Trip summary - completed!
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2003
1
41
70
Trip End
Feb 14, 2006
All over,
Madagascar
Sunday, June 20, 2004
5/20
the beginning of my trip with my family has been great so far. we spent two days in tana, shopping and eating at all my favorite places. (my sister, jen, asked why we weren't doing anything besides eating and shopping, and i explained that that's all i know about in tana since that's all that visiting pcvs ever 'do'.) i was thrilled to be treated to so many non-rice meals, and my parents were thrilled to pay about $30 for each huge, delicious meal (the exchange rate is crazy right now, completely in our favor, though it will likely be to the detriment of the malagasy eventually.)
after 3 days in tana, we went to my banking town and site, where my dad had some revelations about what i'm doing here and why, which is fantastic.... before this trip, he literally had not said one positive thing about me joining peace corps, but he's definitely more appreciative and respectful of why i'm here now. my parents, after seeing how relatively luxurious and safe my site is, also feel much more comfortable with my being here. i didn't want them to come so early in my service, but the fact that they'll breathe so much more easily for the next 1 3/4 years makes up for it.
we had a minor car accident on the way from my site to my banking town on my family's first day in that area. no one was hurt (two cars in oncoming lanes clipped each other), but it was pretty scary, especially when my friend caitlin, who was across a long seat from me, was thrown across the car and into my lap.
we also had lunch with callie and natasha and her family, which was interesting for my family because natasha served whole small fish and interesting for hers on many, many levels. natasha, who lost her mother last year, was adorably obsessed with mine. my sister brought her an US magazine about britney; even though her english is pretty bad, natasha was so excited she started reading it right at the table.
one of the highlights of this time was staying with my friend jeremy's family (the french guy who's sadly married...) at their bed and breakfast in my banking town. it's a gorgeous house and property, and the whole family (jeremy was out of town, but his father, brother, wife, two kids (who are among the happiest and most loving i've ever seen), five dogs, and lemur (named batman) welcomed us like family.
5/26
after time in tana and at my site and banking town, we went on to andasibe park, where, among other creatures, the largest species of lemurs (indri) lives. my mom had a mini-breakdown trying to deal with some fairly difficult hiking, but overall we had a great time. like my last time at the park in december, we heard the indri's eerie whale song echoing around our heads. we also saw lemurs almost as large (golden sifaka) and held a few small lemurs and saw crocodiles, snakes, and fossa (cat-dog predators - endemic to madagascar, of course) at the hotel's zoo.
in general, our trip is going well so far, though being in charge of EVERYTHING (i booked the whole trip, handle the money, do all the talking, etc...) is much more of a strain than i expected. also, we have a french driver (who speaks no malagasy or english) and i'm the best at french, so in my efforts to speak 3 languages i've lost most of my ability to speak any of them. i respond to my mom's english with french and to the driver's french with malagasy, and use the french syntax with malagasy words. since i expressed to my family that i felt like a single mother with 3 kids, though, they've tried hard to take some of the burden off me, which has helped a lot.
6/8
sadly, we didn't really have internet time after tamatave (where i wrote about andasibe), so i'm writing up the rest of the trip retrospectively. in tamatave we met up with 2 good pcv friends who live in the area and saw one's very traditional site a few kilometers outside town. it was fascinating to me to see the differences in the architecture, ecology, and way of living. houses at my site and in the highlands in general are made of mud brick and plaster walls and tile, tin, or occasionally thatch roofs. houses on the east coast (near tamatave) are made of thatched bamboo walls and thatched traveler's palm leaf roofs; additionally, many of them are elevated on poles to prevent them being ruined by heavy rains and flooding. near my site, there are all kinds of trees; near tamatave, we saw virtually only palms (traveler's palms, oil palms, coconut palms, etc.)
we didn't have tons of time in tamatave, but did manage to have a 'fabulous' seafood meal (heaping platters of crab, lobster, calamari, fish, shrimp, prawns and saffron rice) that i'm still dreaming about. (we don't keep kosher, obviously.) oh, and the total for 5 of us (my parents, 2 peace corps friends, and me - my sister was sick and didn't come) was about $35. you all should come visit.
6/29
after tamatave, we flew to ile sainte marie, a small island off madagascar's east coast. we had originally planned to take the ferry over, but decided to fly at the last minute - a decision we roundly congratulated ourselves on after seeing the ferry docked at the port on sainte marie. it was basically a small speedboat designed to hold 10 people at most, but which we later learned regularly carries 3 times that number, though not nearly enough lifevests. according to pcvs we ran into (at the airport, flying back to tamatave rather than making the ferry trip again), people puked over the sides and prayed for their lives the entire long, choppy, harrowing trip.
sainte marie itself was pretty but somewhat disappointing. i decided we should go there because it was a major center for 17th through 19th-century pirates, and i thought that the pirate shtick would be fun for my family. unfortunately, as we learned, the island's tourist draw isn't pirates so much as whales. we did see the "pirate cemetary", but, other than the facts that it's on a windswept cliff and has one tombstone with an engraved skull, it could have been a cemetary anywhere. on the other hand, the island is all about baleen whales: photos, wood carvings, other whale art, and ads for whale-watching tours are everywhere. unfortunately, whales only come through between july and september and we were there in late may. additionally, it rained every day we were there. we had one good beach afternoon, but otherwise, we played a lot of ping-pong and scrabble.
from sainte marie we flew back to tamatave for one night and then on to diego-suarez, the city at the northern tip of madagascar. diego is gorgeous. it has wide, clean, palm-lined streets, western restaurants and bars (including a place called "the san diego rock cafe" with betty boop paintings on the walls), incredible views (including a bar on a cliff where you can watch the sun set over the water), and great shopping. we also had two fabulous tour guides, close friends of mine, who showed us all their favorite spots over the two days we were there. one of the unexpected highlights of our time in diego was the discovery of two goats living in a broken phone booth. remembering that "america's funniest home videos" still exists and still gives away lots of money, i ran back to the hotel for our video camera and filmed these goats hanging out while people made calls in the phone booth opposite them; my parents or i will post photos soon.
from diego we flew to nosy be, where we spent the longest portion of the trip other than my banking town and site. nosy be ('large island') is an extremely touristy island a little to the northwest of madagascar and the largest of mcar's auxillary islands. its status as a major tourist destination is well-deserved: the island is stunning; many smaller islands nearby offer opportunities for snorkeling, diving, observing sea turtles, playing with lemurs, hiking, and holding beach barbeques; and since nosy be's exports include ylang-ylang flowers and oil (the base of many perfumes), vanilla beans, and many spices, the entire island smells terrific. we stayed in a fabulously luxurious hotel (our big splurge) was constructed in such a way that golden light dances through it at sunset. i have decided that that's where i will spend my honeymoon (i don't quite know who else will be there, but that's a separate issue.)
7/6
i have to finish this up quickly, because i'm headed up to a peace corps-sponsored marathon in morondava, the city on the west coast with all the baobab trees, and i'll have to write up a summary of that when i return! anyway, on nosy be we had amazing and amazingly cheap lobster, went snorkeling with sea turtles, visited a ylang-ylang factory and inhaled the heavenly scent, had more lemurs playing on our shoulders and heads (again, i'll try to get photos up soon), and got nicely tanned (one of my sister's top priorities for the trip.) it was truly wonderful.
back in tana for the last 2 days of the trip, we slept, ate, and shopped some more... and then they went home! then i went back to my site and got quite depressed and then terribly sick, but i'm doing much better now and that's another story coming soon.
i hope that you're all doing well and had a great 4th of july!
love, jess
*****
And now, some legalese:
The opinions expressed and experiences described in this travelogue are those of one individual Peace Corps Volunteer. Nothing written here should be interpreted as official or unofficial Peace Corps literature or as sanctioned by the Peace Corps. I have chosen to write about my experience online in order to update family and friends; I am earning no money whatsoever from this endeavor.
