Topsy turvy
Trip Start
May 05, 2006
1
42
43
Trip End
Aug 21, 2006
Tamatave, Madagascar
Sunday, August 6, 2006
This morning, August 11th, we took a flight back from the island which we booked there and were very happy to find spots...I was pretty sick the whole two days of travelling, by land and then boat. It all started with an early morning getting a taxi-brousse at 7 am from Tana to Tamatave. Of course we didnt leave at 7 since the taxi-brousse never leave on time, but we had our favourite front seats beside the driver, so we didn't mind. The trip started out quite pleasantly, listening to music and making our way out of the city. I'm not sure when things changed...one second I was marevelling at the difference in the scenery of eastern Madagascar - rising from the highland plateau to large lush mountains covered in an array of vegetation, including the ubiquitous traveller's palm, one of the symbols of the country - the next...I was very very nauseous. Because of the topography of the region, the roads are extremely windy but, not only that, our driver didn't seem to understand the concept of driving without either having his foot hard on the accelerator or brake. Needless to say, it was very jolty. Seven hours, one pee break at a hotely where the bathroom was next to a pig sty (!), and two vomits later (thank goodness for Air Madagascar puke bags) and we had made it to Tamatave. Matt and I got a pousse-pousse to carry our packs to our hotel while I tentatively walked, wondering when car sickness is supposed to go away.
Once we checked into Hotel des Flamboyants I lay down while Matt went to get food (which I had no interest in until several days later) and figure out how we would get to Ile Sainte Marie the next day. There is a special shuttle/fast boat combination that foreigners take and is quite a lot more expensive than the taxi-brousse option (35 euros versus 15 dollars), but considering my state it was looking tempting. Since the booking office was closed and we couldn't find anyone selling phone cards to call to make a reservation, we decided to get there at 5:30 am the next day to see if they still had space. On our phone-seeking adventure I got out of the room for a bit and we managed to see a bit of the life of Tamatave, which is predominantly a resort town on the east coast, frequented by wealthy Malagasy. Matt didn't know that it was a holidaying town and so was a little confused when he saw so many families walking about together and people on ATVs and scooters obviously joy riding. We made it down to the seashore, where all sorts of little fair games were set up, like some gambling and knocking bottles down with balls. Matt tried the bottles, but the pressure of being the white guy throwing was too much, and he threw his chances of winning away.
For dinner Matt ate most of a delicious looking pizza with green pepper and juicy pineapple. I made it back from the room by the time he was almost finished and managed to eat a few pieces myself. Unfortunately stomach cramps plagued me through the night and my pizza came back up before morning.
