Nkhata Bay, North of Mzuzu, Malawi

This weekend my Mzuzu intern mates and I decided we should do a little exploring and go check out this little beach town right on Lake Malawi called Nkhata Bay.  We hopped into a shared taxi just outside of Mzuni (Mzuzu University) and paid 800 MK each (a little less than $4), to be taken all the way to this little backpacker's haven called "Butterfly Space".  We had been told by the previous interns that this is a great place to go and relax.  There is a nice little restaurant at the haven where we could get delicious meals.  It was important to be a little open minded because not everything that was on the menu was actually available, but when you got your food it was amazing.  I had some homemade baked beans and some eggs on hasbrowns when we first go there and it was delicious.  Every night they have a dinner special that you have to order by 5:30pm to eat at 7:30pm.  We lucked out and the night we got there was Lasagna!  It was pretty exciting to have a meal with some cheese on top of it.

Right when we go there we met a bunch of American people that were in the Peace Corps, working in little villages all around the Mzuzu/Nkhata Bay Areas.  Very shortly after talking to them we learned that they actually knew the last interns, and some of the other workers that we have met at Mzuni know them as well.  Jay, one of the Americans was celebrating a birthday so we all got to participate in that.

All day we just lazed around the beach, catching some rays.  Everyone had a little swim and we got to enjoy the beauty of the lake.  It is a huge lake, you can't see the other side.  It's almost like an ocean, reminded me of the lakes in Canada, however the ones at home are not nearly as wonderful!!!

The Butterfly is right beside this other backpacker's place called Mayoka.  We went there to have a dance party and play some pool.  Kelly and I were asked by some of the locals to join them in a game of pool.  Good thing Kelly and I weren't on the same team, because we definitely ran into some pool sharks! My team ended up winning one of the games though so I was pretty excited about that.  I have to thank my Fernie roomie SJ for helping get a little pool playing abilities!

On Saturday everyone just hung out playing cataan and Euchre.  I actually ended up teaching a few people how to play so I was happy, I'll be able to play one of my favourite games over here.

Saturday night was much more of a party than the night before.  We ended up having probably 15 of us in a group so wherever we went it was a party.  Our friend Hassan cleaned out the bar's supply of "Green Beer" which is Carlsberg green label.  Once we drank all of those beers, we had to go up to Mayoka to find some more.  We all ended up catching a ride in the back of a pick up truck.  We must've had ten of us in the back of this thing!

We partied until the bar closed and then had to head back to our dorm room to have a rest.  We all hung out on Sunday and our new friend Gina, who was Jay's sister knows how to do henna tattoos, so she gave us all these great floral band designs on our arms and hands.  I've never had  tattoo so it's really cool to have one of these non permanent ones.  I had never seen henna done before.  It's like a mud mixture then you make, then draw it on the skin and leave it for hours until it dries up and leaves an ink stain on your body for a few weeks.  I really tried to keep it on long so my tattoo will last longer.

We had so much fun, that we actually brought the Americans back to Mzuzu to stay with us because we could host them for free.  Gina made a birthday cake for Jay and I got them hooked on Degrassi Junior high!  

All in all it was a wonderful relaxing weekend and we now have some more new friends that we will get to see a lot while we are here.  They have weekends off so we should be seeing them lots.

We didn't really explore Nkhata Bay, but I know I'll be there many times so I can spend other times going into town, shopping and getting to know the village.

We met some European woman that have opened a nursery in Nkhata bay, so I will be going to visit their building once school starts up in September.

That's all for now, but I'll be keeping up to date on this thing.

P.S. We were supposed to start work today, but our people weren't at the University.  Maybe tomorrow???