Outside Ft. Dauphin: Postcard Paradise

So, following our morning in urbane Mahatalaky, we ventured up and down the coast at Baie St. Luce (underlined in Yellow in another of my handy custom maps).  And then down to Evatraha (represented by the yellow circle, b/c GoogleMaps doesn't have it.) (Again, Taolagnaro is the seldom used Malagasy name of Ft. Dauphin)  Make sure to click on any and ALL of the pictures to view them in full size because some of them are really impressive (if I do say so myself : - )

An Aloalo (Malagasy totem pole type thing) next to some canoes at Sainte-Luce

Baie Sainte-Luce!

This place kind of reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson.  And these fancified canoes were pretty cool too : - )

Lobster! The missionaries (E. Smith and Peden) tried to barter for some of these beauties, but they wanted something like... $10 for a kilo (if I remember correctly) which may be a steal in America, but thats pretty expensive in Mada.  Not knowing even the first thing about cooking lobsters, we all decided against it)

Again, Swiss Family Robinson.

The Elders and I did a little exploring south along the beach (to the right in the above pictures).  This was a small creek that ran through the sand into the ocean.

Elder Peden on an outcropping of rock

Panorama of Baie Sainte-Luce.  The sun was SO bright that most of my pictures washed out.  And it was SO windy and the water was quite frothy

Just south of Baie Sainte-Luce is... another small bay.  Complete with a stone picnic table (between the Elders) a la Chronicles of Narnia.  Here we enjoyed a delicious snack of Tsiky-Nak (I had the curry flavored ones) provided by the missionaries : - )
Too all of you unaware of Tsiky-Nak... I am profoundly sorry. They were delicious!

Bringing in the day's catch.

On the beach down from the stone picnic table was this little private resort type thing... looked beautiful

Malagasies watching the waves crashing

So, a little north from the lobster folks (you can see them on the right) were some of these umbrella things.  There is a famous picture of E. Prouteau (from France) who served in La Reunion and as AP for Pres. Gaya from like 06 to 08.  It is of him sitting under an umbrella thing just like this, but in La Reunion at sunset.  As with many things, I never quite got to do it in La Reunion, and so when I saw this, I knew I had to do it.  It's not quite as dramatic as the sun setting on the ocean, but it's definitely unique : - )

The bustling market of Sainte-Luce (sarcasm intended)

Short story time.

During the last few weeks on my mission, I bought a bunch of post cards from the bookstore in Toamasina (Tamatave).  One of them had a picture of the sun setting over these mountains which appeared to be next to a lake or the ocean.  It was bar-none the most beautiful picture I'd seen of Madagascar... ever.  Which is saying a lot (if you've been paying attention to this blog at all, I think you'd agree).  On the back of the card was the title "Evatraha" but when I asked around, NOBODY knew where or what Evatraha was. I was disappointed and resigned myself to the idea I would never see it, and perhaps it didn't even exist in Madagascar.
(I just did a scan through all of my mission pics, and couldn't find the postcard [I often took pictures of postcards I bought in case they got lost in the mail]).
Anyways, one day while planning for the trip this June, I tried my luck and looked up Evatraha in the index of the Lonely Planet book.  BINGO! Apparently, it's located just north of Ft. Dauphin.  So when Busteed and I were planning our trip, luckily, we were both really set on going to Ft. D.

As fate would have it, we (the missionaries and I) were able to convince the driver to take us to Evatraha, which was on the way home but a little out of the way.  And my dream finally came true.  I believe you will concur with me that it is indeed, one of the most beautiful places... anywhere.

Leaving Sainte Luce, our first glimpse at the mountains

Reminds me of Jurassic Park

Seriously some of my favorite mountains on the planet.

As we drove to Evatraha, we passed some of these.  The cotiers (coastal regions/peoples) don't bury their people in tombs like the Merina and Betsileo of the highlands.  I'm not sure exactly how they bury them, but they mark their graves with this tall tsangambato (standing stones) these are more recent (and obviously christianized) versions of the original types which look like this:

As you can see, the were originally very pagan and were literally just standing stones.  Some of the graves are decorated with cow skulls which symbolize wealth and power.

Our delicious lunch at the hotely in Mahatalaky

BIBY LAVA! (snake!)

Again, dinosaur land.

In the middle of this picture is a fasana (tomb) next to a tsangambato (standing stone)

This was the lovely road to Evatraha. Seriously. Almost. Died.

Rice growing just outside the tiny fishing village of Evatraha

There are a series of bays, inlets, lakes, and rivers within the Evatraha peninsula.  We had to cross some of them (the water was never above our knees) to get to the beach and such.  

CLICK ON THIS PICTURE TO SEE IT FULL SIZE.  This place made for the most dramatic pictures.  In the center of this one is a little girl playing on this epic windswept beach.

Yours truly for the pose : - )
FYI, Ft. Dauphin is at the extreme left end of the peninsula you can see behind me.  This is one big sweeping bay that goes from the Ft. Dauphin peninsula that juts out, to the Evatraha peninsula where I am.  

VOILA! The postcard I referred to earlier was most likely taken from the top of the hill behind me right at sunset.  The sun was setting behind the mountains in the center and everything was lit in gold... gorgeous.  My panorama isn't as good, but I'm happy with it.

These two punks told us they were 18 I think.  You may think they're 8 or 10, but they're probably like 14 or something.

Normally the middle of the day doesn't give good shots, but I got a few that I like with the way the shadows were cast.  And this whole peninsula was lit up under a brilliant blue sky.  

Yes I took this.  It is now my laptop background picture.  : - ) And I have the shell to my mom : - )

Some of the sand was black. Made for some cool contrasts.

Again, this beach was amazing.  It was sooo epic.

On the way home we saw lemurs! Can you see him?

We defs got out of the car.

And approached them

And took cool pictures

And finally we were home again.

My pictures don't do this place justice, but they're close.  What baffled both Busteed and I was how this place was still so undeveloped both in a pristine-no-tourists way and in a these-roads-and-infrastructure-are-atrocious way.  My only hope is that somehow I can amass enough money fast enough to buy this place up and save it before it becomes polluted or turned into Rio or Miami.

Mahatalaky: A day at the market

Monday morning, the missionaries were hiring a private driver to go to the bustling metropolis of Mahatalaky to get some birth certificates to help some of their investigators get married.  They said I could come if I wanted, and it was an opportunity to go some places I wouldn't be able to on my own, so I offered to chip in some of the money.  Mahatalaky, however, was about 2 hours north on the road which we had come in to Ft. Dauphin on.  I told Busteed about the offer and explained where we were going, but he said something to the effect of "you couldn't pay me to go back down that road" (which I couldn't really blame him for).  So it was just the missionaries and I.  

Imagine my surprise as we roll into Mahatalaky, which less than 24 hours earlier had been a tiny town with one "hotely" (small restaurant) with the options of fish with rice or beef with rice (no veggies, no nothing).  Apparently, Monday was market day and so Mahatalaky instantly became the most bustling town south of Vangaindrano (14 hours north).

I believe this is either tarot root (sonjo in Malagasy) or manioc (mangahazo)

A fittingly unpretentious sign

As you can see, lots of folks

This is the hotely Busteed and I ate at on Sunday, and which the missionaries and I ate at on Monday.

Bags!

Hats!  I can't remember exactly, but I think these people were Antefasika (People of the Sand) and these were their tribal hats

Tsihy! (straw mats)

NatGeo Amateur Edition

This kid was too cool for school

Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Malagasy style.

Notice the baby in the background lol

This kid looks a lot like a kid from the Ambohipo ward - Bernard? Something with a B I think.

Kambana! (twins)

As if rural Madagascar (and the whole country for that matter) didn't have enough problems, this man (and 10 others sitting around him) are selling woven tobacco rope.  They cut you off a piece and you chew it.  #Nast.

The local church

This bell was donated by some American Lutheran churches

So adorable

I'm not sure how mad I am that the camera focused on the pot instead of the kid during this shot...

Shrimp.  Delightful smell.

Holy.  Talk about FDA Drugbust Heaven!

But seriously, in a town hours from the nearest pharmacy, this is the only way people can buy medicine

One of the coolest experiences during this trip (meaning my whole month in Madagascar) was walking through the market and all of the sudden hearing someone playing a djembe (I think thats what this is called in America, although thats not its Malagasy name).  Drums are not heard as often in Madagascar, probably because the people are more Indonesian than they are African, so it was cool to finally get a little bit of that African feeling

Startin' 'em young!

More tsihy

Again, loads of people.

Bananas!

These lovely ladies were the highlight of Mahatalaky.  They were just kinda chillaxing in one of the rooms at the local town hall.  When I walked by I kinda did my normal "hey hows it going" thing and instead of just ignoring me that got really friendly and a little pushy (in a nice way).  So we chatted for a bit (can't remember what about - usually about why I'm in Mada and why I can speak Malagasy), then the lady on the left offered me some pineapple.  Initially I was a little suspect, just b/c having only been in Mada for 3 weeks, I wasn't sure if my immune system was ready for fresh fruit from someone who probably didnt wash their hands or knife, but she insisted so I relented.  Also, I like pineapple cold. This was, much to my delight, some of the most delicious pineapple I have ever had.  My fears instantly (and probably irrationally) melted away (contrary to popular belief, deliciousness and cleanliness do not necessarily have a statistically significant correlation).  Anywho, I took the pineapple, and then promptly dropped it on the ground on accident - sad.  I go to pick it up and they started squawking at me "No no no! Just leave it! We'll give you a new one!" (so maybe they did know a thing or two about hygiene).  I was much appreciative of my new pineapple piece.  We continued chatting and they of course eventually asked me to take their picture (now that I think of it, I believe there was some sort of pineapple for picture deal).  I agreed and took a few pictures.  They of course immediately requested a copy of the picture.  Instead of resisting as I usually do, I decided to go for the full bore lie this time.

"Give us a picture!"
"Ok!
"Yay!"
...
"Wait a minute, when are you gonna give it to us?"
"Oh idk, tomorrow."
"Yay!"
...
"Wait a minute, we wont be here tomorrow! We live in the boonies and only come in once a week on Mondays for the market.  How about next week."
"Ok. Sure, I will come back next week with a copy of your photos"
"YAY!!!"

Hahaha! Silly ladies.  It is now kind of one of my life goals to eventually print 5 copies of this picture out and some day return to Mahatalaky with them.  I'll find the ladies and give them their pictures, and more likely than not, receive a scolding for taking so long.  (Never mind the fact that this would be at least a $2,000 endeavor - travel expenses and all) Hahaha that will be the day.