After the end of the first semester at the IFP, the
school has a two-week break. Sam and I
decided it was time to take a trip and get out of Cuamba. We had originally planned to travel through
Malawi and then through the central region of Mozambique but due to time, we
decided just to stick with Malawi. Our
friend Tania, who is also at an IFP, had the same break and we ended up meeting
up with her in Malawi too, so there was the added bonus of seeing one of my
best friends from training… my good old vizinha (neighbor) from Namaacha. Once
we decided just to stick to Malawi, we made a plan to head to Blantyre to meet
up with Tania, get some food, and see a movie (the only movie theatre remotely
close by). Next, we would head back the
way we came to Zomba, where we heard it was beautiful and they have a gorgeous
plateau we could go to the top of and then we would spend two days in Liwonde
at a Safari camp seeing some animals.
Our trip ended up completely different and I think we only did about two
or three of the previously mentioned things.
Most of you reading this probably know that I am not much of a planner
and this trip fit my personality completely. Because so much happened, I’m
going to split the posts up so you are not overwhelmed with information and
awesomeness. So let’s get started at the beginning…
Sam and I left Cuamba on Friday, June 20. We got to the chapa paragem around 5:15 and
were the first ones in the chapa so we got the front seat! Let me just explain to you that for someone
with long legs this is probably the best thing that can happen other than
getting a ride in a personal car where there are small amounts of people in
it. We left around 6:30 am after the
chapa was nice and full of people and had a very comfortable (at least for me)
ride to Mandimba the border town in Mozambique.
We met a friend of our colleague who helped us exchange money at a
reasonable rate and arranged a bike boleia to take us from the town to the
border and then from the border to Chiponde, the border town on the Malawi
side. From where we were dropped off in
Mandimba to the town of Chiponde is just across the border but it is still
about 15k and too far to walk, so we needed a ride. It was very strange sitting on the back of a
bike while we were going up and down hills the whole way. Let me just say, this guy had some serious
leg muscles to be able to manage that. We
got our passports stamped on the Mozambican side, not before we were asked
several times if we would be coming back to Mozambique. The border patrol guy kept telling us that we
couldn’t find a namarar (boyfriend) in Malawi and fugir (flee) and never return
to Mozambique or the US government and the Peace Corps in Maputo would be
calling him and asking where we were.
After assuring him that we promised to come back, he stamped our
passports and wished us a good trip. We
continued the bike boleia to the Malawi side, got our passports stamped and
negotiated a price for a chapa to a crossroads town called Mangochi.
This chapa was a little different from the ones we
were used to in Mozambique, it was basically your typical minivan. Cushy seats, lots of room, windows that
opened and music. Although they did
continue to cram people in the back on the floor in the front and four people
to a seat, it was still one of the most comfortable rides I’ve ever had since
being in this region. We switched over
to another larger chapa and arranged to pay 2800 kwacha to take us the rest of
the way to Blantyre. We arrived in just
outside of Blantyre at about 5pm and asked the driver where our hostel was and
if we could walk to it. He said we
couldn’t walk but they could take us for 150 kwacha so we agreed and got back
in the chapa. We took a bunch of roads
(that felt like it was out of the way), picked up another full chapa of people
to drop off and then they got out and as we got close to where we were staying,
they asked us to pay. So we handed them
the 150 each and he said no, we agreed on 1500 kwacha, and we had a big
argument with them about how we had not agreed on that and that was a
ridiculous price. The normal price for
in town chapas in 150 and that is what everyone else paid so that is what we
would pay. Their response was, then
let’s go talk to the police, and we responded, ok let’s go. We found a police officer that was on the
street, Sam and the one man got out to talk with them, and I stayed in the car
with our stuff and the driver. What I
saw was the man talking to the police, then Sam, then the police officer
scolding the worker, so I felt pretty confident that it would turn out ok for
us. When they returned the police
officer was with them and rode with us to the hostel. Sam and I were a little frustrated with the
last part of our trip; we were tired from the full day of traveling and just
wanted some food and a drink.
When we got to our room, Tania had just arrived about
10 minutes before us and we decided to get some food at the hostel and get some
drinks there too. We had some delicious
food, a hamburger, a chicken club wrap, nachos, and lasagna, and ate it family
style, (i.e. we each ordered something and split it three ways).
We then decided to continue catching up at the bar of
the hostel and got a few more drinks. We
ended up meeting a Malawian/British man named Roy and his cousin, Foxy. Turns out Roy had gone to University in the
Indiana and Alabama for about five years total and then got his masters in
Britain and has lived there for about the last ten years. He was just back visiting his family and doing
a little work on a plot of land he owns.
We talked to these guys and they were teaching us, mainly Tania,
Chechewa (the local language of Malawi and some parts of Mozambique. The area Tania lives in, this is the main
local language). Sam was exhausted from
our day of travel and went to bed and Tania and I stayed and talked with them
for a little longer. We told them our
plans to go to Zomba, because we heard it was beautiful and they said it was
but they said their hometown was much prettier and we had to go visit. They kept assuring us that it was not only
because they were from there, it was really one of the best places in
Malawi. Roy offered to come back and get
us, take us around Malonje (his hometown), and then bring us back to Blantyre
the same day. We said we had to talk to
Sam and think about it but got his number and said we would talk to him
tomorrow. They eventually left and we
stayed and continued to catch up.
Eventually, when we were heading to our room, there was one other table
left full of people and they called us over.
We had another few drinks with them and found out that the four guys
were from Greece, one of the girls was Turkish, and the other girl was British. Tania and I eventually went to bed around
3am. That was the end of Day 1 of our
trip.
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