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Published: December 1st 2008
The trecherous and bumpy road to prostitution did not actually take us too long... We took a large covered truck on the 4x4 road from Toliara north to Ifaty. Ifaty is a madagascar/Jamaica setting with many old french ex-pats looking for a good time with the young malagasy girls. It was actually really sad to see, almost every old hairy sunburnt man had one or two malagasy girls with him- we had heard the problem was getting worse in the area and most of the girls actually came from Toliara to um work. But Besides the Hookers, Ifaty was very beautiful! The classic scene with bungalos, palm trees and reggae in the background. We met up with a really nice South African guy who spoke english and ran one of the diveshops. We went on three great dives off the coast- seeing huge puffers, leapord eels, ribbon eels, calamari, leaf fish and much more.
We felt satisfied with our diving and stay in Ifaty so we were ready to take off once again* In the morning we thought we would be leaving on a pirogue headed up the coast, but with supposedly bad weather moving in and a dwindling time frame- we made a call and by that afternoon we were on a plane headed out of Toliara to Morondava. Not wasting any time we scheduled an early morning departure via pirogue to head South to Belo- Sur-Mur, a small Vezo fishing village surrounded by smaller islands and mangroves.
Our second day in Belo we decided to venture inland to see the baobabs and so called forest. We walked on a sandy road during the hottest part of the day... 10-2, he best tanning hours, or in Belo the time to begin our pilgramige through the desert. The spiny forested desert was broken up by large open wasteland of mud and salt- the only life consisting of heards of crabs with one large claw, ready to battle for the small pockets of muddy water. We walked in a somewhat serious manner- not wasting too much energy on small gossip conversation, just focused on the prize - about three miles away. We came across a small village about an hour into our march, it really felt like we had been walking for days. We simply asked Baobab? and pointed up the road- with a nod of approval we continued to cross the large open salt flat. Large mounds of white salt glistened in the sunlight and we blinked through blurry eyes to finally see the Baobab. Happily we sat in the shade and munched on some food, more than relieved to be out of the sun and to our destination. The place was kind of like a resort that never came to be, or the tourists never came- There was no one in site so we began to take advantage of the many coconuts and baobab fruits that were. The baobab fruit are like hard round furry balls with a yellow dried powder/foam in the middle. The powder stuff tasted exactly like the mexican candies that are a mix of chillies and sugar- not in the least bit refreshing like we had hoped, but good none the less. And, as an added bonus- Colin discovered that if you throw them against things they explode like a little fire cracker. As we waited for a zebu (cattle) cart back into town we provided entertainment for the gathering of small children and attempted to rip apart the coconut husk (not an easy task, but always well worth it). We finally hoped on our zebu cart and settled in for the bumpy smelly ride back to town- (We had never reliezed that cows can talk and breath so much out of their ass). With the sun setting and the temperatures cooler it was actually a nice ride back with many birds and butterflies to observe on the way.
Day three in Belo we took a sailing pirogue to one of the islands to have a picnic and snorkel. The pirogues are a simple canoe with an outrigger and large hand-made sail. One person takes watch in front while the other labors at the tiller which is only a paddle that is used to pry against the edge of the canoe, a lot of work when the winds pick up. The beauty and simplicity of the design makes us both want to build one and perhaps give it a go in Bellingham bay😊 It took us about two hours to get to the sandy white island. The water was absolutely gorgeous with every shade of blue imaginable- There was no shade on the island so we spent most of our time in the water. Sadly there was a lot of coral wasteland, but we also found some great areas with many fish. After the long hot day we couldnt wait to get back to our bungalo and the shade. We sat back and watched the sunset as we sipped on coconut water- saving one of them to fill with rum (Colins new prized possession). We had a similar menu at our restaraunt with fish, rice and veggies- BUT they also had the biggest crab either of us had ever eaten. Pre-cracked you could litterally pick it up and take a bite out of the claw like you were biting into a hamburger, it was amazing!
Due to tides we got a ridiculously early start to head back to Morondava today. We were on the pirogue and off into the starry black night at 4:30 am. It was very relaxing and beautiful- without the heat of the sun it was easy to drift away. We watched the sunrise around 5:30- toasting to the beauty of the sunrise and a new day as well as Colins Birthday! Now in Morondova we are planning our next move- possibly North to the Tsingy, or a river trip. The rainy season is beginning to set in in many areas so washed out roads are limiting our options- we will see where the wind takes us.
Au Revoir * Ari & Colin
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Mary
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yay!
friends! glad you're both doing well and enjoying yourselves. safe travels and thanks for the good read....i'll wait patiently for the construction of the pirogue!