Road Trip!!!

Dumi and I set out for Lilongwe on Friday afternoon with a friend Abby. During our four hour trip south we got lost in conversation and enjoying the sights and stars from the car. It was late when we finally arrived and the power was out for an hour or so. We said our goodbyes to Abby and headed to the backpackers in town which is moving soon resulting in a lack of furniture and such. The next day, while Dumi was taking part in a student selection process for his alma mater, I headed to the local market. I was just taking a walk around when I started chatting with a few of the vendors. They invited me to learn the traditional board game Bao. We spent the next couple hours playing and wether they were letting me win in order to get me to buy something or not is to be debated but I had a good time anyway. I went with the two guys I had been playing with, Hippo and Black Moses, to the market where you can find almost anything. I then caught a minibus, my first ever!, to go meet up with Dumi. As we headed out of Lilongwe we filled up on petrol not realizing that it would turn out not be quite enough to get us home. We wound up running out of gas, literally, in Nkata Bay. We stayed right on the lake at a backpackers called Butterfly. It of course made me think of Ambyr and her beautiful tattoo that is being worked on while I'm away :( Wish I could be there with you! As there was no petrol in town, seriously, we spent the next day hanging out waiting to see if we could find some cheap gas on the black market. The waiting wasn't so bad as the lake is warm and beautiful. We hungout on the beach, went swimming and I was convinced to jump off the rocks into the water! We finally got some petrol late this morning and made the 40K journey back to Mzuzu. So here we are again, home sweet home, for now. :)

Mzuzu!!!!

After a days rest at Doogles Lodge in Blantyre I was on another bus to go see Dumi in Mzuzu, Malawi. (I met a guy who was on the show Big Brother South Africa!) This time it was an entirely overnight bus leaving at 6pm and arriving at 5:30am. It was a reallllllly long bus ride. I paid a little extra for the 'comfortable' bus but it didn't seem to make a stitch of difference. I kept waking up every time the bus stopped, which was a lot! We finally arrived at the station though and surprisingly on time. It was so wonderful to see a familiar face when Dumi came to pick me up. I have settled in with him and his wonderful parents. They have a beautiful home with a huge back yard complete with cows, chickens, fruit trees and of course a huge garden. It is so peaceful here and yet very close to town.

Last night we went out and I got to meet a lot of his friends and see what the night life is like here. I had a great time and met a lot of Peace core people who happened to be in town. We will be traveling to Lilongwe tomorrow for the weekend and perhaps Lake Malawi next weekend. There are a lot of places that I would still like to visit so I am struggling to figure out how to fit it all in before I have to head back home. At the moment though I love not having anything to do all day but read my book and lay in the sun. Today we had an exciting moment though when Dumi rescued the neighbors cat from a tree and more importantly his four dogs!

I do have internet access so could skype with people at some point or if you have a good phone plan feel free to give me a call at 265992301845. There may be a few more numbers you need to add in front if your calling from the US so just check on that first.

Harare to Blantyre via Mozambique

I have finally made my way to Malawi. My last days in Harare were good ones. I went for a second horse back riding lesson with Cary and the instructor really pushed us. There may be hope for me yet when it comes to posting (the way you ride when the horse is trotting). I wish I could keep going because it was a lot of fun and I really like the way we were being taught. I don't know if I would be able to take lessons back home, they are sooo expensive there! I had a great time watching movies and just hanging out with Cary and Idir before they took off to Zanzibar for the weekend. It was a good way to say goodbye, for now.

My last night in Harare I went to dinner with Houari and two of the Chinese guys. We had a nice meal, not at a Chinese restaurant this time, and good conversation. We then met up with some friend to go out dancing. As I was warned the club we went to was full of young people. I doubt they were over 18, scary. Despite a distressing conversation about safe sex, condom usage and the effectiveness of the pill in Europe compared to America, I had a good time. The boys are a lot of fun to go out with but staying out that late was maybe not the best idea before a long bus ride.

The bus to Malawi was scheduled to depart by 8am. Did that happen? What do you think? Of course not. Houari and I got a bite to eat and then waited for the bus some more. When I finally got on the road we were about 4 hours behind schedule. That wouldn't have really mattered that much accept that when we got to the Mozambique boarder I needed a new visa which takes time. The form isn't in English so the guys were nice enough to help me fill it out. I think I was supposed to give him something for his help but the bus driver was yelling at me to get going and bribe the immigration people so we could leave sooner so I forgot to give him something. No I didn't bribe him and he was done in fifteen minutes anyway. It seemed like everyone was looking at me like I was some stupid white lady holding up the whole process. Must I remind them that they were 4 hours late!!!! The only thing that made me feel a bit better was the little girl sitting in front of me was playing peek-a-boo with me. She must have been around 2, it was so cute. Then around 6pm all of a sudden our bus driver starts madly honking his horn and swerving all over the road. For a split second I swear we were going to tip over but thank god we didn't and just kept on speeding down the road like nothing happened. It was kinda funny because everyone started swearing in different languages. To really top off the evening at the Malawi boarder the bus parked next to a bit of a slope, which I couldn't see in the dark, and I literally fell out of the bus! I was fine but shit what else could go wrong? I finally made it safely to Blantyre and the backpackers hostel at around 10:30pm. As the dorms were full I had to set up my tent, uhg.

After a good nights sleep I made my way into town. Of course nothing was open as its Sunday but I got an idea for the place and got to see the market at least. Tomorrow I am headed to Mzuzu to see Dumi and I am so excited to finally be making my way up there! Wish me luck on another very long bus ride, 4pm to 5am, yuck.

Bits and Pieces

I am still in Harare Zimbabwe. The plan was to leave over a week ago but things change. I made a great friend, Cary, and we have been spending the days together while the boys are at work. It can be a bit boring staying at home during the day so we decided to start doing some activities. This morning we went for a horse back riding lesson. It was so much fun! The instructor was wonderful at teaching us how to trot properly and just be on the horse. An english saddle is so much different than western so it was very helpful for me.

My birthday was a great success. Cary treated me to a massage and facial before grabbing drinks. At the restaurant the manager surprised me with a piece of cake, it was really sweet of him. Then we went to Houari's house where he had made a traditional Algerian meal for everyone. Several of his friends and coworkers were there and my friend David was able to come too. After dinner Houari brought out the cake he had specially made for me in the shape of 26. It was great! We all went out dancing after that and had a wonderful time.

I had been wanting to go to a local place so the other night Houari, Shiona, and I went to a local bar with a live band. The music was pretty good and the singer was hilarious! He kept belting into the microphone and dancing all crazy with his legs all over the place. It was fantastic to watch. There was a second place next door having reggae night so we went to check that out. There was a great band that did a few Bob Marley covers.

I got together with my friend David the other day and we went to the movie theatre. I had really really been wanting to watch a movie on the big screen so it was wonderful to finally have the opportunity. We saw the Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. I actually really enjoyed it.

I am getting a bit sick of Harare. I have been here for about three weeks! It is great to make friends, have dinner parties and see the many different sides of the city, but it is time to go. If I can pull myself away from the routine that I have developed here I will be headed to Malawi on Saturday.

Troutbeck Resort, Nyanga

My vacation from my vacation this past weekend was a success. Houari (the guy i am staying with from couchsurfers) and I made our way out of Harare into the rural area of Nyanga. We stayed at the gorgeous Troutbeck Resort. We went to several of the waterfalls in the area and drove around the nation park, though we didn't see any wildlife, we had a good time in the bush. Of course I liked it as I got to see more of the amazing landscape of Zimbabwe. The rock formations, mountains and open space is so beautiful! In the morning we went for a walk around the lake right next to the hotel and at night we enjoyed sitting by the fire as it got really cold in the mountains! Sunday morning I got to go horseback riding around the resort property with amazing views from the hill tops. Though I still find the English saddle a bit tricky I did great at trotting and cantering. It was really fun but I wish Houari could have come with me as he has never been riding before. We spent the rest of the day driving around to different rural areas for his work. It was great, again, to see more of Zimbabwe.

I have decided to stay here in Harare for a while longer. My birthday is on Wednesday and we are planning to have some people over for dinner and then maybe go out dancing or something after. At some point I will make it back to Malawi but at the moment I am having a good time here meeting more people each day! It is easy to get settled into each place as I make friends and then don't want to leave. So there are also many places I want to go back to as well. At the same time I have been missing home a bit and seeing friends and family. I will have so much to tell you all when I get back!

Festival, festival, and too much music festival!!!!

Ok so the trip from Vic Falls to Harare was looooong. I took the over night bus with two other Americans and a guy from Harare, David. We left at ten pm drove for a couple hours then stopped on the side of the road for three hours for no apparent reason. After 16 hours sleeping on and off we finally arrived in Harare. The next step was finding a place to stay. The two Americans and I took a cab and luckily there was space at the only backpackers in town. I set up my tent and started meeting other travelers there, finding out about the music festival. Over the next four days I went to many shows at the international music festival. Some shows were free and others cost money so I of course had to pick carefully, which was difficult as I didn't know any of the artists. Luckily I only saw one performance that was terrible, and I do mean down right pathetic. It was a long few days though and on the last night as I was waiting for my last show to start I got really sick to my stomach and had to sit down. I thought I was ok but then I got a cold sweat and almost passed out! Luckily a woman came over and gave me some water and after a few minutes I was ok. Still not sure what happened as I had had plenty to eat that day with lots of water and no I hadn't had any alcohol in two days! Well the main point is that I am fine, well I have the sniffles at the moment as the weather has gotten colder here. Other than that no complaints.


On the last day of the festival I was able to obtain a place with at a couch surfers. If you don't know what that is it is a person who opens their home to fellow travelers around the world. The guy I am staying with is from Algeria and is just working here for the time being. He a very kind and generous man. I am very lucky to have such a nice place to stay here. The other day after lunch with a few of his friends we went to go pick up his friends dog and take care of him while he looks for a new place to live. When he found the dog, a gorgeous 9 month old bullmastiff, he was butt to butt with what looked like a young female black lab. Wellllll, they were stuck together!!! they obviously had tried to get un stuck but to no avail they were not coming apart. It was hilarious but also painful to watch. Finally the gardener was able to literally pull him out of her and they seemed ok. So this big guy is now staying with us and it is nice to have an animal around.

Houari, the man I am staying with, took me to dinner at a Chinese rest aunt last night and though I had the opportunity to try jelly fish and other such traditional foods I respectfully declined, I was curious though, next time. Today I made my way to the local market where I did my best to bargain for some items. I didn't do the best job but it is hard when the starting price seems so reasonable. I got some pretty dresses, some jewelry and a few heavy presents. All the other girls traveling around have all these nice clothes and after two months I was really starting to miss my skirts and pretty things so I am very happy with my purchases today.

I am obviously doing fine, sorry for the delay in update. Sometimes getting Internet can be tricky without a computer. Houari is letting me borrow a phone for now but I will be looking into buying one for the rest of my trip as calling taxis or other people locally has been important. If you have a good long distance plan go ahead and give me a call at 0735068223. Ok I have really gone on way to long. There is just always more to say!