Malawi (español)

Por fin estamos en Malawi y con internet!  La ultima vez que
escribimos estabamos yendo hacia la frontera de Tanzania con Malawi.
Hicimos una parada en un pueblo de Tanzania, Iringa, para celebrar mi
cumpleanos y hacer un ultimo safari.  Cruzamos medio pais en autobus,
un viaje que nos dijeron que iba a tardar 5 hrs y al final tardamos 9.
 Pasamos a toda velocidad por el parque de Mukuni y pudimos ver
Girafas, Elefantes, Zebras, Baboons y otros animales desde la sucia
ventana del autobus.  Me preocupaba la velocidad a la que ibamos
pasando por el parque y luego lei que en esa caretera han atropellado
muchos animales, incluyendo elefantes.  Por fin cuando llegamos a
Iringa fuimos a una oficina donde organizan safari's y miramos a ver
si habia otra gente interesada en compartir los gastos del coche,
conductor y guia.  Nos encontramos con otra pareja, Jerome y Rebeca,
de Francia y Espana.  Contratamos un safari de una noche y dos dias y
salimos hacia el parque de Ruaha por un camino de tierra y con
muchisimos baches.  Nuestro campamento estaba muy cerca de la entrada
del parque y antes de entrar pudimos ver elefantes y girafas.  Es algo
increible ver animales tan grandes desde la ventana del coche.  El
parque de Ruaha es completamente distinto al de Chobe en Botswana.  La
vegetacion es como yo imaginaba cuando pense en Africa, Acacias,
Baobab's, arbustos secos, una hierba larga y la tierra roja.  La
densidad de animales no es la de Chobe pero se aprecia los animales en
un habitat mas natural.  Vimos muchos animales y al final del dia
vimos nuestros primeros leones!  Fue increible.  Habia un grupo de 8 o
9 machos muy cerca del camino y nos quedamos mucho tiempo sacandoles
fotos, aunque ellos pasaban de nosotros totalmente.  Por la noche en
el camping nos sentamos alrededor del fuego hablando con nuestro guia
y conductor de los Masai's y la historia y cultura de Tanzania.
Fueron unos dias increibles y me alegro de haber hecho otro safari.
Despues del Safari cogimos un autobus hasta Mbeya donde pasamos la
noche antes de seguir hacia la frontera de Malawi. La salida de
Tanzania y entrada a Malawi fue muy facil y nada mas cruzar la
frontera cogimos un taxi a la primera ciudad de Malawi.  La ciudades
aqui son mucho mas basicas y apenas tienen bancos, ni restaurantes, ni
alojamiento etc.  Al final llegamos a nuestro destino en el norte de
Malawi a la orilla del lago Malawi.  Nos acampamos alli dos dias y
dimos unas vueltas por el pueblo que es solo unas casas y puestos de
comida en la calle principal.  Dejamos nuestras mochilas en el camping
y cogimos un camino de tierra y fuimos andando hacia arriba hacia el
pueblo de Livingstonia, que era una antigua mision de David
Livingstone.  Alli nos quedamos en un sitio precioso al borde de un
barranco.  El dueno es belga y tiene el camping, unas cabanas y una
huerta donde saca todos los alimientos para las comidas, en plan
autosostenible.  Ibamos a quedarnos una noche y al final pasamos tres
donde celebramos el cumpleanos de Antonio.  Hicimos una pequena fiesta
con el dueno, un suizo-argentino, el cocinero Italiano y nuestros
amigos Jerome y Rebeca.   Ayer bajamos andando y recogimos nuestras
mochilas para seguir nuestro camino hacia el sur. Hoy estamos en un
pueblo en las montanas, Muzuzu, y estamos aprovechando de las
comodides que ofrecen las ciudades Africanas, como bancos y internet y
nada mas.  Manana iremos hacia el lago otra vez a Nkhata bay y nos
quedaremos por lo menos una semana explorando la zona y las islas en
frente que estan en el lado de Mozambique.
En general nos gusta mucho Malawi y la gente son muy simpaticos pero
nos soprende que es mas caro que Tanzania aunque es bastante menos
desarollado.  Nos quedan menos de 20 dias antes de coger nuestro avion
en Lilongwe.

Zanzibar to Malawi

We had a great time in Zanzibar and even met the son of the president of Zanzibar.  I love mixing with the rich and famous!  Although I don't know how posh it is to be drinking warm beers on a beach in Zanzibar but at least he was an extremely interesting guy and we had a great day with him.  We spent our last day in Stone town buying souvenirs which now make our backpacks even heavier and we still have one month to go.  We took a fast boat back to Dar, as apposed to a slow ferry, and had a super fun ride.  I felt like I was ten again and back on the Demon at Great America.  The ocean was pretty choppy and the wind was blowing hard and with our speed it all combined together to make a stomach dropping ride.  Every once in awhile the boat would lift up and then plunge back down into the water.  Every time I did that I wanted to throw my hands up in the air!  We also had dolphins swim along side of the boat and at one point in front of us.  Silly things didn't they know that we were flying and they could have been run over.  Back in Dar we were deciding whether to go straight to Mbeya (near the border of Malawi) by train or stopping along the way by bus and maybe joining in on a Safari.  We eventually deciding, because of the cost $$$, to go by train.  I had been trying to call all week,with no luck, to book the tickets and so finally the day before we went to the train station.  We took the local transport, Dalla Dalla, which is a small mini bus.  For 20 cents you jam in there with about 50 other people and hope you don't get stepped on or pick pocketed.  I have seen many of these buses from the outside with people hanging out the door and others faces smashed up against the window, quite a sight.  By the time we got to the train station the booking office was closed so we just decided to risk it and show up the next day for the train.  The next morning before we took the taxi and left our guesthouse I tried calling one more time and this time got thru and was told that the train was all sold out!  Again our train trip was foiled and we now had no other option than going the next day by bus.  That following morning we got on a supposedly 5hr bus trip to Iringa in southern Tanzania but as usual it wasn't 5 hrs but instead 9hrs!  Aside from stopping in every single town on the way to pick up and drop off customers we also had a lot of road construction and many delays due to that.  Luckily we had a TV on board and got to watch tons of music videos by local artists and even some Swahili comedy shows.  The music videos got old pretty quick as you can't really tell one song from the next and they usually last like 20 mins each.  The comedy show was even worse since we don't understand Swahilli and the humor was not evident.  But the bus driver seemed to enjoy the show and has he drove he would crane his neck back and glance up at the TV!  Then at one of the stops, due to construction, where we sat on the road for about 15mins Antonio nudged me and pointed to the driver.  I was quite surprised to find him taking a little snooze!  Poor guy must have been really tired!  The rest of the trip I was kind of freaked wondering if the 15min cat nap did him any good or maybe wasn't enough for the next 3 hours that he still had to drive.  Finally at about 7pm we arrived in Iringa and were glad to get to our guest house which is quite nice compared to what we have been living in for the last few weeks.  We actually have one big bed, yes at night Antonio and I both roll to the middle but so what, we have hot water and breakfast included.  We finally have signed on to a Safari with two others and tomorrow leave for a two day one night Safari!  I am hoping to see lots of lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!
After that it is off to Malawi.

Catch up on Zanzibar and Southern Tanzania

We had a great time in Zanzibar and even met the son of the president of Zanzibar. I love mixing with the rich and famous! Although I don't know how posh it is to be drinking warm beers on a beach in Zanzibar but at least he was an extremely interesting guy and we had a great day with him. We spent our last day in Stone town buying souvenirs which now make our backpacks even heavier and we still have one month to go. We took a fast boat back to Dar, as apposed to a slow ferry, and had a super fun ride. I felt like I was ten again and back on the Demon at Great America. The ocean was pretty choppy and the wind was blowing hard and with our speed it all combined together to make a stomach dropping ride. Every once in awhile the boat would lift up and then plunge back down into the water. Every time I did that I wanted to throw my hands up in the air! We also had dolphins swim along side of the boat and at one point in front of us. Silly things didn't they know that we were flying and they could have been run over. Back in Dar we were deciding whether to go straight to Mbeya (near the border of Malawi) by train or stopping along the way by bus and maybe joining in on a Safari. We eventually deciding, because of the cost $$$, to go by train. I had been trying to call all week,with no luck, to book the tickets and so finally the day before we went to the train station. We took the local transport, Dalla Dalla, which is a small mini bus. For 20 cents you jam in there with about 50 other people and hope you don't get stepped on or pick pocketed. I have seen many of these buses from the outside with people hanging out the door and others faces smashed up against the window, quite a sight. By the time we got to the train station the booking office was closed so we just decided to risk it and show up the next day for the train. The next morning before we took the taxi and left our guesthouse I tried calling one more time and this time got thru and was told that the train was all sold out! Again our train trip was foiled and we now had no other option than going the next day by bus. That following morning we got on a supposedly 5hr bus trip to Iringa in southern Tanzania but as usual it wasn't 5 hrs but instead 9hrs! Aside from stopping in every single town on the way to pick up and drop off customers we also had a lot of road construction and many delays due to that. Luckily we had a TV on board and got to watch tons of music videos by local artists and even some Swahili comedy shows. The music videos got old pretty quick as you can't really tell one song from the next and they usually last like 20 mins each. The comedy show was even worse since we don't understand Swahilli and the humor was not evident. But the bus driver seemed to enjoy the show and has he drove he would crane his neck back and glance up at the TV! Then at one of the stops, due to construction, where we sat on the road for about 15mins Antonio nudged me and pointed to the driver. I was quite surprised to find him taking a little snooze! Poor guy must have been really tired! The rest of the trip I was kind of freaked wondering if the 15min cat nap did him any good or maybe wasn't enough for the next 3 hours that he still had to drive. Finally at about 7pm we arrived in Iringa and were glad to get to our guest house which is quite nice compared to what we have been living in for the last few weeks. We actually have one big bed, yes at night Antonio and I both roll to the middle but so what, we have hot water and breakfast included. We finally have signed on to a Safari with two others and tomorrow leave for a two day one night Safari! I am hoping to see lots of lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!


After that it is off to Malawi.

Nos Vamos

Creo que no le gustamos al tren. Nuestro segundo intento de coger el
tren y .......FALLIDO! Esta vez ni pudimos comprar billetes porque
estaban todos vendidos. La primera vez fue el accidente y tuvimos que
cambiar a un bus...ay ay ay! Bueno tuvimos que buscar otra solucion y
tampoco es mala. Manana cogemos un bus y hacemos un viaje de 6 horas
a Iringa y alli decidiremos si siguimos el dia siguiente a Malawi o
nos quedamos unos dias en la zona. Es una zona buena para hacer
safari's y caminatas pero los precios de los safari's son bastante
caros y ya que hicimos uno, y nos gusto mucho, no se si gastaremos el
dinero para hacer otro.
Hace dos dias que vinimos de Zanzibar y tuvimos una vuelta bastante
divertida. Cogimos un barco rapido, en vez del Ferry lento, y hacia
bastante viento y le mar estaba un poco revuelto. Nosotros nos
sentamos en la proa en unos bancos al aire libre. A veces soplaba muy
fuerte el viento y se levantaba el barco y parecia una montana rusa.
Creo que mas que algunas veces tenia el estomago en la boca. Luego
vimos unos delfines a lado del barco y un poco mas tarde nadaron por
delate, espero que no pillamos ninguno. Ibamos bastante rapidos.

Aqui estamos en Dar es Salaam y ya se lo que significa estar como
sardinas en una lata. Ayer cogimos el mini bus local "Dalla Dalla" y
empezaba subir gente y mas gente y justo cuando pense que ya no podia
subir mas, subio como otras diez personas. Desde fuera tenia que
parecer bastante graciosa con gente con sus caras aplastadas en las
ventanas y algunos cueropos que salian por la puerta. Todo una
experiencia.
No se si tendremos mas noticias hasta Malawi y nos queda unos dias de
viaje, cambia de moneda, hora, idioma, culturas, paises etc. Que
ilusion.