Epic Journey Back to Site

So after our safaris and tropical island rest and relaxation it was time to head home, crossing all of Tanzania and Malawi. After so many crazy African buses, we decided to give the train on this continent a chance. Getting tickets was a nightmare, and Luc had a mini breakdown after trying unsuccessfully for three hours at the station. Luckily Janet made a couple phone calls and solved the problem. The old Tazara line built by the Chinese in the 1970's has received no non-essential maintanence since. Half the electricity dind't work, we found several holes in the floor we could watch the tracks zooming by through, our bathroom was only functional for #1, for #2 we had to go to the next car, and of course the engine broke down, delaying our trip for 7 hours while they sent a new locomotive to relieve us. Us being foreigners everyone assumed we were engineers ready to fix the problem so they brought us into the engine room, unfortunately our white person magic did nothing. The train was spacious though, at least in 1st class were we had our own cabin, dining car and lounge. We remarked several times how glad we were not to be in third class pressed up with all the humanity, we've done plenty of that already. We passed the time watching Tanzania roll by, eating food and drinking beverages in the lounge, and chatting with all the world citizens and PC tanzania volunteers we meet, passing on and recieving travel tips. Pepe particulary enjoyed the various Spanish speakers we coincided with. The train traversed the Selous National Park and even though a locomotive isn't the best safari vehicle, we spotted animals and enjoyed an amazing sunset. So, on aggregate, we would take the train over a bus, especially for any distance over 20 hours. Northern Malawi was scenic, with plenty of views of the lake, but with the ongoing fuel crisis and so many bus routes cancled, all the transport is uncomfortably sardine can jammed packed. Luckily one of the police at one of the numerous roadblocks confiscated the 10 drums of fuel one of the passangers was trying to smuggle from Tanzania because the fumes had been making us nauseus. We've tried to shield Luc's dad from some of the less pleasant aspects of life here, but transport is always hard. He's been a trooper though and enjoyed getting to experience the real Africa. Hopefully readjusting to teaching and life in site won't be to challenging after so much action and adventure, but we're really going to try to make the most of it now that the end of service is within sight.