Final words

Leaving today for Paris.  Madagascar is unique and exotic for sure, but we can identify closer than ever before with the author of National Geographic Traveler who said, "the worst places make the best stories".  Madagascar isn't a worst place; but it's a tough place for the budget traveler.  We had some difficult times (most notably on the pirogue trip), but the trip has been all-together wonderful.   We are really glad we made it here.  What we gain through over-land (or over-water) travel often makes any discomfort seem fleeting. 

A word about travel logistics to answer some questions. We each have a medium to large backpack (18 - 26 pounds each), and then we carry one small backpack with passports, money, credit cards, and books. We never ever leave the small backpack anywhere.  The raincovers for our packs have been invaluable.  We are finished with the tent, mosquito netting, sleeping bags, and sleeping pads for the trip.  After sending those home, our bags will be much more roomy and lighter.  We try to wash clothes every few days in a sink, but we have had our laundry done twice this month by someone else. It's cheap.  We have a smartphone that has made keeping in touch (this blog) much easier. There are 3 cellphone companies in Madagascar. Although service is poor outside urban areas it is generally good.  No 3 or 4G.  We use Orange and somehow can look on the internet and check emails for almost nothing. We paid 8000 Ariary (4 usd) for going on 28 days of data services. We're pretty sure this is a mistake.  Regarding the question of using the bathroom on the long pirogue or bus trips. We didn't.  Andrew had it much easier of course.  Prices have been much more expensive than say Thailand. We negotiated for everything. We bargained once for a beer.  Got a 25 cent discount thank you very much.  Even if a price was printed it wasn't really set.  We use a Steri-pen on all our water.  We've been pretty adventurous with food. Crab, langouste, and fish with scales and eyeballs attached were all a bit frightening at first. We had Koba, which is mashed rice and banana wrapped in a banana leaf. Not bad actually. We had ground cassava leaves with rice and pork. Delicious.  Grilled chicken head was served to us once, but we passed on that.  We also passed on the bowl of innards that came afterwards.  A traditional Malagasy drink we tried was Ranovola, which is water boiled in the bowl that was used to cook the rice.  Tastes like rice, turns out.  Also drank the milk from a freshly-shaved coconut.   Worst food is hard to say.  Best food was probably this Indian restaurant we found in Tana.  Enjoyed the jus naturel.

On average the places we stayed when not camping had a sink and sometimes shower in the room.  The shower had the handheld head;  once it was just a metal hose (difficult to control, like a snake).  Usually we had hot water.  And toilets were shared.  A couple of times they were squatties.

We hope this first leg of this epic 5 month journey has prepared us well for what is to come. We know that we have only skimmed the surface in understanding Madagascar culture, history, fauna and wildlife.  After an experience where you learn the language and engage with the community for 2 years this could not have been more different. 

Another entry will come soon as wifi and mysterious cell waves permit.  Fly at 9pm.