2. Mada, from 17/11/2007

We are alive;

sorry for the past month without any news, but we were 3 weeks in Manompana, cut from the world. 3 days ago we arrived in the island of St Marie with the desire to finally give some news to all of you but the power supply was off since 3 days… And it just started again today.

Here some news, perhaps not so fresh but so interesting… For the pictures, we'll try to put some on the blog soon. Here is only the first part of the trip. SuperTchitcho will send the rest of our adventures in Manompana.

From Paris to Manompana

Nina is now back without the plaster; Sashko and Mira curious but not knowing what to expect; Damien – impatient to go back to his life outside after the 6 days of rest between biking in Greece and our plane to Antananarivo; Tchitcho (Damien’s cousin also called Damien) who comes with us for the first month in Mada and became the SuperTchitcho for Mira and Sashko. We arrived in Paris the 16th of October, 24 hours before our departure to the airport. Mira saw the extra back pack and Tchitcho preparing his stuff around us but she was convinced he was joking about coming with us to Mada. It was only when Maite left us at the train station Mira asked with a naïve voice ‘Damien (Tchitcho) are you really coming with us?’. Good for us we have to bare him only for the first  month.

Arrival in Tana (Antananarivo).

After the first night in the plane we needed 4 days to achieve the village of Manompana (550 km from Tana!). One day lost in the hills of Tana, 2 days on the East coast, slowly getting to the end of the asphalt road and 1 full day for the last 35 km. At Tana, waiting for the night bus going to Tamatave, we had half day to discover the city. Our first impressions from our short walk in the capital: colourful, peaceful but full with life, full with small streets and narrow stairs going up and down. After the night in the plane we had a long night in the bus – Tchitcho trying to sleep with Mira and Sashko lying on him, Damien sitting next to a window with a nest full with black insects, Nina sleeping peacefully. Like that we arrived in Tamatave at 2 AM but we slept in the bus until 6AM. Directly we took the taxi-brousse to the North and had a quiet breakfast at a palm tree beach. We had our first bath, our first conversation with the kids of Mada, Mira and Sashko had their first sand castle, Tchitcho has his first sun burn – a beautiful pink-purple colour on his gigantic feet. We had a lunch on the beach – our first fish and rise and we continued our trip further to the North, to Mahambo. There finally we had our first night in a bed: in a Malgash bungalow with wooden floor, sand on the floor, walls and roof made from dried leaves, bathroom with cold running water, mosquito nets covering the beds. There we established our way of sleeping for the next month – Tchitcho and Sashko in one bed, Mira, Damien and Nina in another one. Next day we left the city early afternoon. After one hour waiting on the road we took the taxi-brousse to Soanierana Ivongo. We arrived there at 4 PM and we realised we can not be in Manompana the same day (we were told that the trip is another 4 hours).

We had our calm night until 5 AM when very loud and very nice Malgash music, coming from the house next to us, woke us up. The day started – our last and longest day trip to Manompana! We agreed the day before with Olivier, our driver to be ready at 6 AM. At 9 AM the jeep was still missing one wheel and he was still assembling new ball-bearing to the front wheel. Finally, after finishing the repair, we left 10.30 AM. Nina, Mira and Sashko sitting in front of the car next to the driver, Damien and Tchitcho at the back with 12 other people and 10 big packs in between them. The trip consists of 3 rivers to cross by boat and 35 km of sandy path next to the ocean. It took us 11 hours to accomplish the trip! Olivier driving with no more than 10 km/h, managing very skilfully to pass the big holes and the thick sand of the path. We were waiting for 4 hours the 2nd boat (it was stuck in the river due to its heavy load and the strong wind was pushing it to the ocean). While waiting for the boat one pirogue was crossing constantly between the two shores transporting people, bicycles, motorbike and even one herd of zebu – the 1st one attached to the pirogue and all the other swimming behind in the strong current. Two more hours waiting at the 3rd river due to low tide… Finally at 9 PM we arrived in Manompana.