A little bit of paradise

Every weekend Noortje and I have been able to escape from some of the misery in the hospital to a bit of Malawian paradise. Though the trip did at times involve encounters with Malawian immigration with empty threats of being detained, bumpy and overcrowded transportation, the final destination was always well worth the journey.

We travelled a weekend to Livingstonia, a town in the North founded by Scottish missionaries. We stayed in an incredibly innovative local lodge run by a Congolese man who supplied the lodge with a local permaculture garden. The front of our tent was made of glass which led to our beautiful balcony overlooking the tropical valley, Tanzania, and Lake Malawi.  Another weekend we drove to Chinteche, a remote beachfront where we found ourselves completely alone along Lake Malawi and had the chance to try freshly caught Chombe, the local fish.

On the return from Livingstonia our peaceful state was quickly disrupted during the trip home. We travelled by minibus (local transportation) filled with 22 people (maximum capacity should be 12), one man was hanging with half his body out of the window in order to fit, plates and bags of fish filled the bus with a strong fishy odor, two adults sat on my lap and a chicken bounced up and down on my foot.