Nearing a year

Yeah, it’s been awhile. Next week, I hit my year anniversary in Tana and I finally took my first in-country flight. Since I have done the three road trips I know about, most everything from here on out is by air. Flights are expensive and flight times are inconvenient, but you gotta do it.

There are 4-5 regions I want to go to, and I opted to start with Ile Aux Nattes, a small island south of a larger island just east off the coast of Madagascar, yet another island. It’s the tail end of whale season and I’d hoped to see some humpbacks. That didn’t happen, but it was still lovely.

The place I stayed, #Sambatra Beach Lodge, was phenomenal and had lovely hosts. Maybe 6-8 bungalows, but I didn’t count. My room had a double bed, bunk beds and sometimes a cat that would crawl in through the window. It was billed as “steps from the beach,” which, in my experience, means about 500 to a quarter of a mile’s worth. Nope. I could have thrown a coconut from my porch to the water, and it faced west so I had a fantastic view of the sunsets.

Since I’ve just returned from R&R (which was neither “r” nor “r,” hence the need for the getaway), I didn’t want to take actual time off so I just hopped up there for Labor Day weekend, leaving early (4 a.m.) Saturday and returning around 10-11 p.m. on Monday. Turned out, I was able to check in as soon as I arrived and nap, so that was great. Then the fabulous host, Vincent, set me up with a lovely couple originally from Yugoslavia but, upon fleeing home in 1988, had relocated to the U.K.

Incidentally, for the bird watchers, Denis runs a bird-watching tour company that travels to his former country, which is now Bosnia Herzegovina. It’s called #Wild Herzegovina.  

The three of us took a boat out with Florio to a sandbar in the Indian Ocean, where we wandered around and collected some cool shells on the sandbar and then came back to the island and had a lovely meal at a restaurant there. I had grilled white tuna and it was not only utterly fabulous but incredibly cheap.

The second day, the three of us took a whale-watching trip and came up empty, but if the consolation prize is a couple hours on a boat on a beautiful day, I’m in. The weather was absolutely fantastic the whole time I was there. A friend had gone the week before and it had rained, so my timing was as perfect as the cloudless sky.

Our excursion was done by lunch and I set out to explore the island, which is about one kilometer wide and two long. My goal for the final day was to walk the perimeter, so I cut through inland here and there, racking down two of three discotheques and a lady who ran a store and was able to sell me yogurt and a fake Coke about the time I was getting desperate for caloric intake.

Since my flight didn’t leave until 9 p.m. the last day, I really wanted to just walk around the beach, toes in the water all the way. Well, there were two points I had to throw on sandals and go the dry land path and one I should have. I faced some big rocks and, having faced similar ones earlier, I thought, I can do this. Wrong.

Now, I was cautious and cognizant of fact that I am over 50, traveling alone and was out of sight from humans unless the occasional passing boat passengers glanced by way. I took it slow, but man, I slipped in one place and went in down to my bellybutton. I was NOT wearing a swimsuit, and my JanSport bag went under. It’s funny these days; my safety was second to the phone! I yanked that bag up so fast and then was like, geez, I’m soaked!

But both phones were fine – that bag is pretty water-resistant. (Plug for #JanSport – I’ve probably had that bag over 25 years and it still holds up!) I had been on the second half of the walk and by the time I got back to the bungalow I had and mostly dried out. I just have a thing for boats and docks. When I look back through my photos, that’s pretty much what I have.

Randomly, I also managed to find something I’ve been hunting for for a few years now – a flag patch for my jacket. Although there’s tourism, the tourism industry hasn’t caught on and there’s not a lot of chintzy crap for sale. That’s good, but I have flag patches on a denim jacket for all the countries in which I’ve served (not traveled to) and Madagascar has been a tough find. But Vincent had some and I was so happy. I’d already checked out and everything, then wandered into the little shop. It was on the exit wall along with a bunch of others and I just grabbed it and went to hunt down Vincent. I said I needed it and he laughed and said, “Need?”

 And yes, as a matter of fact, I did need it.