Tanzania to Mkhata Bay, Malawi

Three days of traveling brought us to Mkhata Bay in a cute lake-side stone-walled bungalow off the shores of Lake Malawi.

The traveling was long, irritating, hot and dangerous but cheap. The 16 hour bus ride was actually 20 hours and brought us into Mbeya, Tanzania at one in the morning where we struggled to find an open hotel but managed by yelling through the locked gate of one next to the bus station.

We were off the next morning to Mzuzu, the bordering town of Tanzania and Malawi, and had the unfortunate pleasure of negotiating the price with a tout that one of the hotel staff called that morning informing them that “mzungu’s” (white person) were at the hotel.  Tanzanian’s rip off tourists. It’s how they make a living.

On a side note: I would like to kindly request that from here on out ALL American’s must stop over-tipping/over-paying in foreign/third world countries. 1) it makes it hard for low-budget travelers to get around and 2) it’s like feeding wild birds, you feed them, they don’t leave and stop migrating, hanging around for the steady stream of fat tourist tips and payments.

Okay, back to the story.  After Mbeya we jumped on a tightly-squeezed bus (as usual) and we off to the border town of Mzuzu where, again, we were bombarded by touts wanting to take us here/there or exchange money at really horrible rates. We managed to shoo them off, barely, and crossed the border free-of-charge and without hassle.

Instantly we jumped into a shared taxi and were flying down the streets to our next stop, Karonga, a teeny 45 minute drive only to stop for the oddly frequent police check points. Not only do the taxi drivers have to buy the gas and the vehicle to do business, they must pay-off the police as well and in some cases give them free rides through town. Yes, I know, pretty horrible but at least they have a seat-belt law.

In Karonga we managed to find the only hotel in Malawi with American prices. They wanted $66 per room per night. It was really hard not to laugh at the receptionist when she quoted us but I managed to kindly ask for another, cheaper, hotel nearby. The Safari Inn was a short stroll and even though the receptionist warned us that the prices would be the same, we arrived with hope and got lucky.  We scored a room for about $10 per person and even had hot water!

Here I am, very excited about my first hot water shower since the trip started, the new receptionist told us to let her know when we wanted it.  I suspected they had to turn it on. So, I prepare myself in the bathroom and turn on the faucet, waiting patiently.  Heath answered a knock on the door and shouted back to me “your hot water has arrived”.

In comes an over-sized foot bath full of scalding hot water. Have you ever showered out of a foot bath? I have and it was excellent. I also managed to get a bit of laundry done too.  My poor clothes have been cleaned in cold water and what a surprise to find out how much more dirt you can get out with warm.

Karonga to Mzuzu was our plan the next morning. We found a ride in a small bus for about $2.00 and were off on the scariest four hours of my life. The landscape consisted of beautiful, huge mountains and there we were barreling through them going top speed in this mini-van.  I nearly died of fright and through the loud wind and creaks of the van Heath said “if we don’t die, I think we’ll get there early”.

Three days of hard traveling and we are here. The largest lake I have ever seen and we are sitting at the shore of it on our private deck just outside our stone bungalow for a whopping cost of $9.00 per night.

I have to finish this up because I must get back to the tailor in the outdoor market with my $6.00 to pick up my hand-made skirt.  We wandered down to the market this morning and found that having a skirt made for you is cheaper than buying it already made.What a deal.

And honestly, there is nothing wrong with avocado/peanut butter sandwiches for lunch when it costs you less than a buck fifty and that includes two beers.  

 Our view from the Bungalow.

More photos to come!!!