In this moment, everything is perfect.

Lake Malawi. Now we get it. What a wonderful place. We were there for approximately 7 minutes before we decided that...
1. We are jumping in the lake immediately.
2. We are coming back next weekend.

We stayed at Mayoka Bay, a backpacker's paradise about 10 minutes outside the main town. For $10 a night, we had a brilliant lake view, ate delicious food, and met some amazing people. If it weren't for the lack of plumbing facilities (1 actual toilet and 1 compost toilet for the whole place), I'd call it a resort.

It took about 2.5 hours to get there- I was proposed to by an old Malawian man on our minibus ride to Mzuzu, then our taxi to Nhkata Bay was stopped at all 3 police checkpoints and fined for some minor detail (no fire extinguisher, 8 people in the car instead of 7, having tanks of gasoline in the trunk...) Malawian police have to make their own wages, so they often stop and fine taxi drivers, or elicit bribes. But we finally got into town, then hiked about 20 minutes uphill to the lodge. As soon as we got our rooms (Rhianna, Jenny, and Carol right on the lake) and Julie and I a little higher up the cliff, we changed into our suits and jumped into the lake, swimming out to a little floating dock anchored off shore. The water is clear green/blue, deep, and the absolute perfect temperature. Totally worth the shisto, which we will definitely have by the end of the trip. Oh well, there's meds for that.

After a short swim before dark, we changed (who needs to shower when there's a lake?), and headed down to the main porch/dining/bar area for a BBQ party (SALAD! guacamole, beans, carrot slaw, veggie sausages, eggplant, chili bites) and some "beverages" of the Carlsberg category. We were all staying in little cabins with porches, but there were also many backpackers there camping out in tents.  Backpackers are some of the most interesting people. Chris a scuba instructor from South Africa, Vionne a flower harvester for perfumes from South Africa, and Scott a tree climber from Seattle (and younger brother of Cross Country skier Olympian Holly Brooks) had previously met each other on other backpacking adventures, but all decided to meet up again, quit their jobs, and take a year to travel from Capetown to Cairo. Dave and Karen were a young couple from east coast Canada who also quit their jobs to travel through Egypt, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique for 10 weeks and we looking to extend their trip a month longer. Brendan was a young structural engineer from Ireland who had spent 5 weeks in Mzuzu setting up water pipes before starting a new job this spring in Cairnes, Australia. Nicole and Amanda are 2 Dutch sisters working at a hospital in Nhkoma, just outside of Lilongwe for a year. We chatted with everyone and shared amazing stories. It was a really fun evening, which ended to eloquently as Julie and I sat on our porch watching it lightening mystically over the Lake. Words fall short, really.

It thunderstormed pretty severely overnight, but we managed to sleep in/ Julie and I grabbed some brunch (the Breakfast Combo- the most delicious toast with homemade lime marmalade, a bowl of tropical fruit (papaya, mango, apples, bananas, guava), french press coffee that is impossible not to spill, and muesli, a cereal-like mixture of oats/grains/craisins). The food alone is enough of a reason to return. Then we hiked a little down the hill to a small row of craft shops to haggle for some souvenirs and postcards, then returned to the lodge just in time for the Lake Boat tour! This was the excursion of the day.

In a small wooden fishing boat sat Jenny, Claire (who arrive earlier this AM), Carol, Rhianna, and the Dutch sisters Amanda and Nicole, Julie, myself, and our captain named Gift, and a couple other Malawians along for the ride. Captain Gift led us out of the bay and along the coast of the lake where we fed eagles! There are two eagles named Tony Blair and Condoleezza Rice. Gift stuck a small fish with a stick, whistled loudly, and tossed the fish into the air where it landed about 20 ft from our boat (after he had jokingly put the dead fish in his own mouth for a minute or so- EW). Tony left his perch on a tree, fly right over us and dove down to swipe the fish out of the water and flew back to the tree to enjoy his snack. We repeated this a couple more times, I got to throw a fish but purposefully tossed it close to the boat, which didn't please Tony. I had to retrieve the fish and toss it a little further out for his liking. Still got some amazing pictures though. We also saw lizards and monkeys scurrying along the coast. Next we found a nice big rock to go "cliff jumping" (which was really only about 5 meters high). Climbing up the rock face itself was a bit of a challenge (my climbing skills would've made Josh proud!) and being the show-off that I am, I started off with a nice front flip of the rock, but (serves me right) over-rotated and hit the water just perfectly to lose my bikini top over my head. Did I mention how clear the water was? Luckily, I was able to pull my top back over my head before surfacing, but it was still a good laugh for everyone. Gift, Carol, Julie, Amanda, and Nicole (with A LOT of persuasion) made the jump. It was actually so deep right off the rock that I was even able to do a few nice swan dives!

After we had our fill of jumping, we swam over to a collection of rocks perfect for snorkling. We saw so many schools of small fish- some neon blue, some black, some dalmation. It was really something. There were also a few small cave tunnels that Julie and I had fun swimming through. Then we swam to shore and met the rest of the boat on the beach where we had a long jump competition with some of the local children. Julie represented Team Mzungu very well- a smashing third place victory earned her the nickname "Serious" dubbed by Captain Gift. As the daylight started to fade, we boated back to Mayoka Bay, fed Tony and Condoleeza a couple more times, then docked for the evening. Julie and I relaxed with some hot coffee (was getting kind of chilly without the bright sunshine) and the most delicious fresh Bruschetta on homemade baquette. We showered then returned to the porch bar to play some pool with Dave & Karen (we won, obviously), partake in the Curry Night buffet (not quite as good as the BBQ, but still yummy), and sat around the table sharing more stories wtih more backpackers. Jasmine, a Dutch girl who just graduated from law school but decided she didn't want to be a lawyer was traveling alone for 9 months with the ambition to visit 3 continents- South America, Africa, and India, had just arrived in Malawi, starting month 5 of her trek. Exhausted from the day's activites and the blazing sun, we hit the sack pretty early Saturday night, but still took soem porch time to enjoy the lightening over the Lake.

Another full night of thunderstorms, but Julie and I awoke early on Sunday and enjoyed another Breakfast Combo each, plus one giant banana pancake. Then we decided to hop in one of the dugout canoes and paddle around the bay ourselves. For those of you who didn't watch the Malawi episode of the Amazing Race in which there was a dugout canoe race, dugout canoes are crazy tipsy, incredibly difficult to balance, and even more difficult to maneuver- but we made it across the bay and back without tipping (although steering was another issue)! It was quite the accomplishment- none of the Mayoke workers thought we could do it! Although, we did stradle the boat with our legs on the outside, instead of the inside, which makes it a wee easier. Next week we aim to successfully complete the Mayoke Challenge- paddle out to the floating dock and back without tipping earns you a free night's stay (legs on the inside, of course)! Then we sunbathed on the floating dock, enjoyed pineapple Fantas, and chatted with a few more backpackers until our cab picked us up at 2pm to take us back to Mzuzu. We were sad to leave.

Backpackers are another kind of people. We LOVED hearing their crazy stories- people that actually QUIT their jobs just to accomplish crazy dreams. Chris put it nicely when he explained to us "I figured I could travel the states and Europe when I'm old, but I had to tough out Africa while I am still young". How can you argue with that? We just listened with awe the things they have done and seen. We want to accomplish these things too! It made me realize that this will certainly not be my last trip to Africa. I'm coming back.  There is certainly a sense of longing when you hear their stories and you start planning your trips for the future. But then again, we're HERE too. Right NOW. We ARE accomplishing these things and seeing amazing sights, even for just one month. In this moment, we are all the same. In this moment, everything is perfect. That's Lake Malawi.