Adventures indeed...

Adventures indeed
Originally uploaded by laurabvary.

So, second installment of the new tourist adventures of Laura. So, review: Thursday was Ambohimanga (no pictures, sad..)

Friday, I wasn't necessarily a tourist, but I did hold a very typical American barbecue on my terrace for my friends at work. We had beef kabobs and bbq chicken, salad, jelly beans (for Easter), and lots of drinking, dancing and fun. After my party, the partying wasn't over and a group of us went dancing at an event for students from the north of the island. I was the only vazaha there, but I had a blast and learned how to shake my booty Malagasy style from several very energetic Malagasy girls... it was blast (but alas, again no pictures!)...

Saturday, I left for Ft. Dauphin with my friend Andry for Easter weekend. We had both Monday and Tuesday off, so it was the perfect weekend to get out of Tana. Ft. Dauphin is on the very south eastern tip of the island and a very tourist town. Their are whales at a certain time of year (not now unfortunately) and lots of cool interesting forest, with lemurs!! We stayed at a hotel on the Libanona beach, which is a small beach set in a cove (finally, some pictures!!). Saturday we just explored the town, had delicious shrimp for dinner and found the best ice cream in town (probably the only, but still delicious).

Sunday was Easter, and I decided to see what church was like here and so I accompanied Andry to the services by his church (basically protestant from what I can gather). This church was what I thought Madagascar would be like. I didn't take any pictures out of respect, but I'll do my best to describe. It was a small wooden building, built on top of a small hill, with an amazing view of the town and sea. The building itself had flaky white paint on the outside, and inside entirely unpainted wooden benches, rafters, etc, except for the sermon area, which was also flaky white, and had florescent lights to make up the cross. There were two ceiling fans (which seemed to not work) and the only other relief from the oppressive heat were the occasional sea breeze from the windows. I understood very little of the sermon, which was entirely in Malagasy, but it gave me time to observe my surroundings and enjoy hearing the kids play just outside the church, which got louder as the kids got more restless inside and went out to join the fun. Inside everyone had to bring their own bible and song book, which we didn't have, but people were nice enough to share. Communion was not given to everyone, and Andry explained that only those who have gone through a certain training take communion. I did enjoy singing in Malagasy though, as my reading comprehension and pronunciation are getting much better. After the sermon (which lasted 2 and half hours!!) we had a nice seafood lunch again and then decided to go to the beach. And the way back to the hotel, we saw the most amazing, huge sting ray (check out the pictures on my site!) By the time we got back to the hotel and ready, it was rather late, so I just put on my black sundress and was expecting a nice walk on the beach. Lo and behold the moment we get there, we are accosted by women trying to sell things. Being a vazaha just attracts them like flies. We didn't bring any money with us, but they did let us take pictures which was nice of them. But we eventually got annoyed and started to walk to the edge of the cove on the beach. Andry then discovered a path and had the great idea to follow it. This path lead around the bend of the cove and onto another beach. However, I was just wearing flimsy, flip-flops, a linen sundress, the rocks were slippery and the tide was coming in. None of this bothered Andry and I was forced to follow him or risk getting lossed on my way back to the hotel. The path did eventually make it to the other beach, but I got sufficiently wet in the process. After taking some pictures and enjoying the sunset, we climbed up the steep slope to get back up to the road and find the way back to our hotel. As we pass a few houses, we hear loud Malagasy music and lots of laughter. We stop to investigate and some children run out of the house, and Andry asks if we can come in and join them. It turned out to be a girl's 1st communion and they were having a large party. They of course invited us in, and as Andry spoke to them all in Malagasy, I tasted some of the best rum in my life and learned to shake my booty some more by some 10 yr old girls. It was a lot of fun and we stayed for about an hour drinking and dancing, but eventually we felt we intruded enough and promised to send them some pictures of the evening. As we leave, it starts to rain and we get kinda of lost on the road and end up having to climb down a sandy hill to make it back to the hotel. But it was worth it to dance and laugh with such kind strangers.

Monday, was Easter Monday, and it's a tradition here that everyone goes on a picnic. And I mean everyone... even if you have to walk all morning, just to sit under some tree to eat, and then walk all afternoon back home... it is worth it to have a meal outside of your town. We saw several huge trucks filled with people to take them out of town. It unfortunately reminded me of the kind of scenes of refugees you see on CNN. Everyone was scrambling to get on the trucks, babies were getting handed around... it was quite a sight to see. We asked our hotel if there were any excursions planned for the guests and he said that there was room in the owner's car as he and some friends of his were going to Andohahela, a national park near town. The owner turned out to be an American working for WWF and his wife was from Ghana (they met when he was doing the Peace Corps there). His friends were an English family who have been in Madagascar for fifteen years and another couple, American man, Indian woman, both working for the World Bank just under a year here in Madagascar, plus all their children. It was quite the trip, requiring two cars and many stops on the way there to pick up local fruit etc. The first road we tried into the park turned out not to work due to a bridge that had collapsed under the heavy rains they had had the week before. The second road we tried got us a good way into the park before we reached a part where the road was washed out by a river. We decided we should picnic here, under some baobabs. The children ate quickly and decided to go for a swim, while all the men went to go check on one of the cars that got stuck in the mud. Apparently, it was so stuck they needed more men, so they struck out for the minimun security penal colony that was just down the road to ask for help. Once the kids had their fill of the river and we had all sunbathed enough, we decided to check on the status of the car that they eventually got out of the mud. We then thought to return to Ft. Dauphin with all normal speed... alas, it was not to be. First one car would get stuck, then the second car. This picture is of just one of those times, where I was seriously concerned we were not going to get the car out after half an hour had passed and we all we had managed was to get the car deeper in mud. Luckily one of the cars we had was a pickup truck, so we carried four guys from the penal colony in back until we got out of the park and onto paved road before. I lost count of the times i had to help push a car out of the mud and I sincerely felt I was on a mission to the field instead of a lovely picnic in a national park... that's Madagascar for you!

Tuesday we got back to Tana safe and sound and started work the next day. The weekend was a success in my mind, and I promised myself to try more touristic things more often. I've loaded up some other pictures from this vacation as well as some from Maintirano too. Hope you enjoy them!!