The Supposed Easy Bus Ride

1. The bus I was supposed to be on doesn't actually exist.

2. Five and a half hours after arriving at the bus station, the bus showed up.

3. My backpack was locked under the bus, the key to those storage compartments left behind in Lilongwe. 

4. There was a large stack of cash in my backpack. 

I was carrying $530 in cash, alone, on a five-hour bus ride, to a city still an hour from my final destination. And that $530 was all in two dollar bills, the largest bills of the currency. So, literally, quite a bit of cash. Hundreds of bills stacked together in a pretty huge wad. 

That was Malawi for me yesterday. I headed north from Lilongwe, the capital city, to Nkhata Bay, a beautiful town on Lake Malawi. I was forewarned that the ATMs in Nkhata Bay work even less well than those in Cofradía, so carrying all my cash was recommended. The ATMs here only allow withdrawals of 40,000 Kwacha at a time, or about $90. This means that over the course of 24 hours, I visited five ATMs, two of which worked, and inserted various credit, debit, and ATM cards into these machines countless times. Hurray, let's hope it ends up worth it. 

Yesterday morning I arrived at the bus office. My intention was to book a ticket on the AXA Executive bus, wait an hour, board the bus, and five hours later be in Mzuzu, just a minibus ride from Nkhata Bay. This route had been highly recommended by many people as the best way to travel to Nkhata Bay. I figured it would be way manageable. 

When I asked to purchase my ticket, I was told that the Executive bus no longer runs from Lilongwe to Mzuzu. Instead I'd have to ride the Deluxe Coach, which was completely fine by me. I was, however, thrown off by the fact that the bus everyone had explicitly told me to take seemed to not exist. 

Anyway, noon arrived, the time my alternative to the Executive was supposed to depart. The bus, however, had not arrived. I wasn't too worried. By 1:15pm a guy near me told me that he had inquired about the bus. Apparently, it had broken down en route to Lilongwe. A new bus was being sent to us, and it would arrive at 2:30pm. The bus showed at 3:45pm, and I have to admit, I was beyond thrilled to see it. 

After carefully placing my enormous backpack in the luggage compartment under the bus, I climbed aboard and found a seat. I was the only white person on the bus. I said to myself, "Okay, I can work with this. I'll just get to Mzuzu a bit later than planned and then take a taxi to Nkhata Bay."

45 minutes into our ride, our bus stopped on the side of the road. Everyone started shouting as the bus turned around. Unfortunately, I could not understand a thing anyone was saying, and I'm inclined to believe that they were not speaking English. Well, as explained to me by my new bus friends, the driver had realized that the keys to unlock the luggage compartments under the bus had been left behind in Lilongwe. I couldn't help but burst out laughing.

After some deliberation, the bus decided to proceed to Mzuzu. I have a feeling not many people had luggage under the bus. 

So. There I was. On a bus in Malawi. I have to say, Malawi is stunningly gorgeous and green. I am so thrilled at this beauty I could cry. But the thing is, I had no idea when I'd get to Mzuzu. I'd found out that I wouldn't be able to get my backpack until morning, after another bus arrived in Mzuzu with the luggage keys. Which meant spending the night in Mzuzu, the town, it turns out, in which a high school math teacher of mine was born. Go figure. So, using my new friend's phone, I made arrangements for the night.

When we finally arrived in Mzuzu at 9:45pm, the driver asked me on which side of the bus my pack was locked. I told him the left side, and he announced that that side was unlocked. Once again, I started laughing. I got off the bus, found the taxi driver I had called to take me to a hostel in Mzuzu, and grabbed my pack. Pack in tow, we set off for Nkhata Bay.

I arrived in Nkhata Bay in the pouring rain, with the power out.