Malawi to the Farmhouse

June 30th

The journey through Malawi and into Tanzania was a long one, with plenty more exciting police stops. Our day had started at 4am, so most of the group was fast asleep for the first hours, mouths hanging open and heads flopped against the windows, as we drove along with African sunrise. As we rubbed our eyes and cracked open the peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast on the road, we found ourselves at the first police stop of the day. This guy must have had a bit of a "lay in" (what the Brits call "sleeping in") and not had time for breakfast, because he invited himself into the cab of our truck, alongside Paul (our overland truck driver, amibcably called Mr. P) and Jacquie (our tour leader), taking their breakfast sandwiches right from their hands. He must have missed his morning paper as well, because he opened the window to the back, where us 21 tourists sat, asking for any magazines we might have. Shortly after we pulled away, the police officer strolling off, peanut butter sandwich, Cosmo and Marie Claire in hand.

They aren't big on road signage here (go figure), so as Mr. P cruises through another village of mud huts, we get pulled over by the police, armed with radar guns. They claim we were speeding, in a zone unmarked with speed limits. We pulled over behind a line of nearly 15 trucks and cars in a similar predicament, with the mid-day sun turning our truck into a small oven of white people. After nearly 30 minutes of waiting, we began to wonder what was going on. Turns out that Mr. P was in line for the courthouse, waiting for his case to be heard. Across the road sat a scrappy building which housed a Tanzanian courtroom, where drivers caught 'speeding' were tried at the scene of the crime. Unfortunately Mr. P was found guilty, and an hour later we were back on the road.

Our lunch stop for the day included our first encounter with the Masai people. In their traditional attire (google it for pics), they strolled along the highway, Mr. P. calling out to say hello. Mr. P is Kenyan himself, so referred to the two men as his brothers, and soon enough he and Jacquie (who also speaks Swahili) were chatting with them. We offered parts of our lunch, but Masai people prefer meals of blood and milk, as opposed to our canned corn and processed lunch meats. They did enjoy our bean salad, the most natural food we could offer. What I found interesting was our groups reaction to their presence. Unlike many of our other encounters with local people, we weren't rushing to our cameras, but rather stood back, and went on with our lunches as if having Masai people joining you for a lunch picnic was a regular occurance.

We finally arrive at our quaint mountain destanation, "The Farmhouse," nestled amongst a classic African landscape. We had gone up in altitude, so our running group found that day's run to be challenging, not to mention the effects of having spent 12 hours on the truck.

More details on the Farmhouse and our journey to Dar es Salaam to come....