rustxgold

MANIC SUNDAY, 13 APRIL 2015

06h30 Wake up in Nkhata Bay, Malawi
07h25 Ready to hit the road
07h30 Wait to hitch ride with fellow backpacker to Mzuzu; peanut butter sandwich for breakfast
08h14 Learn that fellow backpacker has no space in car
08h15 Walk into town
08h40 Hire car taxi to Mzuzu
09h30 Hop on minibus to Karonga
10h30 Minibus to Karonga departs
12h30 Chips for lunch
15h30 Minibus runs out of gas 10 km outside of Karonga
16h10 Flag down another minibus into Karonga, but get into tiff with driver of original minibus about pricing and can't jump ship
16h14 Minibus re-fueled
16h15 Minibus to Karonga resumes into town
16h30 Hop on another minibus to Karonga border
18h00 Arrive at Karonga border and cross into Tanzania
18h29 Hop on mototaxi to bus station
18h30 Hop on minibus to Mbeya and get into tiff about pricing
22h00 Arrive in Mbeya
22h30 Find guesthouse to rest for the night. Credit cards not accepted; no cash left
22h40 Run to ATM via muddy path
23h00 Pay for stay
23h05 No running water; wash muddy feet with water from bucket
23h30 Peanut butter sandwich for dinner
23h59 Sleep in Mbeya, Tanzania

MANIC MONDAY, 14 APRIL 2015

05h30 Wake up in Mbeya, Tanzania
06h00 Hire dalla dalla to find car taxi
06h10 Hire car taxi to Mbeya airport
06h40 Arrive at airport and go through security
07h00 Attempt to book flight to Dar-Es-Salaam. Credit cards not accepted; not enough cash; no ATM in airport.
07h05 Hire car taxi to find ATM back in town. Try 3 ATMs before finding one that works
08h05 Return to airport and book tickets
08h10 Board plane
08h20 Take off
09h30 Land in Dar-Es-Salaam; use spotty, but free airport wifi to book place to stay
10h30 Hire car taxi to hotel
11h00 Check into hotel
12h30 Lebanese food for lunch. Best hummus ever. Shwarma delightful as well.
13h00 Rain
14h00 Rain
15h00 Walk to ferry building to book tickets for Zanzibar
15h30 Return to hotel, shower, do laundry, and veg out
21h15 Indian food for dinner
22h30 Shower again
23h30 Sleep in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania

Dear Ricky,

As it rains kitchen sinks outside, we are sipping on macchiatos at our favorite recently discovered Food Lover's Market in Lusaka, which, now that we have a second to sit back and take it in, has quite the resemblance to Whole Foods.

Since you left, we've traveled 25 hours by bus and truck over 3 days across 1,400 kilometers on a loaf of bread, chips, and a 5-liter jug of water. We've sat next to crying babies, behind 6 people sharing 3 seats, and been peddled everything from biscuits, tomatoes, and sugarcane to air time, ladles, radios, and briefcases. They were all hard to resist, but we somehow managed. We visited the Chinhoyi Caves where the water reaches depths beyond 135 meters, producing this beautiful gradating blue of royal to emerald. We camped there and, unsurprisingly, were the only ones. That night after a profound 168 minutes of Interstellar, we fell asleep.

The landscape throughout Zimbabwe is green as ever and the rain won't stop. Yesterday, after a half hour of misses, we hitched a ride north on a packed bus and were thrown into the lion's den, standing among too many distasteful things to recount, but the people were so friendly and the music - oh, the music - was literally the best yet. We were dropped off in the tiny town of Makuti where we came across the most foreigners we'd seen in the country and hitched a ride on a semi-truck carrying a 15,000-pound load into Zambia. It's our most sweaty, smelly, shiny, slow experience so far.

Just as we were settling into the idea of staying at the remote border town of Chirundhu, kicking ourselves for the most burdensome journey ever to Lusaka, we came across the last bus headed there and finally arrived just before 10 pm. Oh, and we managed to get out of paying the $100 visa fees. Total redemption.

We're about to have some fried rice and noodles now and are hoping to find a showing of 50 Shades before the long journey to Malawi.

Missing you and your flannel.

xoxo

P.S. Don't forget to take your malaria pills.