Hotel Bamboo Club Ifaty Tulear

... original guy who finally matched the price of the girls from the market after it was too late. I walked around the souvenir market and bought a few pieces of carved wood. They had some pretty things and it seemed as if I was the only tourist there so I got lots of attention. I walked around the central market a bit then when I was looking for a taxi back to the hotel, my original driver showed up and I ...

... took a walk down the main street from the hotel towards town. It's a very busy street with lots of people out and about walking up and down the street. Pouse-pouse (rickshaw) drivers would stop every 20 feet and ask us if they could give us a ride. We declined, and they were polite when we said no. Stopped to buy a few cocoa-colas to put in the fridge in our hotel room and came back to the hotel after walking about a kilometer.

... and of course have a big party with the local village where much rum and **** shaking dancing is obligatory. Last week I went on a village home stay when a family came and "borrowed" me for 24 hours - I went in their boat to a tiny island and spent the 24 hours living like a Vezo - the local fishing tribe. I slept with the family of 20 under the stars on their sail like they do (they only have a couple of tiny huts and they are ...

Hello all, This will only be a short entry as this I am on the only computer at the hotel. We are in Tulear on the west coast of Madagascar. Gina and I both survived the treking and are doing well. We have seen many animals and are on our way to the beach tomorrow to relax. I will write more when we get to Tana on Monday. This is the first internet connection I have seen in 2 weeks. André

It really felt like we were having a day off today. I spent the whole day on my sunbed, trying to stay in the shade. It was very hard work and I had to keep sleeping just to make sure I had enough energy to get up and go to the restaurant for lunch! There was another great sunset tonight and before dinner we were treated to a display of traditional music and dancing by the hotel staff. The girls wore ...

... wouldn't start. We had to drift aimlessly for a bit while the drivers tried to get it working. Then when it didn't and we had agreed which one of our party we would eat first should the provisions run out they decided to get going on just one engine. As we were crawling along, they continued take the spark plugs out, to pour fuel directly into the engine and then blast it out again, covering the boat in huge black ...

It has been awhile since we have been close to internet so there is a lot of updating to do but unfortunately a horrible French keyboard {not just because it is french] and not much time. Matt and I made it back from the beach in Ambalavao and stayed in Tulear one night, which ended up being a big one since we decided to go to a local bar [read: tiny room with one table and a lot of drunk Malagasy men at 9 pm ]next to our hotel . We didnt stay too long but it was good fun...you buy ...

Yesterday Matt and I got up bright and early to catch our early morning pirogue ride to Anakao, a beach town south of Tulear. Or so we thought. We had arranged with a piroguier the night before to meet at 7 am at the pirogue port for departure. Since the guy who helped us organize it had said to arrive around seven, give or take 20 minutes and since time goes slowly here, we decided to have breakfast before leaving. Good thing we did, since at around 7 the guy came by and ...

... foreigner - price) were happy to carry our bags to the next block where are hotel, Chez Lala, is located. They have lovely tiled rooms with ensuite bathroom for $10. We promised we'd use one guy to go to lunch and another later. Before we left, we ran into a woman selling silver bangles (a specialty here) and before we knew it, we both had about 3 on each wrist. But when they tighten those things sometimes it pinches! We were offered to wear them ...

... now defunct Swiss botanist, and run by his son. The naturalist is absent, so Niry takes us around the nearly 1,000 species of plants endemic to the area, pointing out a large number of mostly spiny trees and bushes. Dianne spots a chameleon just where people are commenting on thorns in a bush. Some good flora photos, then back in the bus, and into town for half hour on a very slow and ...