Day 240, Year 5 Walk About on Nosy Mitsio
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Weather: Gorgeous Day, Winds 5-10 SE to SW to S
Location: Maribe Bay, Nosy Mitsio, NW Madagascar
It was up early this morning so I could get a laundry on the line and Mark could try to fix our pressure water pump before heading to shore. We had made arrangements for Constance to pick us up in their dinghy as it looked like low tide and their dinghy is much easier to carry up the beach. We were delayed when Constance realized their dinghy fuel tank was stone dry (hopefully fuel was not siphoned from it during the night) and while we were waiting the man who greeted us when we arrived yesterday returned. He speaks no English, but he understood that we were going to land to go for a walk. Now I know to call it a promenade, but I learned that as the day progressed. Anyway, Zachary (Zac-har-EE) met us on shore and became our guide for a three and a half hour walk about the island. What looked like a couple of little huts near the beach turned out to be a village of about forty people. We met Zachary’s mother and father who were 73 and 88 respectively. We know Zachary’s mother was born in 1937 as she showed us her Malagasy identification card, but the father didn’t really look 88-but maybe. The mother was sick and needed an injection that had been prescribed for her. Lynn gave her the shot as they didn’t know how and there is not medical personnel on the island.
We met mothers with tiny babies, lots of smiling children, goats, chickens, and zebu. There was a little store, what looked like tables where tourists could be served food, and an outdoor dancing area with sound equipment in a small hut. We assume all of this is to serve the tourists who come and stay at some huts to the left of the village as you look at the island. We walked across the island from north to south, up and over a small hill, and visited more villages on the windward side of the island. There was very little beach on that side of the island and many of the little huts were right on the water. The huts were small but I could just imagine how wonderful the sound of the lapping waves would be during the night. Huts are constructed of poles (small branches from trees) and then the sides and roof are covered with palm fronds. The fronds from the palms here are small and rounded, not long like coconut palms, so they are arranged in fan shapes in the walls. Everywhere we went women were winnowing a grain that looked something like barley, but we could never understand what they do with the grain. They have bananas here, but plantain seemed to be the food of the day. When we went as far as we could go, we stopped at a hut and were offered some of the plantain and coconut crème staple. Even with the coconut crème, it was not sweet and actually was very filling and had a pleasant taste.
As I write this log, Mark is outside negotiating for spiny lobster. It is dark but we can see that that the lobsters are good sized. But we had to ask Ed and Lynne to come over in their dinghy to help with the negotiation. Four lobsters ended up costing us $5US and a t-shirt. Not bad. But with absolutely no comprehension of French, we do not understand anything. It is very frustrating. We did learn to say goodbye in Malagasy today and that is ‘veloma’ pronounced ve-low-mah. We were taught to say Bon Jour in Malagasy, but neither of us can remember that one. We’ll have to add that tomorrow.
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| 100623 Day 240 Nosy Mitsio, Madagascar–Island Tour |
