Morondava to Morondava

I last left off here, on Part 1 of my Trip Parts 1 to 4. Yes, it would have made sense post vacation posts in order, but I'm special sometimes and don't necessary pay attention to logic.

After we left Camp Amoureux, we were cold and freezing. And tired. We drove for a couple of hours and then had the joy of hopping on one of Madagascar's lovely ferries!

We had a few minutes to sit around and...take in the area (and smells) so of course I took random pictures of not much anything.

Normally when I see little kids, I'm either prepared for them to a) begin screaming and crying, because they have never seen anything as big or as white as me; or b) ask for candy.

Here? They want our empty water bottles to transport water, milk, or oil. I kind of had a "poverty is sad" moment here. The kids don't even ask for candy...the ask for empty plastic bottles.

We weren't terribly fond of our transport, but things could have been A LOT worse.

After the typical Madagascar-pissing-around-time we took off. Louis and I had front row seats.

That's our fancy ride right here. We chose to get out before the SUV drove onto the "ferry".

We had an awesome driver (not such an awesome guide) and he made the descent no problem. We were on the other side getting harassed for empty water bottles, which we didn't have.

We stopped at this little town for lunch. I can't remember what I ate, but no one got sick and that's all that really matters. I was on the hunt for powdered milk, a flashlight, and batteries. After lunch our guide found us everything but the milk, which was very surprising since there wasn't a grocery store, just little markets here and there.

So many little kids wanted their picture taken! (And our empty bottles. Have I said they wanted our empty water bottles yet? Were were asked. Often. Repeatedly. And then some more).

And then, we got back in the truck and drove for five our six hours. This is probably as good as the roads ever got. Notice the SUV is at an angle? We got seriously thrown around in that thing.

And then we got to...wait for it...another ferry!

Soulo (our driver) had to take out some engine parts and dust them off before we got on (the only one I recognized was the air filter). This little boy was fascinated with Soulo and thought he was the coolest thing ever. He was probably the only kid that didn't ask us (repeatedly) for water bottles.

And finally, after about another hour, we arrived at Vazimba Hotel. Crappy, ugly, bug-filled, Vazimba Hotel.

The bathroom smelled horrible. It was pretty icky.

The bed wasn't horrible. The sheets had some spots on them...and I tried not to think about them (although "Sperm Sheets" became a regular phrase with me and the girls on this trip). Looking back it was pretty horrible, but after the long drive, and given we were in the middle of nowhere, I didn't think it was that bad at the time.

And then, we went to bed. And I woke up at 04h00 with a crazy, painful migraine. And when it was time to wake up, it was ten times worse and I wasn't able to keep any food down. The only thing I could do was lay on the bed with a pillow over my head.  So - I just spent like 10 hours on the road - to lay in bed. Fantastic.

Luckily the girls took pictures.

These are called Tsingy and were the REASON that we took Part 1 of the trip.

They even got to see a type of lemur that I've never seen before!

 Everyone came back around 13h00. I tried to eat, but it just wasn't happening. I laid in bed until about 16h00...and my headache went away. I couldn't quite eat yet, but there was progress. I went to bed early, and rose early for our drive BACK to Morondava.

By early, I mean freaking early. But I was feeling almost back to normal.

 But we were going on a cave tour on the Manambolo River. IT WAS VERY COLD.

 Like seriously cold. I think it was around 10*C or 14*C outside. Yes, I suck, I'm no longer a true Canadian.

As we entered the first cave, we were viciously attacked greeted by a few birds or bats - we're not sure. I'm certainly not sure because I was busy covering my head and running trying to protect the girls. At least it woke us up!

Our pirogue driver probably thought we were complete idiots running around screaming just because there were a couple of bird/bats.

 We looked at stalatecites or something like that. Shiny, sparkly rocks that don't photograph well.

 We got back on the boat and into cave number two.

 I realized it had been awhile since we'd had a photo session.

 We were told to climb up these rocks, stick a flashlight into whatever hole we could find, and look around.

 Laurie went first.

 I went on the condition that Louis would NOT PHOTOGRAPH me as I was climbing because I didn't want a picture of my ass. He didn't listen. I yelled at him. And, I couldn't figure out what the hell I was supposed to see (I don't think any of us did).

 We found a nocternal butterfly. I didn't even know that exisited.

 Even our guides were freezing!!!

 It's very hard to see but this area, but various tribes in the area also take part in burring bodies in the rocks after wrapping in gauze.

Well, I'd love to say that this was the funnest time ever, but I was like ridiculously cold the entire time, or thrown around in the truck, or feeling like death. The caves were interesting, but I wouldn't go back again. Even Louis said he wouldn't make the drive a second time. Hopefully they get an airstrip so I can see the stupid Tsingy that I missed out on. After the boat ride, we did the trip in reverse, and ended up at the wonderful Palissandre Hotel. WHich was ohhhhhhhhhh soooooooooooo wonderful. And conclueds Part 1 of the trip!