swimming in the rain

Our stay at Nkhata Bay, Malawi was short but wonderful. We stayed in small, wooden huts built into the cliffs surrounding Lake Malawi. And I mean SERIOUS cliffs. Don't attempt to stay here if you've got a bad hip or a sore leg, because you will be stuck in your room! Getting around the grounds of Butterfly Resort/Mayoka Village involved a mildly treacherous hike that could lead to a head-first plummit into the lake if you weren't careful! But it was gorgeous and so worth it. Everything was green and alive and the lake provided a beautiful setting to stare out at with a drink in hand, lounging on one of the wicker chairs at Mayoka Village lodge.

Our first day there (from where I wrote my last post) we spent by walking into town to find an ATM, only to discover that none of our cards worked at the ONE bank in the whole town! Poor Andre volunteered to take all our cards and PINs (I'm still cardless until Durban...bummer) and go allllll the way back to Mzuzu, the nearest big town 1 1/2 hours drive from Nkhata Bay. So around noon he headed out, and the girls lazed around and did a bit of shopping at some of the local crafts places. One of the nicest things we discovered in Malawi is that, for some reason, the owners of these small stores were not nearly as aggressive towards us as they have been in Kenya & Tanzania. They would of course call out as we walked by, "Hellos, Mzungus! You are welcome!", but no one attempted to follow us and when we smiled and thanked them, that was accepted also with a smile and a nod. It was so refreshing and gave us all a warm feeling about Malawi right from the start.

We then leisurely walked back up the hill/cliffs to Mayoka and (out of breath) took up seats at the lodge. We ordered Pineapple Fantas (our new addiction) and just lounged looking out onto the lake for the rest of the afternoon. It took Andre several hours to get to Mzuzu and back, so we he returned we just chilled some more, got dinner, and then crashed. That night there was a huge, amazing thunder and lightning storm. Not so good for us because we ALL got sick from the dinners and were running to the outdoor bathrooms all night in the rain! But it was pretty cool when we were safely sheltered under our porches.

The next day, I of course was desperate to secure plans for our travels to Zambia (not wanting to experience the stress of the Tanzania-Malawi trip AGAIN). So I ran around figuring that out, and then we tried to organize a kayaking trip for the afternoon for me, Aubrey and Andre. Joey and Ashley opted out and went back into town for more souvenier shopping instead. Unfortunately, the weather was still bad when we were supposed to leave on our trip, so it got cancelled. Not wanting to miss out on the chance to play in Lake Malawi, however, we just walked over to the small beach in front of Mayoka Village and swam out to a floating platform in the lake. There were significant waves and wind, and it was raining at this point, so we were the ONLY ones on the lake. It was an absolutely gorgeous view. The grey clouds swirled above our heads and the lake stretched on endlessly, and the rain was cool but not cold on our bodies on the platform. Andre swam around us and played while Aubrey and I reclined above water for a while. Finally, we started getting a bit cold from the wind, so Aubrey and I decided to head back to shore. As we swam away, trying not to swallow too much lake water from the waves that crashed into us, Andre felt the call of the wild and stripped down on the dock! He has developed an unfortunate skinny dipping habit on this trip...oy vey. Anyway, Aubrey was slightly mortified as usual because her boyfriend was standing naked on a dock in the middle of the lake, and allllll the huts surrounding the shores had a perfect view! I was just bummed because I'd been swimming backwards to avoid the face-first crashes into the waves, but now I had to turn around to avoid seeing Andre full-frontal! Damn him. When Aub and I reached shore, we were tired from battling the waves, but wished we'd had enough energy to swim back and steal Andre's bathing suit, stranding him naked in the lake. Haha. That would've been good payback!

When we all got back from swimming, THAT's when the kayaking guy decided to show up. At this point, Aub and I were too tired from the swimming to even think about a 4 hour kayak trip. So Andre went by himself. We sat and enjoyed chocolate milkshakes (which were too thin but good nonetheless!) and were there when Joey and Ash returned from their shopping. They got some really cool stuff, and I'm a bit jealous to be honest. But I did get some really pretty earrings the day before, so I'm set. I have another 6 months to buy purses and more jewelry!

That night we packed up for our taxi ride to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We planned to spend the night there, then catch a bus to Lusaka, Zambia on Thursday and finally continue on to Livingstone/Victoria Falls on Friday. We had specifically informed the taxi driver that there were 5 of us, so we needed a larger the normal car to fit us all. He assured us that this was no problem...but of course assurances mean absolutely nothing here! The car was normal sized, so 4 of us squeezed uncomfortable into the back and one in front for what SHOULD have been an easy 3-4 hour drive to Lilongwe. WRONG-O! To avoid police check points, the driver took a very roundabout road that made the trip an exhausting 5 hours instead. At the first check-point we hit, the policeman had to be bribed to let us go on because we were "over-capacity". We had no more trouble until the final check-point before Lilongwe. We got pulled over at 12:30am by a formidable-looking policewoman and made to sit there for at least 40 minutes. In this time, not knowing what the hell was going on and mildly afraid that we'd be sent to jail, our horrid cab driver tried to bribe the lady with 500 Kwacha of OUR money, which didn't work at all. She kept circling the car like a heyena circling prey. Poor Ash was getting some serious adrenaline rushes cause she started violently shaking! Aub and Joey just kept making jokes, which tended to piss of Andre. And I started trying to call my parents to let them know that there was a possibility we'd be sent to a Malawian jail. I left a mildly scary message on my dad's phone (sorry Dad!) and then finally got through to my mom. Haha, mom you are now a legend with my friends, because you're reaction was HILARIOUS! Here's a summary of my phone conversation with her:

me: Hi mom! Sorry to bother you, but we're in a taxi outside of Lilongwe and we've been stopped at a check-point. We have too many people in the back-seat of the cab and it's possible we'll be sent to jail.
mom: (calmly) Hmm...okay sweetheart. Well thank you for calling. Keep me updated, okay?
me: (also calmly) Alright, will do. Oops, gotta go! The policewoman is coming back! Bye! ::click::

Does anybody know any mom cooler than mine? Seriously, that was pretty awesome. I guess it's all those times you got arrested in college, right mom? You're not too worried about that sort of thing anymore!

Anyway, we did finally make it through without being thrown into jail (which would have SERIOUSLY derailed our trip). We got to our hostel just after 1am and crashed. But not before paying our idiotic driver an extra 1000 Kwacha to cover the cost of getting back his certifications, which the policewoman had taken before we were let go. Seriously, I don't think we should have had to cover his ass, considering we told him from the start there were 5 of us, so he needed to have a big enough car. But whatever. We were tired and just wanted to get away from him.

The next day, we set out for Zambia, which I will tell you about in another post. Take care everyone! Love you all!