Across lake Malawi

Here we are in Nkhata Bay, it’s a small but lively port town on the Northern end of lake Malawi and here we are back online again! You, probably like us, have realised we will not be able to keep the same rate of writing and posting pictures on the blog as we did from South East Asia :( but we will still do our best to share with you our trip, images and emotions from Africa.
After spending two wonderful weeks in Lilongwe with Barbara and Roberto we had a chance to experience all kinds of aspects of their young ex-pat life. We had wonderful dinners and barbeques, great parties and lazing at the lake, long conversations about development… and we also had memorable experiences that will stay with us forever: teaching English and Maths (you can guess who did the math part ;)) to children in an orphanage, visiting a refugee camp near Lilongwe which hosts people from all over Africa, some having been there for the last ten years and not much chance of going somewhere else… Someone said that Africa is joy and sadness at the same time and no matter how hard you try you cannot miss either.
After we sadly had to say good bye to Lilongwe we spent a day at the Mua Mission http://www.kungoni.org/chamare.htm, established by a rather flamboyant and controversial catholic priest who conducts baptisms wearing a leopard skin as a sign of incorporating the local traditions into Christianity, apparently a process known as ‘inculturation’. He has gathered the most comprehensive and amazing compilation of local traditions, songs, tales, as well as masks and dancing costumes, which give a deep ethnographic insight into Malawi and its people.
From there we went down to the lake again and took the famous ILALA, one of the last Great African Steamers that were going on the Great Lakes, it took us on a wonderful three day trip on lake Malawi, which we enjoyed to the full with long strolls on the deck, fun with interesting people, jumping in the water at ports and great chambo (the fish in lake Malawi) and mashed potatoes.
We will stay one more day here and tomorrow we will move further on north towards the Nyka Plateau and Mwaza Park where we hope to experience another wonder of Africa, its wild life! They promise us hippos, elephants, zebras, cheetahs and they even promise us we will get interested in bird-watching … (not sure about this one but we are always open to new experiences :)).

Miss you and starting to revive the old idea of the big bus of friends travelling through the world together :)

Oh yes and the car is fine :)

We are heading off tomorrow

We spent already a lot of time in Lilongwe, but now it is time to head off into the countryside.

We are proud owners of a brand new Pajero *lol* which is nearly as old as I am, but we hope it will take us to Kenya without any troubles. But before we head north we want to explore the south of lake Malawi...

My first car (not entirely true = I owned 1/6 of a car in America and now it is 1/2 of this)

Friends, Yva and the car :)

One of the local mosque

I had to take a picture of this one - I saw one of these in Herat Afghanistan, in an unnamed town in Cambodia and now in Lilongwe Malawi. Next time I might as well buy one of the famous PHOENIX Bikes :)

More Africa

Captions will be added later - I have to go and cook now...

Africa...

I was planning to have a political incorrect /funny/ first title, but after being here
for more then a week it would not be funny any more...

Africa indeed is different.

The trip down south was already a bit special - The check in Lady in Vienna told us: I can not check you in because you don't have a Visa.
Thank God it turned out that the Malawi Embassy, the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affair and the international check in system is wrong - you can get a Visa on arrival - even as Austrian.

Our local friends then picked us up from the airport and immediately took us to the lake.
Since then we visited the city, went to a village, saw dancing, went hiking in the north and are close to buying a car.
So everything is fine, and we are slowly getting into the African way of life.

BTW Internet is slow - not the "I can't download music!" kind of slow but "I am falling asleep while I am opening a page" kind of slow. So until we figured out a way...

Casa Alexandrova...

The Entrance to the Casa Alexandrova...

The main house on the estate...
One has to notice the slate roof tiles - a specialty of the region...

The barn is currently the object in the best condition ...
... and stands next to a wonderful picnic spot.

The back of the house after we cleaned away bushes, thorns and nettles for several hours.

Open plumbing is standard in the region - there is a lot of work to be done until we can enjoy a hot shower in our designer bath.

But no matter how the house looks like now, it is a beautiful, fun place. Especially in this season the many fruit trees in the garden make it a worthwhile travel. Where else can you eat biological grown fruit from the trees...

Bulgaria, oh Bulgaria

After a lazy week we are back on the road again.
There are many things to do, more to see and too many people to meet.

Through a Friend of Yva we were invited to a Church opening - with lots of famous people, high ranking clerics and a lot of nice local farmers living in the unspoiled countryside near Troyan.

Perfect hospitality in a beautiful setting - Thanks John, thanks Claire!

Next stop for us were the famous 7 Lakes in the Rila Mountains.

... sexy on 2200m elevation ...

The reason of us being there was the annual festival of the white brotherhood - there where about 1000 people up there - we are one of the many tents :)


... the dancing of the brotherhood ...


... high above the lakes - not dancing of course :) ...


and there is always time for an old hobby - highest point I ever flew!

Bulgaria - once again

After a long month of separation we are back together in Sofia. Many friends we saw, many decided to visit. We are enjoying our stay here as always. Good food, nice company and perfect weather.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral - Bulgarians biggest church

We did a trip to Rila Monastery - the most famous Monastery in Bulgaria. (and if I only would have time to visit one place in Bulgaria it would be here)

Another view of the main yard

Frescoes in the entrance area of the Monasteries church.

More of the Frescoes...

Frescoes in the little church down at the cemetery, where most of the people never go.

... happy after a hard day of sight seeing :)