Biking the Border

Mozambique decided that she wasn't done with us yet, and after 5 relaxing days on Ilha we hopped into a chappa and headed back to the dreaded city of Nampula. We bought train tickets for the next day and checked into a hotel for the night. Unfortunately they were out of running water and after back and forth with the management we were able to get a small refund and showered with a bucket. Our train left at 5:00AM the next day and to our surprise, it left right on time. We had a 10 hour train ride to a city called Cuamba, which was in turn, a 4 hour bus ride from the border of Malawi. The train ride went smoothly and we hopped off to began our search for a bus to Mandimba. Here is where the craziness started. Bus and chappa people started grabbing and pulling at us, trying to get us to go with them. As they were grabbing Chad they were punching each other and pulling on my bag trying to get it off. The bus we wanted to go on threw Chad on the bus, leaving me back in the scuffle, until they realized that Chad was yelling at them to get me too. There were a few tense moments and a full on wrestling/fist fight broke out outside the bus, but the passengers on the bus were friendly and assured us that we were heading the right way. It was almost as if this was a common occurrence for them.

We weren't too thrilled about spending the night in a border town, but hoped to get in a big day of travel in Malawi the next day. We arrived at the border in Mandimba after the 10 hour train ride and 4 hour bus ride to find 100 people standing outside the bus trying to change money with us/take us to the border/sell us things. We were exhausted and walked to the closest resthouse where we spent another night with no running water and no dinner (Chad actually had an egg for dinner! yummy!).

We awoke the next morning knowing we had a full day ahead of us. Our goal was to cross into Malawi and, after a series of transfers, arrive on the shores of Lake Malawi some 200 km away by night fall. First things first, we had to get through the boarder. We exited our resthouse out into the madness that makes up all boarder towns. First we changed some money and then, after attracting a small crowd, selected two young men to pedal us across the boarder via bike taxi. Bike taxis are a way of life in northern Mozambique and southern Malawi. Simply put, people cant afford cars or petrol and a simple bike allows the boys and young men to make a living. We boarded the bikes sitting behind the driver on the small rack over the rear wheel (wearing our 40 lb packs) and headed for the boarder. It was a 8 km ride to the Mozambique border and from there another 7 km to the Malawi border (what about the space in between?!? not sure.) We paid the men well for their work and it was amazing to see the enthusiasm and effort they put into transporting us around. After getting our Malawi visas we then changed more money and hopped in the back of a pickup truck for an hour long ride to the regional hub of Mangochi. We hit up an ATM (the only one we have seen in 10 days in Malawi) and flagged down a bus leaving town that had our destination posted across the front. We boarded the bus to find there were no seats left and the passengers were all local missionary women on a retreat. Very entertaining ride and after we dropped off the missionaries at a camp (Chad unloaded their bags) and it was then on to our final destination of Monkey Bay.

As we exited the bus there was no lake in site. The town was spread out and we spent the next 2 hours in the hot sun searching for a place to stay. The first place we had noted no longer existed and the second place was run by a bunch of "beach boys". The beach boys of Malawi are mostly concerned with reggae music and smoking various things and have become a regular occurrence/nuisance in Malawi. They offered us a dirty room at about 10 times the price quoted in the guide book and then came down considerably as we balked and exited the hotel. Frustration set in and we were not sure what to do next as the small town was spread out over multiple kilometers, it was nearly 100 degrees out, and we were carrying our packs. It was only 3PM and we decided to head to our next destination, Cape McClear that day. After an hour of waiting for a mini bus to fill and an hour and a half ride to go 21K, we finally found a backpackers directly on the lake and showered for the first time in a few days. We spent 4 days at Cape McClear enjoying some delicious local dishes, kayaking and relaxing on the lake. It was a nice introduction to Malawi and a great place to spend my birthday. The lake is beautiful and we decided a few more days hanging out on it further north would be a good idea.......if only we had known the journey to our next location would be so difficult.