So Wednesday 9 of us headed off from Nkhata bay for Ruarwe. The first mission was to stock up before we left - our plans were dampened when (what we thought was) the only off license in the area was closed for stock take. But that wasn't enough to put us off so 2 of the guys went hunting and after a short while returned victorious with a crate of beer, a bottle of vodka, a bottle of Gin and a bunch of Power number 1 sachets. Then with another crate of cold beers we headed for the boat. It was a local boat we were getting to the lodge, we were told it would leave about 12 and take about 5-6 hours (having been in Africa for a while I'd learnt to interpret this as leave about 2-3 and take up to 8 hours). The boat was not the most comfortable but it was definitely an experience (obligatory chicken included - on all local transport in east Africa there will ALWAYS be a chicken).We sat at the beach for about 3 hours in the boat - this was less than fun by now we had already finished our cold beers. So we left around 4, the trip was interesting and fun - a highlight was when Ryan (one of the guys in our group) was allowed to drive the boat - the certainly did not please the locals. Later on the trip I got up on the roof of the boat and watched the stars - it was an awesome moment - lying on a boat in Lake Malawi, watching a star filled sky with lots of shooting stars just contemplating how awesome life is! We arrived around 2am, in the dark, tired after a long trip. We just went to bed.

The next day we got up and got to see how awesome the place was, we had our ownsmall private beach, a waterfall, and pretty much had the run of the entire place (another couple had come with us from Nkhata bay and there were only 2 people there when we got there). The time at Ruarwe was very relaxed with each day only being assigned one or two tasks. Day one involved some shhhwimming, shhhnorkelling, playing in the waterfall and eating followed by a little drinking - busy day. Day two involved a hike to a waterfall which was relatively difficult in flipflops, we swam at the waterfall for a while and then headed back down the river to our lodge- then as it was Friday we had our big drinking night and polished off the 2 bottles of spirits and some sachets of spirits (in Malawi you can bay shots of spirits in plastic sachets for pennies - great idea if you ask me) while playing drinking games - good times.

Saturday morning involved jumping of a high (>10m) balcony - nothing better to refresh you after a night boozing followed by some more swimming. Then on Saturday night we had a bonfire (it was one day after bonfire's night in the UK). Then on Sunday we took it easy (much like every other day) but did walk over to a local fishing village in the afternoon where we were swarmed by children - it was really interesting to see where and how the local people lived - they are completely isolated relying on the few boats that pass every week to get supplies or else it's a very long walk to the nearest town. Then Monday had arrived and it was time to leave paradise - there was some debate whether to join some of the people and visit some of the islands in the lake but I decided it was time to move on and start making my way to Zambia.

We were getting the ferry (the ilala) back, it was due Monday morning (but we knew it was running about 8 hours late on the northbound journey on Sunday night so there was no hurry). The trip on the ilala was quite enjoyable, we played some games and got into Nkhata Bay around 11.

The time at Ruarwe was AWESOME. I enjoyed myself so so much, it was really laid back, we had a proper laugh and I would really recommend it to anyone who visits Malawi! I guess a lot of why it was so good was because I went with a really good bunch of people! So just beware if you ever go expecting a really quiet retreat from the world you might be joined by a raucous bunch (we weren't too bad really).