Transit Town Mbeya, Tanzania

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Mbeya Crew Enjoying some Beers

It took seven legs for the journey from Livingstonia, Malawi to Mbeya, Tanzania.  First, we starting walking down the hill from Livingstonia, because you are never sure if there will be a vehicle.  Steep and windy, we walked about 7km down, and did 11 of the 19 switchback hairpin turns.  Then we heard a vehicle approaching from above, and sure enough, a large, flatbed truck came down.  We hopped in the muddy back with a group of other locals, and bounced our way to the bottom.  Next thing we knew, we were sitting on the side of the road in Chitimba.  While waiting in town, we hitched a ride in a nice SUV from a local who didn't want any money in return.  A shared taxi took us from Karonga to the border of Tanzania.  We walked from the border about 2km to the bus stop, and a medium sized bus took us to Mbeya.  But, not all the way, as we were shuffled from the bigger bus into a minibus for the last few km's because I think our guy was too lazy to head to the bus station.  It was dark, a new country, and it was a bit stressful as there were people dragging our stuff around and we didn't know what was going on because, as we discovered, there is not much English spoken here.  We would have to learn some Swahili!!

Excited Kids at the Train Station

Holed up in a little hotel, we met 2 Kiwi guys next door and planned to head to the train station in the morning to buy tickets for an 849km train to Dar es Salaam.  For whatever reason, males and females cannot sleep in the same compartment on the train unless they book the entire compartment.  So, it was lucky that we came across Jan and Hamish, as they reduced our price significantly.  And, we enjoyed hanging out with them, along with four Aussie girls they had hoped to catch up with in town.  The 8 of us went to the train station in time for our assumed departure, only to find out that the train was 20 HOURS late, and that we should just come back in the morning.  A little disappointing, as Mbeya is just really a transit town, with very little to do. We felt like we were wasting a day really, but what can you do.

Kids Playing Dice with us at Train Station

We made the most of it though, all hanging out at a local eatery, and then the local pub.  In the morning, it was back to the train station at 10AM, where we sat and waited, and waited and waited.  We passed the time with some games, which the local kids watched intensely.  One little guy was super pleased when I asked him to throw the dice for me, and he was GOOD.  I kept him as my substitute for the rest of the game.  We also played some hacky sack, and on one effort, Jan accidentally stepped on a box of biscuits and drinks that one of the kids was selling.  It was a excellent effort to stretch out for the hack, but he ended up getting guilted into buying a bunch of the things he accidentally stepped on!!!  Probably didn't break the bank though.
We had taken a sweepstake on when the train actually arrived, and 3:30 PM was the winner.  More than 24 hours late and we finally got moving at about 4PM or so.   Not sure how this kind of punctuality would go over in the Western world!!!   *Stub

Hamish, Jan and Us in our Cabin on the train