Hello Goodbye

There isn't enough time to tell you all about Malawi but just know that it was a beautiful, peaceful little paradise. It was a break from Africa in a way. I say that with an ironic tone because Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and my experience in the country, sadly, was a week of relaxing by an amazing lake with a bunch of Europeans. But I forgive myself because it was only 4 or 5 days and it was right in the middle of the trip, sort of a breather week.

Sidenote: People, especially Europeans, really dislike the US. I have run into this a lot on this trip and it is really a shame. People that know me know that I disagree with the US foriegn policy a lot but to travel and have to see how much people disagree and generally dislike our country is really tough.

However, we met a lot of interesting people, all Europeans that were staying at this little hostel. We talked a lot about African politics and it was very interesting. The hostel itself was strange in that all of the white tourists were staying at this one hostel, even though there were plenty others. One reason for this (and be careful not misinterpret this) is that it is run by a white man that has trained his staff to serve in a very western way. Because of this the hostel is a huge draw. It is a perfect place to come to a lake and relax. At most hostels that are run by locals the service sucks, they act like you are in the way and they treat you very coldly. While this hsotel had many locals running the show, they all were obviously very well trained in western hospitality, meaning they knew how to entertain and communicate in a way that made you feel comfortable. It is a bit of a shame that this hostel has such a monopoly on the tourism in this area. But it is something that I have been thinking about a lot on this trip. One white guy runs a bar/hostel in Nkhata bay and does 50 times the business that every other place does. On top of that, it was filled with white europeans. I might as well ahve been in Germany, or London, or any other place and not Africa.

Nathan and I spent an entire day traveling from Nkhata bay to Mbeya tanzania. We took 5 or 6 of the worst busses to get here. 18 people, 2 chickens and 5 bundles of sticks (are there not sticks where you are going?) crammend into a tiny minibus. Once we crossed the border the busses got worse. I climbed in thinking I was the last one on. The bus was overflowing. Then about 5 people ran and jumped on, holding on to the side while the sliding door stayed open and the bus cruised off at about 100 kph. People literally hung out the open door holding on to a wobbily rail while we cruised down the interstate, hitting giant potholes and dodging semi's. It is nuts riding the transport out here. I am not afraid of anything in these countries except for transport and sickness. I feel lucky that I have not had too horrible of experiences with either.

One thing I am not sure if I mentioned last but is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life. While we were on a long hike last week we came across a group of women and as soon as they saw us they all ran away in terror. It was so strange. They thought that us white guys were going to hurt them or take them away and so they literally ran away from us, carrying their things with them.

We are taking a train across some of the most beautiful landscape in Africa tomorrow, we are told that we will see wildlife out the window, and most importantly, the great rift valley which is home to some of the most important deposits of human evolution fossils!