Happy Easter in Europe

It's been some time now since I paid any attention to my blog. I have mainly used my time to adjust to the life in Europe. It is such a big contrast from one day sweating in the green jungle in Africa eating fresh bananas to sitting in the tube in London watching the people being busy on their smartphones while dressed in ONLY black! (Seriously, why does everyone have to wear black in Europe??... the Africans at least know their colors :)

In the Finnish forest and yes we still have snow!

But I am happy that it is spring already in Europe and soon it will be all green. My flight from Zambia went smooth and I even had three seats for myself so I could actually sleep :) I stayed only one night in London and my friend's place and then took a plane to Finland, where I have now been for almost three weeks. Here the cold weather was almost a shock to me, I have to tell you that I have been cold every day even though I am wearing four layers of woolen socks! So thank God for the sauna, where I can sweat and feel at home. But I can also luckily admit that I was happy to be able to see some snow this year and go cross country skiing :) It is also very beautiful here and he sun is so bright!

So I do enjoy being back in Finland staying with my parents catching up with friends and family, especially my nephew, who almost did not recognize me... aaaahhhh... This is a sign I need to visit more often... but then again when you are just under two years old I don't know how much you really remember about life.

Princess cake, my favorite :)

My days have been filled with food, food, and food. I just wanted to eat just about everything. So hello extra kilos, time to go! I also celebrated my birthday with my family, which I had not done since 1999 or something like that. I postponed the tedious task of uploading all my 5 million pictures from Africa on my computer but now that is all done as well! I will upload some of them on picasa, which is linked to this blog.

Carl was in love with the Easter bunny.

For Easter my Filipino friend Carl came to visit me and we had a great time eating even more food than usual. Carl found Finland very exotic, especially my village of 500 people. I had not seen Carl for 3 years so this was really nice and it became also my first experience of going to the sauna with a gay guy (we wore towels by the way). You know that if you ever go to Finland, a sauna visit is a must!! Wouldn't be a complete Finland experience without it :)

I only have a few days left in Finland before I head out on new adventures. So I am repacking the bag and spending as much time in the sauna as I can! 

hApPy eAstEr everone!

Lots of witches in town

Bye Bye Africa...

My time in Africa has come to an end. It has been a good journey and spending five months in "the dark Africa" has changed my perception of the continent, the people, and non-profits. I, and I think most of us, have this dark image of Africa, where children is starving, there is aids everywhere and child soldiers shoot at anything moving. The media has us thinking that Africa is just a bad bad place. While all of this is somewhat true, Africa has so much more to offer. To me Africa is beating music, bum shaking mamas, vibrant colours, friendly people, rice and beans, nsima and fish, smiling curious children, tranquility, strong laid-back people, and so on. It might be that this is mainly representing Malawi as I spent most of my time there and of course there is still famine, poor people, corrupt governments, scam cheating charities and all the rest. But the people itself, poor or not, are just like you and me. We all want love, peace and joy. Some might consider that being driving down the street in a ferrari while others might find that in watching a colourful sunset over the sea or sharing a meal with your family whether it is a buffet or a bowl of maize porridge. Being born in the Western world is just luck of the draw but true happiness can be achieved any where, it is just a state of mind. 

Dar es Salaam

Africa, at least the central and eastern part is just beautiful. They are blessed with seasonal fruit and lush green wet seasons. I enjoyed so many fresh mangoes, pineapples, bananas and avocados. To me that is pure luxury, to be able to wake up in the morning and just pick the fruits from the tree. I will miss that.
 

The people are also beautiful. They are so strong. It always amazes me when I see women carrying something like 30 Liter of water on their head up the hill and that little 8 year old girl carrying her 1 year old baby sister on her back. The women are the ones we truly need to applaud in Africa. They are the ones taking care of the family. As they say" if you educate a women you educate a village, if you educate a man, you educate one person". I found this to be very true in Africa and I always tried to buy my vegetables from women and encourage the little shy girls. Lots of women are suppressed in Africa, they have no say, they get no education and have to deal with their lazy drunk husbands. I was actually shocked by the amount of alcohol men drink in Malawi. And when they drink it is like there is no tomorrow. They drink until they cannot stand up any more (maybe a bit like in Finland actually). Like the fishermen. They are out fishing all night, which is very much a hard job, but then

Rain from Victoria Falls

when they come back into shore around sunrise they might sell their fish, fill their stomachs with some nsima (maize flour porridge) and chicken, go to the bar and sit there drinking all day spending all their money on cheap deadly alcohol and maybe have a good time with a prostitute before passing out at noon and maybe finally make it home in the late afternoon with whatever left over money there is. What can I day but TIA (this is africa).

I am not trying to be a feminist but this is just the reality in a lot of African places. I think alcohol destroys so much, not just in Africa but all over the world. It's sad. 

So spending some months in Africa has definitely broaden my horizon. I have, as on all of my trips, learnt and discovered new things about myself and the people and countries around me. I am grateful for all the experiences I had in Africa, good and bad and for staying healthy and malaria free. I met so many interesting and nice people both muzungus (tourists) and locals. I will definitely go back to Africa on day and explore more as there are so many things to see and visit. My highlights were seeing the animals, the masai people, and swimming in Lake Malawi among many other things. I have made some great friends on the way, who I hope to see yet again some day.

Tawonga Malawi, Asante sana Tanzania, and Zikomo Zambia. I had a great time!

...next stop Europe!

 

 

 

Kenya Airways took me back home to Europe. Great airline by the way.

Safaris, Victoria Falls and up close with baboons

It was so good to be back on the road again after staying put in Nkhata-Bay, Malawi for so long. I hopped  on the bus to Lilongwe and managed to hitch a ride the  next day with the Mufasa lodge owner all the way to Chipata on the Zambian side of the border. It is so easy to travel by your own transportation compared to all the mini buses and shared taxis one ends up taking.  

My plan was to go to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia so I got a minibus from Chipata to the park after a long ordeal of hassling the price. By this time I am so not into negotiating prices any more...just give me the real deal man.... but no way... I have to almost have a fight with them to get my moneys worth. Anyways, I ended up paying an ok price. But to get to this park was just a long journey. It is a 130km stretch on a small bumpy dirt road and I thought it would take some time but not 5h! How can one even drive so slow that it takes 5h to do 130km?? Well... on a road like this yeah it is almost faster to bike. I got to the park or Mwufe village in the dark and managed to bumped into the lodge owners of Flatdogs, where I planned to go. However, the nicely informed me that they are not open YET. Oh shit, I thought, I did 5h of bumpy soar bum road for nothing? I have to go back? in the dark? Well.. this is backpacking... you just have to deal with it..things change. But the owners, two pretty young guys, informed me that I can always go to Croc Valley lodge, they are open all year around...but maybe there is nobody else there since it is the low season. Good luck, sionara! (they didn't even give me  a ride...) Luckily, a sweet local women took me to a taxi driver. I was not allowed to walk the 3 km as animals can attack you, besides it was pitch black dark anyways. So I got to Croc Valley and it was completely dark... power cut... and I definitely thought I would be the only one there. But then as I walk to reception, tadaaa, the power came back on lighting up this beautiful place and there was four guys sitting at the bar chatting away. Ah thank god for other backpackers, I thought... now this is way better :)

The five of us ended up having a great time at South Luangwa and we were a good mix, there was one Dane, one Ozzie, one Malaysian, one Brit, and one Finn. A pretty good mix and we were all world travelers :) so we ended up having a good time. We went both on a morning and evening safari. This park is huge about 9000 km2 and even though it was the low season, meaning wet season with high vegetation, we managed to see elephants, giraffes, hippos, wilderbeast, crocodiles, zebras, water hog, so many different birds, impalas, pukus, and then finally at the night drive we saw a young female lion! It was pitch black dark and suddenly the cat came out of no where from the bush right besides up, ran onto the road in front and then walked a bit a head before going off into the bush again... Wow, I got so scared! It is dark, and we are in an open safari truck, and then there is a lion just coming out of the bush right next to us. Ah, I have so much respect for nature and the animals that wiiiieee I leave them alone. Like the elephants. They are huuuuuge and if they get annoyed they can just lift their trunk and hit you... running attack! Well, I don't think that really happens a lot but still, respect man!

I had a great time at Croc Valley http://www.crocvalley.com and I could of easily stayed there for a week. It is a beautiful place, very calm and right at the river where hippos and elephants cross. Fortunately, it was high water in the river so no hippos came to swim in the pool as they usually do. Instead we had a good time there instead.
 
After a couple of days we all where heading different directions. Me and the Brit planned to go to south to Livingstone and the Ozzie and the Malay headed for Malawi. The Dane was lucky enough to have his own bike and went off to Malawi and Tanzania. After a last good meal we said our bye's and me and the Brit tried our luck hitching south to Lusaka. But it was not so much of a luck since no one picked us up so we decided to stay a night in Chipata and then take the 5am morning bus, which we did take the next morning and we even managed to get another bus straight to Livingstone when we got to Lusaka. So we managed to travel almost all of the country in one day, Chipata to Livingstone in 12h, not bad.

Livingstone is where Victoria falls is on the Zambian side.
Vic falls is also the seventh world wonder and I can see why! It is absolutely stunning, especially now in the wet season when million of liter of water runs through the falls. Lots of
power right there! The Zambian side of the falls are beautiful and you are really close to the falls. It is not just one fall but something like 1km of falls on one stretch of cliffs. We were so close to the falls that the mist that comes out of it just pours down like rain. It was fantastic! Just like a shower really. And the sun was shining so beautiful sunny shower :)

I really had a good day there even though I got attacked by a baboon! I stupidly had two bananas in my bag, which of course the baboons can smell right away. And this big male baboon noticed this and when passing me on the trail path he just decided to grab on to my bag and pull it towards him. I freaked, turned around to walk away but I got pulled back by this huge creature and there was not really much I could do. Luckily there were some guys walking by and I managed to get a hold of one of them and just grabbed on to him and screamed. I think I took him by surprise but he acted fast, shouted to the baboon and managed to pull me away. I am not sure if he hit it or not... but it let go of my bag! You can imagen how fast I ate those bananas after that! Waaaaaa.... I was shaken... these baboons are huge! If it could stand straight up it would be even taller than me... Then I also heard afterwards that they can easily bite through your arm and basically do whatever with you as humans have no chance. So that was my up closer with an African baboon.

I also managed to get really up close to a White Rhino the next day when I went on a walking safari in Mosi-ou-tuna nation park at Victoria Falls. This was also quite an experience and a but different than sitting in a safari truck. They do not have any cats in this park but there were dangerous animals like phaetons and the odd charging water buffalo. Luckily, no animals charged us and we did not step on any snakes. It was a pretty calm walking safari but I really like the hiking part and being on the same level as the animals. We saw beautiful giraffe with a small baby and I have to say that the giraffes are my favourite animal. If I could, I would have one in the back yard... they are so graceful and seem to not give a shit.. hahaha.. I like them!

Safari and water falls, that was mainly my taste of Zambia. I had only ten days there but I truly enjoyed it. Lusaka, the capital is not my favourite but I would definitely go back to South Luangwa national park and of course take a shower at Vic Falls again!

Bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls. This is also the spot where everyone bungy jumps.

Next stop Zambia!

Muli banji (Good day in Chichewa),

My five weeks house sitting in Nkhata-Bay has come to an end. Time has passed so fast and I have enjoyed my shanti shanti time at the house. There was a lot of sitting watching the beautiful lake, some sunbathing, lots of reading, and lots of thinking what to do next. Unfortunately, some bad things happened as well... I lost one of the two chickens... luckily it was the one that does not lay any eggs. :) The dog also got into an accident, just yesterday when we were out for our daily walks. The dog is scared of moving cars and motorbikes so when they pass she attacks them barking and jumping. As she is on a leach I have to hold on to her strongly or she attacks. The car was coming fast towards us on the street and as usual she started to run and jump and bark but this time the car was coming closer to us than I anticipated and it was going really fast and the dog got hit in the front. The irony was that it was the ambulance going to the hospital but this driver is insane and always drives too fast (even though there are no patients in the car) and as we are in Malawi, people do not care about dogs so of course the ambulance did not stop, it just continued. Well ,the dog was bleeding and I could see immediately that her back leg was broken. So after a lot of hassle and quite some time, me and some friends managed to get to the veterinarian in Mzuzu, 1 h hour. The dog got surgery, antibiotics and is now recovering by licking her wounds. But it was a nasty wound, open cut and the Malawian vet was eager to show me the whole cut, the wound and wanted me to be in the surgery but I had to get out as just looking at the wound made me feel a bit nauseous. So it was a long night. I just feel really bad that it had to happen just three days before I am leaving... and of course I am sad for the dog. ...poor Yara. So today the house owners are coming back and I have already told them about the accident. However, I am happy they are back as the dog has to be injected with antibiotics once a day and I would not be able to put any needles in any dog or human for that matter. I think they are more experienced than I am.

So on Sunday I am taking off to Lilongwe, the capital, with the early 6am morning bus. It's a days journey down to Lilongwe so I will sleep there one night and then it is bye bye Malawi and welcome to Zambia on Monday. I have only 10 days in Zambia before flying home from Lusaka. But I do not plan to do much, I want to go on a safari, go and see Victoria falls and then spend my last days in Lusaka buying some beautiful African fabrics. I have yet to decided about the safari but I have heard the best place to go and see animals is at the South Luangwa Park... so I will head for that... the park is also on the way to Lusaka so no long detours.

Alright I am off to town to sort out my last things before packing my bags.

Tawonga akonga Nkhata-Bay and Malawi. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for the batafish and the beautiful beautiful lake!

Yewu!

House sitting in Nkhata-Bay

Finally I managed to upload some pictures of the house that I am house sitting. It feels like a very European house and reminds me of the summer cottages we have in Finland. Also because there is no eletricity in the house and it is by a lake. I could just well be in Finland :) except for the African women doing their laundry in the lake just right next to the house. That part of the beach is the women's bathing beach, where they basically take their showers, scrub their toes and washed their hair. They do scrub their body like they are cleaning a dirty carpet. I am sure they are super clean afterwards :)

I have only two more weeks in the house and then I am off to Zambia for a safari and big Victoria falls!

Back in the Bay

I haven't had the energy to do much Internet lately. I rather just watch the lake, enjoy the full moon and just sit around doing just about nothing. You know my favorite hobbies. Internet can be so energy draining... or maybe it is walking to the Internet cafe that is more draining.... but I gave myself a kick in the butt today and now I am here in front of my blog. And as usual I want to write about everything, so many things happen every day.. I think I probably mentioned that already 200 times in this blog and I would like to write about all of it... but then when I get my arse to the Internet cafe I have already forgot so many of those things.

Anyhow, I had an amazing time in Zanzibar and I cannot say that I saw much of Tanzania as I spent all of my time on the beautiful Zanzibar island. But I went on this amazing train journey from Dar es Salaam (by the way I just got to know that Dar es Salaam means "the door to Muslim", nice name for a city ain't it) to  he city of Mbeya, which is close to the Malawian border. The train ride was just amazing and such a beautiful experience. It took 24h as the train went poli poli (slowly slowly) through the jungle, the mountains and the country side of Tanzania. I had got a first class ticket (I think a must for this journey) and shared my cabin with 3 other local women (men and women cabins are separated) and we each had a bed., pillow , sheets and blankets. So I was lying in my bed, the train was moving slowly, the full moon was shining through the window and the warm air blowing in my hair and I just lied there looking at the moon and just enjoyed the simple beautiful things in life like the fresh breeze on my cheeks. It  was magical or maybe I am just sentimental....anyhow it was beautiful.  

During the day, I hanged out in the restaurant car, got to know the other few muzungus (backpackers) on the train and tried to speak to the local women in my cabin but their English weren't too good. We did a lot of stops and I managed to read a lot, enjoyed the beautiful view of the green and lush mountains and had my eyes out for any potential animals like giraffes or elephants... but spotted non. You know how it is when you are looking for something and you never find it but then when you stop it is right there in front of you. .. I guess this time I just never stopped looking and of course saw nothing. 

I would so recommend taking this train trip if you are every in Tanzania. There are not many rail tracks in Africa so this is a must even though the train can be 2 days delayed and you are stuck in the city with a bad mood (as I was). It is so worth it.

We arrived to Mbeya for midnight the next day and four of us took a taxi to the bus station where I knew an ok guest house to sleep for the night. Bright and early at 7am the next day, me and a n older man from the UK continued the journey to Malawi and Nkhata-Bay. This journey is more tiresome than the train as it means constantly changing minibuses, crossing the border, ignoring sales hassles and just sitting uncomfortably for about 12h. But we made it and I had done the journey before so I knew what to expect, how much to pay and how long it would take.

I arrived in Nkhata-Bay when already dark but thanks to the full moon I could easily see in the dark and find my way to the house without a flashlight. Thank godness! So I have not mentioned why I was going back to Malawi. It just happened that I got to know two Dutch girls while in Nkhata Bay and they happened to look for someone to house-sit their house for one month while they were going back to Holland for a visit. And I just happened to say Yes to the job and voila here I am again. It was not a difficult decision (even though I did think about it for two days) as their house is beautiful, just by the lake, a short bit away from town and I would have it all to myself. On top of that I would have the company of one sweet attention seeking cat and one crazy energetic dog, plus two egg-laying chickens... so easy piecey decision... who wants to go back to cold Europe in February anyway???

So now I have been in the house for a bit more than a week and I feel rested, relaxed and clean. I have cleaned all my cloths, even my big backpack as everything was just so dirty after my Tanzania trip... I have managed to manicure my feet, shaved my legs, and do my own hair treatments. On top of that I go to bed and wake up with the sun, I do morning yoga, I cook my own food, and I can relax as much as I want and read my book in peace. To me this is heaven right now. Luxury even!

All in all I just love the house and the peacefulness. Om, shanti, I am in peace... no need to go to an Ashram for me :)

The other night I also had some great friends over and I learnt how to bake a cake on charcoal (as I have no electricity in the house). The three of us ate one huuuge cake all in once and it was soooooo gooood! I am seriously going to bake some serious cake while in this house. Yum yum yum it was good!

Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!! My dear Indian friend Sonu surprised me with roses, chocolate and Indian vegetable curry yesterday. Thank you Sonu! I had a great time and it was fun to see you again :)

I will soon upload some pics from Zanzibar and my new adventures in Malawi but until then SAWA SAWA, poli poli and hakuna matata!!

All my love :)

Yet another day in Dar...

I was suppose to take the Tazara train yesterday from DAr es SAlaam to Mbeya in south oF Tanzania. We got to the train station and the first thing we see is the notice board saying the tarin is one day delayed.... great.. we just spend 10,000 shilling on a taxi to the train station, which is located some distance from the city center.

At the train station though we met a German girl and her boyefriend and they said well let's go back tp their hptel... it is chep and clean.. so off we go and squeeze into the local minibus and hike for some 20 minutes before getting to the hotel. The hotel was nice and cheap just as she said but there was no electricity during the day and that meant no shower or water working... so what else to do than to sit and sweat just a little bit more. Anyhow, we had to spend another day in Dar, which is not too bad but it is also not as nice as Zanzibar. Luckilt the water came back on at 7pm and we could shower and chill while the fan was on high speed.

The next morning we got ready to check out and looked forward to finally get on the train. Just as we were about to check out, we were told that the train is another 9 hours delayed so instead of leavign at 14.00, it would leave at 22.00.... oh my... oh my... what to do now? Well hang around Dar until 22.00 I guess at the end of the day THIS IS AFRICA, TIA as they say. NOw it is 15.30 and I just called the train company again to make sure it for sure leaves at 22.00 and they said it would. I pray and hope that it will!!

I am really looking forward to be on the road again and to go back to Malawi. LEt's hope I will be there in two days time!

Hasta Luego!

Turtles

I am back in Stone town, Zanzibar after two great weeks in Nungwi. I truly enjoyed Rasta Magologolo's place and had quite a few shanti shanti days doing just about nothing. The main aim for this Zanzibar trip was that; to be able to just relax, read my book and be at peace with nothing on the agenda.

But now I am back where I started in Stone town. Here it is more busy with people and traffic (well not that much traffic, I am still on an island) but I cannot walk barefoot. Anyhow, I like Stone town as well. One of my favorite Zanzi restaurant is here; Lukumaan, where I have good food for a good price. However, I must say that the best best food I have had here in Zanzibar was at Langi Langi hotel in Nungwi. I became friends with the owner and the chef Sele (a true Zanzibarian) and he just makes the best food ever, no matter if it is seafood, sultan cake or spiced potatoes. Yum yum yum... I get hungry thinking about it!

Besides enjoying good food in Zanzibar, I also enjoyed well not sure if I enjoyed it but I witness some old school sex by two humongous 125 year old turtles on the turtle island right outside Stone town. Quite a scene to watch two big big turtles mating... and the noise they made.... waaaa sounded like a mix between a lion and an elephant..... rroooooooaaaawwww. Well I have it on tape, in case anybody is interested.

Tomorrow, me and my friend Theo is about to leave this beautiful island. We will take the ferry in the morning and head for Dar es Salaam. Let's see what Dar has in store for us...

Microloan

I just made another loan on KIVA. Check it out. This is not an ad by the way... Cheers!

Zanzi paradise!

What can I say??? Karibu!

I absolutely LOVE it!!

Nungwi beach, north of Zanibar is an amazing place. Soooo beautiful and relaxing. It has beautiful long white sandy beaches, turquoise water, palm trees and coconuts, goooood fresh seafood, the best reggae vibes, the tastiest fruit juices and plenty of sun. What else can you ask for??? You can even go to the beach at sunset and watch all the fit locals running around playing football half naked. I mean, does it get any better than that? Maybe in heaven... Hahahahaha... It is just so beautiful here! 

When there is low tide you can walk for miles on the beach. A 20 minute walk takes you to Kendwa, which has a huge white beach. There are of course plenty of resort and hotels here as well but not huge ugly kinds you can find in Canary islands, Miami and a like. Here they just blend it on the beach.

As for me, I am not staying at any of these posh expensive resort. I am on a lovely budget, which has taken me to one of the most chilled places in Nungwi; Rasta Magologolo's. In Stone town, I randomly met Rachel from the States while ordering a nutella pancake on the lake shore. We started talking and within five minutes she had already given me the directions and the phone number to Rasta Magologolo. She said I had no choice but to stay at his pace as it is just to cool to be missed. And I have to agree. Rasta Village as they also call it, is based up in the village about 10 minutes from the beach and is run by Magologolo and his rasta friends. It is a new place with just five bungalow style rooms and a few tents. The bungalows are nice and I have my own room with shared bath for 15k shillig, which is about $12. They also serve you home made breakfast in the morning. Today I got a good omelet with fresh mango, papaya and banana...mmmm.. .. it seems like I am writing an ad for these people, which I am not...I am just sharing the good things in life. It is a sweet place and some nights we cook dinner together and they play local music for us... all rasta style. 

On my first day here in Nungwi I bumped into Daisy. My sweet sweet friend from the UK that I hung out with in Nkhata-Bay, Malawi for almost one month on and off. She must be the most adorable person on earth. She even tought for one day at my school in Malawi just because she loves children so much. Anyways, I always end up seeing Daisy at the most random places. I knew she had left for Tanzania but I had no idea she would be right here on the same beach as me. So me and Daisy have had a good good time chatting, enjoying good food and talking about the random Masay people you see everywhere. I cannot explain how strange it is to see a Masay person walking on the beach in their traditional kangas (wrap around fabrics) holding their sticks, tall, dark and striking. And they always walk with the white muzungus (tourists) trying to sell them something. It is so random. I need to take a picture of it so you can have a look. They are so striking, tribey and has such a strong presence. They definitely do not belong here on these touristy beaches chatting up muzungus. They are suppose to be in the jungle feeding their tribes and hunting their food.  Ah I am amazed by these Masay people. The are incredible! Specially when you see them playing pool in the bar or shake it on the dance floor. Just so odd! :)

Besides being fascinated by the Masay I have basically just been chilling here. There's been quite a lot of parties, dancing, shisha pipes and so forth. I have met really good people and having a lovely time with them. Especially Theo and Andy from the US.  I have also found this reggae place on the beach with the best beats and delicious fruit juices run by Salomon, a local dude that can speak Norwegian (again so random). The place has a gooooooooood goood vibe. I tell you, my house will have a vibe like this. So I hang out there a lot, enjoying the music, the hammocks, the sun and the beach.

I will upload pics, sooon. It is just so hard to go to an internet place here as it is just so much better to chill on the beach. But I will do it "poli poli" as they say here (slowly slowly).

Asante Sana! (thank you so much)  and all my LOVE!

Zanzibar, Tanzania!

After two taxi rides, three minibus rides, one long bus ride, and a ferry I have finally reached Zanzibar in Tanzania. The journey took me 2.5 days and a lot of sweating! But I made it :) 

Crossing the boarder to Tanzania was not a problem as I had my US$50 for the visa and I happened to meet a friendly Japanese couple traveling to Malawi at immigration. We changed money (Kwacha to Shilling) and travel stories and updated each other on where to go, how much to pay and where to stay. So I got my itinerary already set up on which hostel to stay at and how much to pay for the minibuses. I just love fellow backpackers! 

Besides these two I did not meet any other muzungus on my trip and traveled alone the whole way to Dar es Salaam. The bus journey from Mbeya to Dar was long and hot but with plenty of food stops. The road goes through a nature reserve and I managed to spot for the first time in my life a living giraffe munching away on a tall tree. I also saw some elephants, buffalos and those deer looking animals. I was probably the most excited passenger on the bus (well the only tourist) as the locals did not seem to care about the beautiful animals.

In Dar es Salaam,  I managed to ignore all the hassling taxi drivers by giving them the silent treatment (they do not like that one) and find the dalla-dalla (cramped mini-buses) to the city center. The Japanese couple had recommended me to stay at the YWCA (cheap and clean) and I managed to find it easily after asking for directions from the rastafari dude in the dalla dalla. At the YWCA I met another single traveler, Nanhee from Korea, and we headed out together to get some lovely street food. For 2000 shilling (something like 1 Euro)  I managed to get a two egg omelet with french fries and a salad topped with red pinkish tomato sauce, which I ate with a toothpick! Well, I ended up eating with my hands after the failed attempt to eat salad with a tooth pick.... By the way, tooth picks are popular utensils here in Africa, unless you eat with your right hand. After dinner I had a well deserved shower and a good nights sleep. Bright and early at 6am I was already wide :S awake and off to hassle my ticket to the ferry. The ride to Zanzibar was really nice and only took 1.5h but I also paid US$35 for the fast ride. After cruising around in Stonetown and getting somewhat lost (Stonetown is like Venice, just a big maze of small alleys and streets) I managed to find a decent hotel for a decent price. And since we are living in the 21st century, I already managed to get recommendations on where to eat and where to go in Stonetown from my fellow backpacker friend Bree, who sits across the globe in Alberta, Canada, by chatting to her on Facebook while writing this blog. Small world, isn't it?!

So I am off to explore ZanZiBaR and enjoy some good quality time with the island :)

Until next,

xoxo

Last day in Nkhata-Bay

The time has come for me to leave this beautiful place :(

I had my last day at school on Wednesday and it was an all game and candy English class for standard 7. We played charades, pictionary, hangman, etc. for about two hours and every student (all 72 of them!) got a prize, which mainly consisted of candy. I have really enjoyed my time teaching at the school and I'd love to get to know these kids even more. I see my students a lot when I am in town and when I walk down the street I hear "Madame, Madame!" and they wave and laugh. They are so sweet and shy. I love the fact that I know the kids in a different way and not just as a tourist in town. 

But all sweet things come to an end and I have to admit that I am also glad that the teaching is over. It is not easy to be a teacher! Hehehehe... I applaud all the real teachers out there and salute you!! Doing this full time and as a profession is not for me. I love my business. I do love teaching but then I would teach something that I am as well passionate about like salsa, natural remedies or give an advanced course in backpacking!

But I will miss this place! I have to say that I love Nkhata-Bay. It is beautiful and relaxing here. I can swim in the lake every day, enjoy good food and have good conversation with the locals. The people are really friendly and the longer I stay the more friends I get and the better I get to know the people. So it is sad to say good bye. But who knows it might not be an ever lasting good bye ;-)

2012

Here we go again, another new year!

Time truly flies by when you have fun and 2011 went by like a speeding car. But I must say I enjoyed it a lot and I hope 2012 will be just as good :) Life is full of surprises and don't hesitate, just go for it!

2012 started with a heavy rain storm on new years eve but that did not stop the people from dancing and celebrating the new year at the local Kaya Papaya bar. We danced to the best African music like "sour sour" and I got a chance to see everybody drunk as I do not drink anymore these days. I have banned alcohol all together since some time ago. And I like it like this. Especially here in Malawi, it is nice to be sober as everybody else is drunk almost all the time. Of course the backpackers will always party but the locals take the price. You can see them in the bar from early morning to late at night drinking away their savings. Of course not all Malawians behave like this but the majority does. I find it very sad as instead of drinking up all their money they should buy food for their six children. There is also not one person over 25 that does not have a child. Married or not, you will have one child or more. But let's not talked about the bad stuff in Malawi as I could go on forever about their mentality, having three wives, hiv, cheating, drinking, etc etc. Most of these problems are cultural and the only way out is knowledge and what is accepted in society. But also who says that this is the wrong way? Maybe there is no right and wrong. Things just are.

As for me, things are back to normal. I am back in school teaching English for grade 7. However, my three month period is almost over and I will only be two more weeks in school before it is time for me to start my travels.

It was nice seeing the familiar faces in class again and they are all good children. Some have more energy to learn than others. Today, we went through chapter 8 - a visit to the airport - and there are always about ten children that are eager to stand up and read out load. I love to teach these kids as it is so easy. The other 30 or so is another story as they seem to lack motivation to study. But when I play 'Simon says' with them, they are all 100% into it. :) And that was what I did yesterday and they absolutely loved it. I hope these kids will all see the value in being educated, going to school and of course learn how to speak English fluently. :)

I am getting excited to start my travels as well and explore Tanzania and Zambia. Mozambique is also on my list but not sure yet if I have enough time to go there. And then there is Cape Town in South Africa that I would love to visit too. Ah, so many countries!

Until next , so long!