Table Mountain and Clifton Beach

My last organized excursion was a hike up Table Mountain.  I must say, given the heat, and my lack of eating dinner the previous night, I wasn’t 100% confident I’d make it to the top without developing some sort of heat exhaustion.  However, by going along very slowly, I did make it, and there was lots of interesting plant life on the way up.   

 

taken from the highest point, looking towards the cable car with lion's head in the background

 

we took the cable car down, given that it was sunny, 35˚C, and 3PM

 

clifton beach #4, where I spent my last full day. the water is FREEZING!

Cape Peninsula

My second day I went on a bike tour of the Cape Peninsula.  By car my guide, Jason, took me along the coast to Boulder’s Beach to see the colony of African Penguins, to the Cape of Good Hope, and to Cape Point.  From there, I biked (with the Cape Doctor winds at my back all the way along the other side of the peninsula through the Cape Point Nature Reserve.

 

African penguins mate for life

the cape of good hope

 

there are quite some number of baboon colonies within the cape point nature reserve. after we got out of the car to look at them (leaving the windows rolled up...), the alpha male opened the car door, got in the back seat, and starting rooting through backpacks looking for picnics!

 

biking through the nature reserve

 

wildflower season was getting started

 

being in a protected area, this one won't wind up an ostrich burger!

 

i passed 2 herds of bontebok

 

the dassie is a close relative of the elephant due to it's foot bone structure. they way they live in families in the rocks running around reminds me of rocky, coastal prairie dogs.

 

black girdled lizard - looks like a tiny alligator

 

road out of the nature reserve

i guess this means baboon and gazelles?

 

the "tablecloth" forms during summer afternoons due to the Cape Doctor (strong summer winds)

Lion’s Head

Lion’s Head is part of the Cape Town backdrop.  It’s near Table Mountain, although not nearly as high.  Two British guys I met cage diving invited me to walk up it with them the same afternoon.  The panoramic view was amazing, and the walk was satisfyingly tough, but didn’t kill us.  Afterwards, we stopped at their hotel bar for much deserved mojitos.

 

This is a puff adder. They are actually quite dangerous due to their fast strike. Luckily, we left it alone (as we didn't know what it was at the time)

 

Looking out to the West on the way up

 

once you get almost to the top there's a little climbing

 

view from the top

 

my british hiking buddies and me on top of the world. robben island is in the background.

 

yikes!

Cape Town – Shark diving

I kept myself busy in Cape Town, hence the lack of recent posts.  Overall, Cape Town was my kind of place.  Pretty much any extreme sport you can think of is available, plus sun, nature, wine, and a fun bar scene too.  I could easily spend 2 weeks in the region, so I guess I’ll have to go back sometime.

The first thing I did was cage diving with Great White Sharks.  The cage sticks out of the water and takes 5 people at a time.  The noise of scuba equipment sometimes bothers the sharks, so you just take a deep breath and go under whenever a shark is coming.   To be honest, although it was really neat being in the cage and seeing them underwater, the surface viewing from the boat deck was actually better.

 

swimming towards the boat

they all swam really close to the cage

going for the bait

Back to civilisation

Don’t take that the wrong way.  I’m not saying Madagascar’s not civilised.  not by any means.  However, I am currently sitting in the Joburg airport, writing emails and posting on my blog.  And it’s fast.  And there is a latte stand about 20 feet away.  I have so far been miraculously lucky with my baggage.  I have 2 giant duffle bags (thank you Karen).  I haven’t been charged extra yet.  I actually wasn’t able to post this from the airport, because the flight started boarding early!  (left and arrived early too!)  

I arrived at my hostel to find out that my shark trip was leaving at 5AM today.  Pretty early after not getting settled into the hostel till midnight….   However, the trip was absolutely amazing!!!  Only 10 minutes after anchoring and chumming, we saw our first fin!  We saw 8 sharks total, which is a really lucky day.  Water visibility wasn’t great, but being in the cage it was SO impressive when they swam by only a few feet in front of us!  Pictures to come soon!

Sahambavy and leaving Fianar

On Friday, Maribeth and I went to Sahambavy, to the Lac Hotel for a relaxing night in the country.  Gabe was supposed to go too, but backed out.  We got there on a taxi-brousse, and  Maribeth picked up 2 packages at the post office before we left, which made us look rather like vagabonds as we entered such a nice hotel.  Since we’ve met the owner before, we managed to score an entire cottage.  It slept 7 at minimum, and had a kitchen.  It was a little slice of heaven for a night.  On Saturday morning, we went for a walk to visit the Sahambavy Tea Plantation.  On the way, some farmers in a rice field yelled out in Malagasy (joking) that we should come help them weed their rice.  So, we took off our shoes and climbed on into the rice field.  It was pretty neat, and the farmers sure got a kick out of it.  Pictures to follow.  Returning, we wound up in the back of a pickup truck with benches in it.

Saturday afternoon, my host family came to my room to thank me for the support I’ve given them (in the form of rent), and to give me a small going away present – an embroidered tablecloth for an end table.  We all cried a little, and it was a really neat moment – it’s a really matriarchal family, so it was just Mme Elysoa, Mama Tendry and her sister, and her little daughter Kenia.  In the evening, I had dinner with Karen and the girls one last time, and then we went to Karaoke.  I haven’t been in awhile – it’s usually pretty busy.  We were literally the only ones there for quite awhile.  Gabe, Haddie and I did a pretty awesome rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Sunday was the drive to Tana.  Mariette packed me a big lunch, and I had a person per bag help me get things down to the car.  A Peace Corps volunteer named Haddie needed to go to Tana too, so she came along with us.  It was nice to have her along.   We stopped for a break in Antsirabe and checked out the gemstone market – pretty cool stuff!

Now I’m in Tana, and feeling much more relaxed now that the goodbyes are over.  I can’t wait for Cape Town, and then to come home!  Tonight we’re making a Thanksgiving dinner – I helped Theresa’s housekeeper make pumpkin pie today (from actual pumpkin, not the canned stuff!).  I fly out on Wednesday, and it’s off to see the beautiful sights of Cape Town.

Anja Reserve

On Saturday Karen, her youngest daughter, and I went to Anja, a pretty well established ecotourism site about an hour and a half South of Fianar.  The small hike goes through a small forest which is home to 400 (that number seems like a lot to me, but that’s what the guide says) ring-tailed lemurs.  The big hike goes through the same forest, and then up to the top of the mountain behind the forest.  We did the big hike.  I was totally in favor of it, not realizing that the way you get to the top is by walking up the granite rock faces.  Physically, I was fine, but I have to say that I was a bit nervous.   The view from the top was worth it, and I managed to prevent myself from having any embarrassing freak-outs despite the nervousness.

 

call me a wuss...but in my Keens, i was a little freaked out - it stayed like this all the way up the mountain

 

looking down - probably a mistake, although i don't know that the photo really does the slope justice

 

they have their babies in september, so there were quite a few carrying little ones piggyback

 

i named this one dopey

 

coolest grasshopper ever

The internet’s not working for crap, so I’ll post the rest of my pics tomorrow.  Silly rainy season.  Although, actually I rather like the warm rainy season.  Everything’s so much greener, and lots of good fruit has come into season.  I’ll especially miss the mangos!

Amazon is Amazing

Maybe it’s being in Madagascar where the postal service is anything but reliable.  Where you have to pay the post office in order to pick up packages, where there isn’t a neighborhood mailman, where things take a month to get across the ocean, where mail often gets lost…

but I think that Amazon shipping is amazing.  I ordered a few Christmas gifts yesterday, and they will be arriving on Patrick’s doorstep today.  And that was the free Super Saver shipping (which it says takes 5-9 days).  As much as I think work and rules are extremely over emphasized in American culture… this is an example of American efficiency at it’s best.  Wow.

And now, the news from Madagascar…

Where the lemurs enthrall, the people are strong, and the toilets are below average.

Driving to Ambalavao a few weeks ago, I saw this sign warning drivers to slow down before a dangerous curve right before a narrow bridge:

 

maybe such a menacing sign should be put up in walker on roads people drive too fast on - dad, time to send another letter to the mayor!

Also, I found an article being passed around via Joseph’s blog about world reactions to the election, and our newfound status as non-idiots.  The article did a good job of summing up my feelings about being abroad as an American, although I’ve certainly not spent as much time out of the states as the author.  Since my adult international experiences began in 2003, I’ve grown accustomed to apologizing for my country, telling people, “No, I don’t understand why we’ve made all of these bad decisions either!”, and in general rolling my eyes when discussions gravitated towards American politics.  I never had to resort to saying I was Canadian, or any other nationality for that matter, but I did often follow admitting American citizenship with an immediate dismissal of our president.  When I was teaching in France, often the first thing people would ask me was, “What do you think about Bush?”.  When I replied that I didn’t support him at all, and that I didn’t vote for him, that usually made me a much more credible person in their eyes.  Now, already, French people around here (even ones I just spoke to briefly on the train) have had nothing to say but words of congratulations and praise about last week Tuesday.  Regardless of what Obama does or does not do, with one nationwide decision, the world has forgiven us our blunders of the last 8 years.  Back home I’m sure that this difference isn’t felt as urgently, but I feel it, and I like it!  People like us again.

Pride and Joy

For the first time in awhile, I am proud of my country.  Now, before you go accusing me of being an unpatriotic anarchist or something, don’t think that means that I hate all that America’s accomplished.  I’m not proud of the direction America’s headed since at least the time I started voting.  I haven’t been proud of the international reputation we’ve acquired, or much of anything that our current administration has done.  

First, a recap of election day festivities:

On Tuesday, I could hardly concentrate on anything, but of course nothing had even begun in America yet for most of the day here.  After work, I headed over to Karen’s to help her bake and cook for the party on Wednesday, and I was pleasantly surprised to catch the election day Diane Rehm show while we were puttering around the kitchen that night.  If anything could make me feel at home and not like I was missing out, it was Diane talking to guests and listeners about their individual voting experiences etc.  We made pesto dip, 3 carrot cakes, 2 chocolate bundt cakes, and a giant vat of chili.  Once that was done, I began work on my Obama tank top, and continued listening to NPR election pregame until about 1:30 AM.  I got up around 5AM, and turned on NPR in time to hear them call Ohio.  Karen, the girls, and I headed to her satellite TV friend’s house with muffins and coffee just in time to see them call the whole election, and then to see both speeches.  I thought McCain’s speech was nothing but elequoent and gracious, and despite some nasty campaining he really took the high road.  It was a shame that his crowd booed everytime he congratulated Obama on anything.  

We watched the footage of Grant Park, eagerly awaiting Obama’s appearance.  During his speech, we all had tears streaming down our faces, along with much of the live audience.  It was moving on so many different levels…  Of course we especially appreciated his address to those of us in “forgotten corners of the world, huddled around radios etc..”.   After the speech and a little more footage, Karen and I went into town, high on the adrenaline to buy supplies for the party.  (because at that point, the party was on for sure!)  I then went to work to set up my computer to download footage of the speech to project onto a big screen at the party (which took about 4 hours, but did actually work!).  I got a notice from the post office that I had a package, and when I picked it up, what did it contain, but an Obama t-shirt from Patrick’s parents (along with some sweet treats)!  How perfectly timed…I also got a card from my parents, so that made it just a little more like Chirstmas day!  After picking up the package (which was SO much easier than I expected… the customs guy didn’t make me open it in front of them, and I only had to pay 11,000Ar, which is nearly half of what people have sometimes paid), Maia, Brendan (a peace corps volunteer who was in town) figured out how to get the video footage working with the projector etc, and we started decorating for the party.  It’s best described with photos I believe:

 

the banner we hung in the garden

 

the voting booth - you had to vote to enter the party - karen photocopied her electronic absentee ballot!

 

the t-shirt that arrived just in time...thank you medlands!

 

my hack embroidery job, started before the t-shirt arrived...

 

carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting (all American food at the party)

 

was it too much to decorate ella the pet tortoise? i think not!

Despite all of the hope about change that Obama brings, and the confidence that I do have in him to govern our nation, from an overseas perspective, it’s not a new president immediately rescuing us from all of our current problems that makes me the happiest.  It’s our global reputation.  At the victory party, there were a few Americans, and many French and Malagasy people.  They were all just as happy as we were.  Rivo received a text message from a friend in France – “On a gagné!  Vive l’amerique!”.   The whole world seems to have been pulling for Obama, and even before he takes office, they already have a different view of America.  Our global respect has already been restored, and to have every French person I’ve encountered since the election offer words of congratulations and excitement has been quite something.  I don’t naively hope that the financial crisis or war in Iraq will disappear with Obama’s inauguration.  Those are incredibly difficult problems that aren’t going away any time soon no matter who’s in charge.  But, I do believe that we can now be part of the world, rather than an independent entity seen as not giving a shit what allied nations have to say.  America has stood up and declared that they are fed up with the way our country has been managed in the last 8 (or even 20) years, and that we want to evolve.  We have declared in one voice, that race is no longer an issue here, and that the hard work of so many black Americans has culminated in breaking the final race barrier.  And all of these things, my friends, makes my eyes brim with tears, and my heart swell with pride.