On food and beer in Malawi

That bottle in the picture is Carlsberg Stout. I didn't even know Carlsberg made a stout. Apparently they do in Malawi. In additional to the stout, Carlsberg also came in "Green" (the one you know), "Brown", "Light" and 5.7% alc "Special Brew" (we suspect this is the Elephant beer they sell in the States) as well as a Malawi only brew called "Kuche Kuche" that came in a 500ml bottle.

The other thing? Yeah, thats an avocado. Massive, and we're told they get bigger than that. We walked down to the outdoor market in town and picked up red onions and tomatoes. Along with some kind of green citrus that was like a mix between an orange and a lemon. We swiped some garlic hot sauce (more on that later), salt and pepper from the bar and made guacamole. That one avocado alone made enough guacamole for Jenn and I, with some to spare, if we could have stopped eating it.

How cheap is Malawi you ask? That avocado was < 50 cents. The hotel/resort we stayed at was $20 a night, and that was in the nicest room they had, with a giant canopy bed and a private bathroom with a shower you could run laps in. This was at, arguably the nicest place in town, with a free boat to take you there. Every night they had massive $5 buffets, all amazing. Every meal had a huge pile of salted, sliced avocado. The owner regularly handed out free drinks, wine, beer, mojitos. However the kitchen service at lunch was terrible, so we'd often walk to town for lunch. Street vendors sold spiced rice filled samosas or oranges for 5 cents. Fried dough balls for 10 cents.

Feeling spendy? The little 'pizza' place didn't sell anything over $1. Granted, it was a far cry from pizza. A) there was no cheese on it, B) it was fried. That didn't stop us from going back 3 times, it was good. The owner would take your drink order, and then immediately walk out the front door, to the shop around the corner and buy your drink. While you waited you could watch the ingredients for your pizza march in the front door. Small boys with tomatoes, onions and fish still on a hook.

I want to go back.

Distance from Keetmans to Nhkata Bay: 2300 miles. Thats 4600 miles round trip. Over 7000km.

PS. That hot sauce is called Nali. It comes in a variety of flavors and should you ever travel to Malawi I'd advise picking up more than you think you want. Jenn and I packed 5 bottles of it all the way home. It should have been 10.