Ile St Marie - paradise for a week or two
Trip Start
Sep 11, 2006
1
4
15
Trip End
Jan 30, 2007
Ile St Marie, Madagascar
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Out on the Tana town for a couple of days with Miranda, who's also coming with us to St Marie, Ruth, Racel and Louise, and the guys (Simon/Trev, Karl, Phil, Dan - conservation volunteers staying at Andasibe, and Marcus, and Robin - new teaching volunteers). Went to le Glacier nightclub...shudder. Heaving with prostitutes, many of whom draped over gross old ex-pats. Funny night though. Had one beer and felt pretty tipsy, guess my tolerance is down! Good live Malagasy music, I can't believe how much energy the drummer had! Enjoyed being in a big group again as well.
Sat 28th Oct/Sun 29th Oct -
This was the big party night. But first, the day. First really good one I had in Tana. In the morning Anna-leigh and I went to Socimad to change some money, then Air Mada - even the errands seemed enjoyable, because all the people were being nice. Then we met the others in Blanche Neige and had a 'Mexican' ice-cream - banana and ice-cream made intoa Mexican with a wafer sombrero, raisin eyes and moustache. Quality. Thence to la Rova, which unfortunately burnt down in 1995 (?) so is being rebuilt. Great views over Tana - teh stadium, the lakes, the hills, the jacaranda.Exercise grudgingly good, as it's so hot.
Anna and I tried to go for a 'cheap' lunch to Snack Bar Jim at the top of Outcool/Sakamanga street (it does have a real name, but I only know the web-cafe one!). this turned out to have been replaced by a fairly posh and expensive place called Impala. Fantastic though. Decor was impressive - bright purple, red, orange, gold, with lts of animal print on the ceiling, tons of plants. Sounds tacky, but it worked really well. And then the food...best I've had here. Really tender zebu steak kebabs with peppers and gratinated potatoes, with a coconut and red wine sauce...drool. The restaurant was completely empty except for us, maybe because it's more of an evening place. After lunch we chatted to teh owner for a bit - Impala had only been open for three months, although he also owned CubaLibre uptown. He'd lived in Cuba, US, France... Then as we were walking down past the Sakamanga, he drove past in a Z3! I think he possibly had the biggest muscles you coul actually put on an arm, as well.
Afternoon - we eventually went to the zoo (Anna, Phil, Marcus and I), after a lot of hairwashing and faffing. VERY funny moment with Dana, trying to moisturise his face, realising that he was in fact using hair conditioner instead....ha ha ha. Zoo god, but not great. Pretty cool to see the ring-tails and aye-aye especially. Also liked the warthogs and giant tortoise. I have to admit, 'Bird Fair' was...a little bit boring. But we talked to some nice people, including one guy who'd got his PhD in Jersey and who csaid he could help us with Isalo and Kirindy.
Back from the zoo, lots of sitting around, trying to decide where to eat - most of us didn't really have that much opinion, as long as it was not too expensive. Chose La Petite Verdot - ridiculous taxi ride there. Driver took us first to the Raphia Hotel (!) with Phil shouting random French words out the window (he'd had a reasonable amount of beer...) Then our cab tried to ring Miranda - and I went into 'adult mode', with Ruth, Phil and Karl all giggling and being funny in the back. Then the driver found out where it was, took us, for us to find that we had too many people for one table, so the poor waiters had to carry up another table for us to squash round - I felt really bad for him. We, basially, an annoyingly loud vazaha group. Trev was aready wasted and just kept grinning (he also chose wine over food to save money!). Then we got wine... lady at another table asked us to be quiet - we did try, but the noise kept creeping up - I was pretty embarassed, so kept going 'shhh!' Had tasty duck in honey sauce and tasty red Malagasy wine - half a bottle was more than I should have had, though!
Then to Le Bus nightclub: 4000 Ariary to get in, with a free drink - had dzama rum, which tasted more like a mixture of sambuca and anti-freeze, so the cola went in too! Getting pretty drunk by this point. The club was virtually empty, but we weren't allowed to sit on the comfy-looking reserved seats by teh bar. Wondered if they were reserved for the mafia..? Then I bought a Breezer rip-off - for 10,000 Ariary! Such a bad idea in all respects. Then we danced - so funny, especially when Phil was wearing my bag. Then I talked to a Dutch man in very, very bad German for no apparent reason (he'd already told me that he was Dutch and spoke good English...!) Pretty dangerous situation to be in, really - when we left, I couldn't even remeber where the exit was...oh dear. Not doing that again! Sitting around back Chez Dodwell, Trev suggests cake - which I apparently think is the most exciting idea in the world. So we walk to Le Glacier patisserie, trying not to get mugged. Get some reasonable cake. Then the epic journey back begins. We find ourselves outside a Shell garage, fail to realise that we are in fact 200m from the flat, and jump in a taxi. We ask for the French Embassy for 100A - chat loads ot the driver in French, and they do their best to take us the long way round, but there's no mistaking that we have literally gone around the corner. Oops. Stumble to bed.
Two and a half hours of sleep, before getting up for birdwatching that had been arranged for us (that we weren't even that interested in!), although we manage to miss to bus, as we walked to the wrong end of the Avenue..! Then I sprawl out in the boys' flat for a few hours, before Shoprite, internet, sleep, and rice pudding. Off to St Marie in the morning.
Mon 30th Oct -
Slight problem - neither Anna-leigh nor Miranad any phone reception, so not entirely sure what'll happen when I land. Did manage to get through to Ruth, who's on Ile aux Nattes, and apparently Anna and Miranda are at La Crique, which the guidebook said is 22-30 euros per night. That seems expensive to me. Plane journey fine, although really hungry as I thought they'd feed me more than peanuts. Oh well! Off the plane, drink in the and instantly feel relaxed. Grab a lift in the hotel's 4x4. Driving up the road (which is fairly pot-holey, but what does that matter?), I can smell cloves drying in the sun, lemongrass, vanilla, and wet forest leaves...I feel like I'm in paradise. This smell is, I think, my favourite personal memory from Madagascar.
Arriving, forget that I'm supposed to be mildly annoyed about La Crique - wow! The bungalow is literally about 20 y ards from the pretty beach, palm trees and tropical plants, roses everywhere, tasty (though overpriced) food. We all walked for a couple of hours, just to see what was there - nothing really! But really pretty - just drinking in the forest smells. I swam when we got back, to cool off - really lovely in teh water here. The evening before tea, sat and smelled life, watching the fireflies. Daft, but kept almost thinking I would see them set a bush on fire...!
Tue 31st Oct -
Early start to get onto 6.20 airport bus to town - too far for my puny little legs to cycle. Cheaper cafe complet at a hotel in Ambodifotatra. Wandered slowly through the town and across the causeway - really like the way it looks like you're walking on water from a way away. Got to sign for la Cimitiere de Pirates. Guidebook specifically says a guide is unnecessary, which turend out to true for the actual graveyard, but we went at high tide. Oops. Therefore the guide, which we accidentally ended up with, was definitely true for the helping hand through the mangroves. Cemetary itself not that huge, very strange to think of actual pirates beinh there. Most of the death dates pretty late on in the pirating era, too, around 1875 (can you tell I'm a historian yet?) Not sure if this is because of them living out their remaining days here and then being buried, or whether it's only pirates killed like pirates, and they just survived as a species longer around Mada and St Marie. I suspect the latter. The only name I recognise is William Kidd (died 1834), though his was a monument, rather than a tomb, I think. others I wrote down were: Joseph Pierre Le Chartier ('tue 1837 par son ami, a cause de sa femme'); Mme Rivet nee Giraudeau (1862); Jean-Marie le Thomas (1875). Also P.A. Reaux, which the guide pronounced as 'Pareaux', which made me little suspicious of his piratological qualifications!
Ate at Le Relais, tasty fish with tomato and coconut sauce, rice mountain, adn 'corosolle' juice - not a clue what the fruit is, apparently large and green. Instead of an expensive taxi-ville back to the hotel, jumped in a camionette for 2000 A. each - Miranda and Anna got the front, I got boards and rice sacks in teh back. good fun actually, in spite of the dust and not very comfy cobbles. Swam again to cool down.
Wed 1st Nov -
Boat trip to la Piscine Naturelle and la Cocoterie beach. Enjoyed the boat, but very, very long, hot walk to la Piscine and back (around 15km, in the midday heat on the way back). Swimming there was amazing, though - with waves crashing over the rocks (basalt), creating a jacuzzi effect. The water's so salty here, too, it's really easy to float. Food at Chez Antoine very tasty, especially the first Fanta! Walking through the high trees lining the side of the track - traveller's trees everywhere, lots of ferns - it felt like I was actually on Puzzle Island, a beautiful book we have at home - if I'd seen a dod, not sure how surprised I would even have been!
La Cocoterie beach was absolutely beautiful - strip of gorgeous white sand, blue water, but I preferred la Piscine overall as you could actually swim there and see the rugged rocks everywhere. Plues, there was the sandflies... huge bites!
Thu 2nd Nov -
Very lazy day indeed. got up round 7.30, because didn't want to lie in bed, when I could sit on teh porch and watch the sea - tres calmante. Morning was drifintg round La Crique, wriitng postcards and lunch. Afternoon 4-6 sleeping. After dinner, we played Scrabble with Muriel, an 84 year lady from Botswana, who's lived in Zambia, Geneva and Gaberone, part of missionary and political things. Her sister married the first independent President of Botswana (after Muriel had introduced them!) and apparently her nephew's not unlikely to be the next President. She got involved in politics fighting for Independence there, has lived a pretty eventful life. I love travelling. (I won both games of Scrabble, oh yes.)
Fri 3rd Nov -
Lazy morning again, mostly consisting of the daft 'photo shoot' (i.e. cocnut bras, surfing a tree, etc, etc) - good fun, though God knows what the others guests thought of it! Bus to town - to airport - pirogue - Ile aux Nattes. Such a nice sensation being punted along teh desert shores (though a wee bit colonial? eek) - the view changing very slowly. At Les Lemuriens we book three nights: looks okayish, though lack of people makes it feel a little eerie. And the owner seems abit creepy. If I got his gist right, he makes me pretty angry too, his casual destruction of the island's ecology by bringing lemurs over - he said there wasn't enough fruit to feed them, so which bird's food supply are they eating??
Then comes the night...get to our bungalow (hut) and find the mozzie net is crawling with bugs - loads of green and purple flies which were hanging off a string and which I though were beads until I blew on them and they started crawling...euch. No way are any of touching that net. I do feel slightly ashamed of my rubbish girl-ness, but looking at the bugs all there makes me feel slightly queasy. So, both Anna-leigh and I wrap ourselves in our own sheet bags and mozzie nets and attempt sleep - goes fairly badly, cos it's just too damn hot! Get maybe two and a half hours maximum.
In the morning, we walk to Chez Regine for breakfast and to formulate a plan of escape. On the Bradt Guide map it looks like no distance, but takes about an hour in all. manage to borrow a kind French woman's phone to phone Maningory hotel in the North. Perhaps it's a bit silly and princessy to ditch the weird, infested place for Mada luxury, but I don't care. After another game of Scrabble back at Lemuriens, pack up and take a pirogue round to the Northern point. Arriving at Maningory, it's definitely worth it (despite costing 42 euros each per night, eek!) Comfy, relaxed, but still classy and with nice people. Spend lovely afternoon reading, little bit of swimming, half a game of Uno, chat for a bit with a Norwegian bloke, nice meal, bed.
Sun 5th Nov -
"Remember, remember teh 5th of November: snorkelling, coral, and not [much else]." that about sums it up. Saw lovely coral, including a mauve one that looked like flowers but was the colour of heather almost, shoal of silvery 5cm fish, translucent yellow/silver little fish, royal blue/silver, turquoise ones, and angel fish. And also urchins - to be avoided! Only bad thing about it (apart from the mask not fitting properly and leaking snorkel) was that Miranda disappeared. I thought I'd maybe heard her say she was getting out, but couldn't see her anywhere. Walked right along the beach, still not there - starting to get very worried. go back to hotel, hoping she's there...which she is. Phewf. A bit annoyed, but very relieved.
Afternoon, bit of chilling out, more silly photos. Last night of the holiday - glad in a way: not because it hasn't been good fun, relaxing, interesting, etc; but because it's come to a natural end and because I'm excited about getting to work in Tsiroanomandidy.
