Malawi Adventure

Kelsi and I are back safely from an amazing experience in Malawi! We are so grateful that Pastor Sargeant invited us to tag along with the pastors and missionaries travelling to Malawi this past week. It was such a blessing to have the opportunity to explore a new country in Africa!

The drive to Lilongwe (the capital of Malawi) usually takes about 10 hours, but it took us 12. It was a long day, but we passed the time by talking and snacking and bracing ourselves for the bumps. (I hit my head on the ceiling of the car a few times on some especially rough roads!)

We stayed at Pastor and Mrs. Holtz's house our first night. The Holtz's were so generous, and they went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. Even though we didn't arrive until after 8:00 pm, they waited for us to arrive before sharing a delicious dinner of lasagna, squash, and brownies. As if that wasn't enough, we woke up to homemade yogurt, cinnamon rolls, and passion fruit from a tree in their backyard. As amazing as the food was, we really loved the time that we spent with the Holtz's because of the great conversation we had around the dinner table. We couldn't have asked for better hosts!

I went for a run that morning, and it was one of my more interesting jogs. I ran down a dirt road full of people walking, selling on the side of the road, and children running. I saw a few of them flying kites made out of garbage bags - pretty innovative! Bikers carrying wide loads of wooden beams or furniture were a common sight as well. I was definitely the only muzungu (white person) in the area, and I received a lot of stares and comments. “May I join you?” (People just started running with me at a couple points.) “Sistah sistah!” “You are very fit!” and so on. Although Kelsi and I find it somewhat amusing to hear the comments we get when we walk around Lusaka, and we can’t say that we will miss that very much when we head home!

The pastors were attending a conference all week, so Molly, Kelsi, and I set off to explore Malawi on our own. That morning we took a bus to Salima, a town near Lake Malawi. It usually takes an hour and a half to get there via bus, but it took at least four for us. The drive was beautiful, though, so we hardly noticed. (Especially after the 12 hour drive the day before. Four hours was a piece of cake! :) ) We drove through beautiful green hills/mountains and got a glimpse of the villages populated with goats. (We still aren’t sure why our drive took so long, by the way. I think we just picked a geezer of a bus. The fact that it needed a push start to get going should have been a tip-off…)

When we exited the bus in Salima, we were attacked by minibus drivers. “Senga Bay? Come come! 400 kwacha!” We didn’t even have to barter; the bus drivers fought over us until the price came down to 200 kwacha. (The Malawi kwacha is different from the Zambian kwacha. $1 = 450-ish kwacha)

It is always an experience to ride in minibuses. They are notoriously stuffed to the gills, with every inch of space taken up by a body part or piece of luggage. Unsurprisingly, they are also typically stuffy. Thankfully, the ride from Salima to Senga Bay (20 km) was quite pleasant because the sliding door was open! Three people hung halfway outside of the vehicle as we drove. At one point, we pulled over to pick up another passenger. We were a bit nervous when we saw that she was holding a pile of fish. Minibuses have enough smells without the addition of anything fishy! But the man in charge of taking our money took the fish and tied them to the windshield wipers. Ingenious!

We spent the night at a hostel right on Lake Malawi. The sand was soft and white, and the water was really warm - hard to believe that we weren’t by the ocean! We opted out of swimming because of the prevalence of a disease called bilharzia (caused by parasites in the water). Instead, we kayaked out to Lizard Island (an island fittingly named because of the monitor lizards living on it) the following morning, and we had a nice view of the beach and surrounding mountains from the water.

After spending a night and the morning in Senga Bay, we headed south to Mua. I will let Kelsi fill you in on the next part of our journey. As fun as our first couple of nights in Malawi were, I think that the next couple were even better. So stay tuned… :) (Some great pictures are coming as well, if you need extra motivation to check in!)

Have a wonderful night! God’s blessings!