Thank you Madonna!

We are taking a rest day in the town of Chitimba Beach, by the beaches of Lake Malawi.  Our times in Kenya and Tanzania seem to have passed in a flash.  According to Jorg, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and other countries had an economic union in the 70's and 80's that was far advanced than the EU today.  The East African Union had a common currency, common trade policies, and may even had common legal systems too.  The union disintegrated when Amin went crazy in Uganda.  Kenya decided to take the path of capitalism, while Tanzania went with socialism.  Today, you can see the differences in the countries.  There were many factories in Kenya.  A lot of the product in stores were made in Kenya.  Tanzania seemed more agrarian.  Funny thing is that, we saw a lot of UN and foreign aid organizations' offices and vehicles.  We didn't see any in Tanzania.  Although we really didn't spent a lot of time in Kenya, people seemed more cosmopolitan.  I really enjoyed the people of Tanzania.  Kids and adults were very friendly.   All the children in both countries were smartly dressed in their school uniforms and very well behaved, even in the remotest of places.  We heard "Good morning mister" and "Good morning teacher" as we rode past.  We almost never heard "give me money," pen, etc.

Malawi offered a sharp contrast to Tanzania.  The hills of Tanzania became relatively flat rolling hills in Malawi.  Lake Malawi runs almost the entire length of the country.  There were a lot more kids in the country. "Hello" and "give me money" are the only things kids shout.  Some riders commented that this is Ethiopia again.  The funniest comment we heard was "Thank you Madonna" shouted from a kid.

The trip is well over half over.  We were challenged everyday: the tough route, sickness, bike problems, mother nature, etc.  We survived it all.  There will be more challenges ahead, but we will be ready.  Several riders had been diagnosed with Typhoid and a couple came down with Malaria.

Stage 58 - The rest day in Mbeya was not restful at all.  We all had to clean our bikes, do laundry, dry out our tents, and find food.  Before you know it, the day quickly passed.  Today's ride was promised to be the most scenic on the entire tour.  And it was.  We climbed in the morning to over 2200 meters, then descended rest of the day.   The morning ride was mostly in the misty cloud.  We passed tea and banana farms on the Tanzanian side.   Kids shouted "muzungu" when we passed by.  Muzungu is the Swahili word for "white people."  Kids in Tanzania were well behaved.  They just stood and waved.  It was a long descend into Malawi.  On the way down, we saw Lake Malawi in the far distance.  It's interesting every time we crossed a border, we can see dramatic differences between each country.  Malawi has the lowest life expectancy at 46 and 50% of the population are under 16 years of age.  So there are a lot of children here.  Malawi is also a lot hotter and more humid than Tanzania because of the lower altitude.  The Tanzanian side of the border was busy and bustling with people and merchants, while the Malawi side was mostly empty.   I rode quite strong today.  Paul the race leader commented on my recent performance improvements.

We camped in a rice field about 30km from the border.  As usual, a lot of kids surrounded the camp and watched every move we made.  One more day until rest day!

Stage 59 - Our toilet tent was stolen last night!  They warned us about securing our belongings in this camp.  The ride started with heavy rain.  Riding through the rain was refreshing.  Once the rain ended, I saw Lake Malawi on my left.  There were many small fishing villages along the lake.  We stopped at a small village.  There were rows of racks with a layer of small fish on top waiting to dry.  Fishing boats that looked like carved from a single piece of wood lined the beach.  Some village people built a fire pit on the beach and cooked the fish in a stew.  We rode into our camp site, it was on the beach!  A great place to take a rest day.

Stage 60 - Hahns, Kari, Heather and I went for a run on our rest day.  It was awful!  I was so slow.  My legs felt really heavy.  I have to get my running muscles back.  It was a lazy day on the lake.  Some people went fishing.  Lake Malawi is not suitable for swimming.  There are over 500 different species of fish in the lake, more than North America in total.

Today we rode out of Chitima Beach and climbed over a mountain range.  It was over 1600 meters of climb today.  At the peak of the mountain, Lake Malawi seemed endless.  You can almost detect the curvature of Earth looking far past the lake.  The climb this morning was beautiful.  There were waterfalls on the cliff of a mountain. The forest along the road, along with the humidity almost made me feel like home.  I rode without seeing a single person for over two hours.  When I saw a Malawi woman, I realized that I was in Africa again.