Damn! I got scammed today!
Trip Start
Apr 21, 2008
1
37
225
Trip End
Apr 20, 2009
Livingstonia,
Malawi
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The previous night we met a guy at our hotel who said that we could jump on a 6 am bus right outside the hotel that would take us to the border. When I woke up this morning, a man who said he was the driver?s aid was there to take myself and the 2 English girls to the bus. It didn?t take me more than 2 minutes to not trust this guy. He was a smooth talker. The girls were loving everything that was coming out of his mouth. They couldn?t stop giggling at his jokes. Maybe I was still in a bad mood from all the bus traveling I was doing but I just didn?t like this guy and I think he could sense it. What made me not trust him even more was how he carried my backpack to the bus instead of the backpacks of the two girls. I was wondering why he was trying to win me over.
When we got on the bus, this man offered to sell me a bus ticket that would take me directly to the town I was going to in Malawi. I was told that once I got to the border, another bus would be waiting on the other side to pick us up. I said no. There was no reason to buy the ticket in advance. I always made arrangements when I got to the border. The man started telling me how I would avoid the line ups if I bought the ticket beforehand. He even had the ticket written up for me. I was hesitant. Then I noticed that the girls bought the tickets without raising any suspicions. Was I just in a bad mood, I thought. These 2 girls were living in Malawi for 3 months and I figured that they would be able to pick out scammers by now. I was still hesitant. The fare was $10 US dollars. It wasn?t much. So I went against my instinct and just bought the ticket. I ignored all of the warning signs and just chalked everything up as me being in a bad mood.
Immediately after I bought the ticket, I knew it was a bad decision. There was little for me to gain by buying the ticket at this time. So I asked the guy to come back to my seat. I said to the guy directly that if this was a fake ticket, I would come back to the hotel and demand I get my money back as the people in the hotel (Holiday Lodge - Mbeya) knew who this guy was. He came off as being insulted by this and said he would never do such a thing as it would be bad for future business. I believed him a bit more but not completely. Seeing that I was suspicious, he came up to me 5 minutes later and said that I shouldn?t show anyone my ticket until got to the border as people would try to steal it and sell it for less. This sounded like a scam now. He was scared I was going to show my ticket to someone. I told him that I was going to look for the border police as soon as I got off the bus to make sure the ticket was valid. About a half hour later, I realized that the guy was no longer on my bus. That?s when I knew I had a fake ticket. I talked about it with the girls and they were suspicious as well. Of course, when we got to the border, the officials told us they were fake tickets. They see foreigners with them every day. Damn! I was more angry with myself than anything else. There is one thing I am good at and that?s reading people and picking out when they are lying to me. I just know when I am being lied to or being scammed. My instincts are pretty good when it comes to stuff like this. If there is one thing I absolutely hate, it?s liars and scammers. So I hate the fact that I lost this one. It has nothing to do with the money. Just the fact that an asshole got the better of me. It?s a definite lesson for me. I won?t ever go against my instinct again when it comes to these situations. I should have been able to avoid this scam but I didn?t. Arrrrgh!!!
The rest of the day was fine. Crossing the border was easy. I almost made things difficult for myself though. The border official asked me how much money I had. I thought he was asking me this because he wanted a bribe. I said I didn?t have any money. He looked at me startled and asked how I expected to support myself while I was in Malawi. That?s when I realized the reason behind the question. I showed him my credit card and travelers checks and he was fine with that. We got a lift from some guy at the border to the nearest town. We had to go through several police checkpoints. Each time the guards would flirt with the 2 English girls in the car. They paid no attention to me which is the way I like it. We were eventually dropped off at the bus station. I poked around looking for a guy who would exchange my Tanzanian schillings for Malawi Kwachas as I didn?t exchange enough at the border. It didn?t take me long to find someone. I knew I would find someone at the bus station. The guy even gave me a better rate than I got at the border.
I realized I was going to like Malawi as soon as I jumped on the bus. Everyone had a friendly face. It didn?t hurt that they were playing some kind of Christian Pop music. Before we took off, the music was turned off and the lady responsible for collecting the bus fares led everyone in a prayer.
I was on the bus for about an hour. I got off at a town called Chitimba while the girls were continuing on to Nhkata Bay. I would go there later on. I was getting off Chitimba with the intention of visiting this town on top of a mountain called Livingstonia. It seemed interesting and I met a traveler who highly recommended staying at a place called Mushroom Farm. When I first heard the name of the place, I thought it was going to be a place filled with hippies taking drugs. I was told it was nothing like that. It was given its name because there used to be an area nearby that grew actual mushrooms (not the magic ones).
The only drawback was that Mushroom Farm was a 16 km hike from where I was dropped off. The guide book
stated that I would be lucky to find a car or truck on that road as only 15-20 trucks crossed through each day. But my luck took a turn for the better. A big van stopped less than 30 seconds after I started walking. I. along with 10 other locals, jumped in. The driver charged us only 200 kwachas each (1 US dollar = 140 kwachas). The diver was a young kid. He said it was his first time driving up the road. He was even uncertain how much to charge us for the ride and only settled on 200 kwachas when a passenger on the bus suggested that this would be a fair price for everyone to day. Unfortunately, we hat to stop 5 minutes into our ride to fix a flat tire. It was only 20 minutes before we were off again. I eventually got to Mushroom Farm.
Mushroom Farm is a great place. I am staying in the best hut ever! It is right on the side of the mountain with a beautiful view of Lake Malawi and other surrounding mountains. My hut is made out of cob which is mud and clay. Even the sofas in my hut were carved by hand. It?s amazing and only 10 dollars a night. I couldn?t get over how cool this place is. It reminded me of the homes we used to see in the Flintstones. So glad it was recommended to me by another traveler. To top it all off, there were only 2 other people staying there. The owner (Mick) is a nice guy too. He is from Australia and has been running the place for 7 years.
I just hung out by ?The Farm? for the rest of the day. Tomorrow, I will go visit Livingstonia which is another 5 kms up the mountain.
