A few weeks ago, I took my last vacation of my Peace Corps
service! Crazy. Since my COS (close of service) conference was at the beginning
of June, I had to use all our vacation days before that. Conveniently, one of my
best friends here had just finished her PC service and was looking to travel
before going back to America. So travel we did. We headed to Ile Sainte Marie, an
island off the East coast of Madagascar. The tourists flock here for the
beautiful deserted beaches, the seafood and the whales. Unfortunately, we
missed whale season…but there’s always next time.
We met up in Tamatave, my second home. My friend and I have
stayed in Tamatave enough where the hotel knows which room we like, the
cleaning ladies know us and our favorite restaurant changes the channel to BBC
in English when we walk in. We spent a day in Tamatave before heading off to
Ile Sainte Marie. Our tour company bused us to the port city and then took us
by boat. It was a pretty vazaha company, a charter bus with an individual seat
for everyone, a schedule and customer service! But some things in Mada never
change. Our bus broke down because something happened with the brakes. And then
it got dark and started raining. But not to fear. Our driver got out his
jumpsuit and a screwdriver (which all drivers seem to have) and before we knew
it we were on our way again. My theory is that the jumpsuit and screwdriver are
just an act and they just want to make you think they are fixing something! Luckily,
the remainder of the trip, which was on curvy roads at night in the rain, lasted
only 30 minutes.
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On the boat to Ile Sainte Marie.
We got to the port city and someone took us to our hotel-a
dingy little bungalow that cost way more than it should have. Since the hotel
reminded us of our PC houses, and since it was probably going to rain, we
prepped our stuff for inevitable roof leaks. We put electronics in a dry sac
and covered our bags with raincoats…only later did we realize that this wasn’t
normal behavior for people at a hotel. I guess PC has changed us…in ways I
didn’t expect. I suppose that when I stay at hotels in the US I won’t have to
operate under the assumption that the roof leaks.
The next morning our boat was supposed to leave at 7, but in
typical Malagasy fashion, it showed up at 8 and left at 9. The morning started
off really sunny, but once we hit the open ocean it was like boating through
the perfect storm. No one seemed too concerned except for the woman puking
behind me…so I thought that as long as the captain kept laughing and joking
around, I didn’t need to worry. We made it through the storm and arrived on the
tropical paradise of Ile Sainte Marie. We even saw dolphins jumping out of the
water on our way.
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| Biking around the island. |
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Just another beautiful day in Madagascar with some lovely PCVs.
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For the next few days we met up with the PCV who lives on
the island, and she played tour guide. We ate delicious coconut seafood, had
drinks and dinner on the beach, watched the sunset and explored some super
fancy hotels that we couldn’t afford to stay at. No complaints there. We also
rented bikes and spent a day riding around, stopping on the beach when we
needed a break or wanted to take a picture of the gorgeous blue water. The
amazing thing about the island was how undeveloped it was. Although its one of
the most visited tourist destinations in the country, the beaches were deserted
and we could stop wherever we want and see a white sand beach, beautiful blue
water, and no other tourists in site. For my last vacation in Madagascar…not
too bad!
