Butterfly Space. Butterfly Space is a cool little spot, run by volunteers who pay to come and work for a month in Malawi, with many different projects available it suits many people who are looking to spend some time doing good in paradise.
http://www.butterflyspacemalawi.com/. Butterfly is a beautiful spot, but we were very much looking forward to getting next door to Mayoka Village, and our flushing toilet and shower. Mayoka village is beautiful! We had a private chalet, two bedrooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. The chalet had a beautiful bathroom and an outdoor shower with a view of the lake and trees, so many trees!!!
I would love to say that I did incredible things while I was in Malawi, but truth be told, just being in Malawi was incredible enough. I woke up every morning, drank some really good coffee and wrote in my journal as I looked out over the lake. We ate the freshest food! They have avocados as big as your head... literally. We ate tons of guacamole, and fresh fruits and vegetables grown organically in Malawi. Some days I went to town, some days I just hung out at Mayoka Village. Everyday I went swimming and I even learned how to snorkel! There are so many beautiful fish, red ones, blue ones, iridescent ones, black and yellow ones, the list goes on!! It was incredible, I could have snorkeled for hours! Shannon and I were really good at chopping money on souvenirs in town. I found some great jewelry and beautiful fabric, and even had a few skirts made... they are getting rave reviews in Namibia.
The whole trip was very relaxing and like I said I spent a lot of time just reflecting and thinking about being in Peace Corps. Moving across the world is a huge decision, and I have spent the first 9 months making myself so busy that I forget about home and how much I miss my old life. Being away is certainly not easy, and making new friends and building a new life here has come with many of it's own challenges. Sometimes I think, I've given it 9 months, that's enough time right? I can just go home now? But then something amazing happens, I can see that I have made a small change in someone and that is enough to keep me going until the next little amazing thing happens.
All in all the trip to Malawi was incredible, but the most important thing that happened was at the end trip... after 9 days in paradise, I was ready to go Home...
Home was Rundu. It was then that I realized I could not have made a better decision and I am so excited to be here in Peace Corps Namibia. I have 1.5 years left, and I intend to make the most of this time!
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| Lilongwe, the Capital City of Malawi |
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| One of our three bus rides... we only look this happy because it is our final bus, taking us to Nkhata Bay |
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| Nothing strange here... just a chicken, in a plastic bag, riding a bus. |
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| My first time at the lake, it is vast a beautiful! |
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| We all went to this great little restaurant called Kaya Papaya, they serve Thai food, THAI FOOD! It has been so long since we have enjoyed delicious Thai food... it was amazing. |
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| We woke up one morning to find this little guy sealing Guava from a tree outside our Chalet... I think it's a pretty great shot, and he is super cute... |
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| Chowin' down on some Sugar Cane... It's pretty tasty. |
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| The guide for our boat tour of Lake Malawi... Cliff jumping, feeding fish eagles and playing games on the beach with locals... pretty good day. |
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| Sunset on the lake... The lake is so big! The mountains in the distance are on Mozambique! |
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| Sundowner on Lake Malawi... literally on a boat, drinking a beer, watching the sun go down. |
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| Strolling through lush green forest just to go to town... I loved all the green, but I am glad Namibia does not have the humidity. |
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| The town of Nkhata Bay. It is a small town full of very welcoming people and the ever-present smell of fish. |
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| A man making carvings to sell to tourists |
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| Our Chalet in Mayoka Village... indoor shower, outdoor shower, two bedrooms... it was awesome! |
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| Morning fishing |
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| Relaxing by the lake on a cloudy but nice day... I managed to spend 1 week swimming and playing in the sun, and I did not get one sunburn... I think that deserves to be noted. |
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| The streets are lined with little shops like this. They sell jewelry, carvings, and many other things that tourists don't need, but buy. |
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| After the three day journey home we were welcomed back to Namibia with a sighting of elephants. I am so happy to be home! |
Lessons learned:
- Remove all expectations when traveling, things happen, just go with it
- Bring multiple forms of entertainment
- appreciate toilets and toilet paper
- When standing on a bus, ALWAYS hold on... I almost fell on a lady who was sitting on the floor directly below me... the look of terror in her face still cracks me up!
- Finally, going with the flow is the least stressful, and always makes the best stories....
The story you did not know you were waiting to hear, but trust me, you have been waiting to hear this story....
Above I mentioned "1 sketchy ass hotel"... so, after two overnight buses to Lilongwe and one midnight border crossing we were exhausted! We arrived in Lilongwe at 2am with no clue as to where we could stay or what we wanted to do... what we did know, we were tired of being on a bus... we were reaching 24 hours straight on busses. I made friends with the bus manager, nice enough guy until he got creepy... but I am used to that by now... anywho. I asked him if he knew of a place that we could stay once we got to Lilongwe, he told us we could stay where the bus drivers always stay, it was close to the bus depot and we needed to leave at 6am to catch the bus to Nkhata Bay.
We got off the bus, which we should have just slept on, but hey, we have a fun story now. We went into this hotel, that looked nice and sketchy, but the doors to the rooms locked and they had beds and a shower. The guy gave us one room, 4 people + 1 full bed + exhaustion = hell no. We asked him for another room and he was very reluctant to give us one... a not very helpful drunken man tried to use the local language to get us another room and finally the bus manager guy helped us get a second room. Around 230am we passed out in our respective rooms, one girl, one boy in each room, just for safety measures.
We woke up the next morning to the sound of a market on the street, accompanied by the strong smell of fish. We paid our bill, got our things and left to find a bus. We left Lilongwe rested and clean giving no thought to the hotel again... we thought.
1 week later we passed through Lilongwe on our way home. As we are walking to the bus station to find a night bus to Lusaka we walked past our little hotel, that just looked worse in the day light. Derek looked over and said to me "there are half dressed ladies on the balcony of that hotel.... do you think it's possible we stayed in a brothel..." I laughed and thought, that's highly possible. We found a taxi drive to take us to the border, while we were in the car we asked him about the hotel.... he informed us that it is in fact a brothel, explaining the owners reluctance to give us a second room... He then informed us that if you don't have a place to stay you can pay 1,500 Malawian Kwatcha (3.5 USD) for a room for the night. My first thought, we paid 5,500 MWK each!!! What a rip off!!! My second thought... GROSS... we stayed in a brothel in Lilongwe... I hope the sheets were clean....
xoxo
From Namibia, with love
Love this story! Quite the adventure!
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