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Is it the rainy season or the dry season? Madagascar can't seem to make up its mind, we were just sweating now we are cold and getting rained on and now it's sunny again all in 15 minutes. For starters we left Antananarivo airport with a group from the Vatican, being a bad Catholic I could not tell you who he or they were, but dressed in full attire we and the group loaded up in an older 737-300. There were crates of chicken chicks chirping away as we headed skyward. The a/c didn't work so well and the seats were positioned so close that I had to give up my window seat for an aisle seat as I was somewhat claustrophobic (a new one for me). But the way I looked at it was that the plane probably has done this so many times a Pilot wasn't even needed and with the Bishop and his entourage aboard we should be in good hands.
And with a bump and hard brake we were on the ground safely. And to our surprise the entire town seemed to be there singing and waving as our plane taxied to the small terminal. The Bishop and Posse were greeted with all the fanfare this small town had to offer and we joined in! About 20 minutes later we noticed that the Bishop was now heading back up the stairs of the plane giving the crowd his best Nixon wave from the top as the crowd cheered and waved back. We waited for our luggage which did not appear from the cargo hold. People were now heading out to the plane and getting back on and luckily Joy decided to ask if we were in Diego-Suarez? There was a surprised look on the man's eyes and we knew something was wrong. We were supposed to have stayed on the plane! No harm no foul we marched back up the stairs to an even fuller plane then before! Our seats now taken as from here it was Southwest airlines open seating and yes only middle seat remained. Luckily for me the Flight attendant took pity on me as those seats were so small and asked the first person she saw to move over, a lady with a 1 month old child, gee thanks I feel like a turd now and can't even apologize as she spoke no English. Joy slide into her middle seat looking back with a snicker at me. Okay there is no way I made up the next part.
So here I am with a lady and her one month old daughter sandwiched between big American me and a man of the cloth at the window. Suddenly she decided that the baby needed feeding and up the shirt went! Full Monty! I looked at the guy at the window and he at me and I could not tell you who was the most uncomfortable, so he looked out the window and I at the Nun sitting across from me and she looking back with a smile. So I now have a baby's foot touching me as she was breast feeding, two boobs (which at any other time would be great) exposed and a Nun and Bishop two seat ahead of me and a pallet of chickens heading skyward again.
Bam! We landed and braked harder than I have ever braked in a plane before and I believe everybody else agreed as they clapped when we stopped. Again there were plenty of people and singing as the Bishop headed for his car and we exited the plane. Once met by our guide we headed into the mountains to our nature lodge. Now by calling it a nature lodge I guess that means they don't cut the grass? We had a great dinner and headed off to bed. Now at the nature lodge I would think that you would be awoken by the sounds of birds chirping or maybe a gecko squawking, no we were woke up in our nature lodge by the smell of smoke coming from the kitchen of the nature lodge, good ideal burning the trash at 5:00am!
Anyway back in the 4x4 we headed to our nature hike, this should be fun! We applied our deet 40% and covered head to toe with as much clothing as we could muster. The sound of the buzzing flies was amazing as hundreds buzzed around but the deet did its job. We saw very little nature and a couple of nice water falls and as the rain kicked back in we called it a day.
Back on the road we spent the night at Ankarana Lodge. Now this is a nature lodge, a/c, hot water, pool, filet Le Zebu and ice cold beer! In the morning we headed across the street to the next nature hike and 5 hours later we had seen 5 different lemur breeds, dozens of chameleon, lizards and snakes. We walked along two swinging bridges and marveled at the Tsingy which is spelled correctly meaning walking on your tiptoes in Malagasy as these rocks are razor sharp. We saw these small little red bugs called "Leaf Bugs" which when you startled them they flew away like little fairy's and a stick bug that well looked like a stick. It was a great day of hiking and back here at the Lodge we sit poolside sipping coke and beer waiting for the next two minute rain storm and our next adventure to start. Tomorrow we head out to the beach at Nosey Be. So till something happens that's worth hearing about we'll write then. Keith and Joy
- comments
Michelle OMG..too funny!! Sounds like you are on quite an adventure!!
Tina Calloway LOL!! Thats too funny. Sounds like the beginning to a joke "a nun, a bishop, and an american...."
Northcoasters Well even you could NOT make that up. So the moral of the story is know all the stops on your flights or you may get in seat "entertainment". Can't wait for tour next posting...
Chris Good story...thanks for the laughs. Do you have a suitcase of DEET???
Karen Thank you for my daily chuckle! Good stuff!