Hey everybody!

Last time I updated we had just arrived out of the field in Managabe and were back in Maroantsetra.  The day after my last entry, Joe and I embarked on a trip to Farankirana, a protected forest region bordering the ocean, about 15 km away from Maroantsetra.  The purpose of our trip was for me to conduct interviews with people from the nearby village of Navana, and also as a mini-vacation for Joe and I, as Farankirana has bungalows right on the beach which researchers are allowed to stay in for free!  The morning of the 26^th, Joe and I walked into Maroantsetra to meet our friend and guide, Fernando.  He was going to take us to Antongil Conservation to work out the details of our stay and then help us arrange a private lachina to Farankirana.  There was a slight miscommunication at the very start; Fernando thought that Zach had told him to meet us at the “old market” in town, when in reality he had asked him to meet us at the “wood market.”  So we ended up waiting for about 45 minutes in the middle of the wood market, being stared at by the shop owners.  When Fernando did arrive, we made our way to Antongil Conservation to talk to the manager, but when we got there, the place looked like it was closed, even though the day before the manager had told us he would be there to talk to us (keep in mind that the 26^th of July is Madagascar’s independence day, so it was actually a holiday…).  Fernando called the manager who then told him that we should just go to Farankirana and we would deal with logistics afterwards.  We had Fernando write us a note in Malagasy to give to the guardian at Farankirana so he would know who we were and what we needed (as he speaks no English and we speak very little Malagasy or French), which was a bungalow and someone to cook for us.  So finally, after all of this confusion and waiting around (which is usually the norm in Madagascar), we headed to the port at the end of town.

Fernando arranged a private lachina to take us to Farankirana, and thankfully that all worked out well.  Fernando was supposed to go with us to act as a translator, but he had a phone interview lined up that had been rescheduled several times and which he needed to stay in town to receive.  He promised us he would meet us in Farankirana that evening.  Joe and I then boarded our lachina and enjoyed the beautiful, sunny weather for the duration of the two-hour long ride through the canals.  We were dropped off at the edge of a lagoon that bordered the ocean, and were vaguely told to walk in a direction by the driver, who then left.  Unsure of where we were going, we began hiking down the surprisingly un-muddy and flat trail before us.  The entire time we walked, we paralleled the ocean; it was amazing to be able to look out on the horizon and see nothing but open water, and to know that the nearest continent across that ocean was Australia.  We ended up only walking for about 15 minutes before we came to a sign for Farankirana, which pointed to a trail that branched off from the main path and headed more directly down to the ocean.  This trail led us directly to the guardian’s house and then on to the dining hall and the bungalows.  We walked down to the end of the trail, and then back up, passing all of the buildings again.  No one was there!

As I mentioned before, the 26^th is Madagascar’s Independence Day, and so the guardian had gone into town to celebrate (even though we were told that he was paid to be there 24-7).  As it was early in the day (around 1:00 pm), Joe and I decided not to worry and to wait and see if the guardian would arrive.  We thought that, even if he didn’t arrive that afternoon, at least Fernando would come that evening, and we could ask him what we should do.  But in the meantime, we took advantage of our “horrible plight”—being stuck on a deserted, pristine tropical beach by a beautiful ocean full of rocks to climb, surrounded by untouched Malagasy rainforest full of lemurs, geckoes, frogs, and exotic birds. It was definitely the most wonderful place to ever be deserted in a third world country without any means of contacting anyone. 

For two or three hours we swam in the ocean (Joe taught me to body surf and I got over my nervousness about being out in such open water), climbed on giant sea-rocks, ran around on the beach, and discovered washed-up pomelloes (which are basically giant grapefruits) that we ate.  Then it started getting cloudy and windy, so we decided to go see if anyone had shown up at the guardian house.  Still no one.  And it was getting late—it was around 4:00 pm, and because the only food we had to eat was rice and beans, we knew we needed to start cooking soon, as it takes 3-4 hours for rice and beans to cook on an open fire.  We decided to take the cooking equipment we found in the guardian’s house (which was an open hut) to the beach in front of the bungalows and build a fire.  We also explored the bungalows to see if any were unlocked, as we had no tent or sleeping bags for that night.  I discovered that bungalow 5 had one unlocked window, which I climbed through.  I unlocked all the other windows and the door and put all of our gear out in front of it.  If it got to the point where we needed to go to bed and still no one had arrived, we decided we would just use this bungalow.  Our attempt to cook started off well; Joe can start a fire anywhere, with almost any materials (which is actually MUCH harder than it seems, so that is a very valuable skill to have), and so we had two good fires going pretty quickly.  I filled up a pot of water and we put it on one of the fires.  In the second pot, we attempted to brown some onions for flavoring the beans.  Two hours went by, and though our fires were raging, the water was barely luke-warm and the onions were still raw!!  The wind on the beach was so strong that all of the heat from the fires was being blown away from the pots!  It was dark by this time, spitting rain, and we were alone on a beach with no food anywhere close to being done!  And we hadn’t had lunch that day either, as we were on a lachina during that time. 

Needless to say, I was getting desperate.  I tend to get very upset when I’m hungry, and this seemed to be a hopeless situation.  Thankfully, Joe was very level-headed, and suggested that we use the “kitchen” in the guardian’s house (which is a piece of wood covered in ashes and places for two fires to be kindled near the door of the hut).  This worked out very well!  Once our new fires were kindled, the food started to cook rapidly.  We sat in the hut and read “The Lord of the Rings” out loud to each other to pass the time (yes, we are really nerdy).  We hadn’t begun cooking in the house at first because we thought there was a chance that the guardian would still come back, and we didn’t want to be sitting in his house using his cooking equipment to make ourselves dinner.  Ironically, that’s exactly what happened!  Our food was nearly ready to eat when the guardian showed up in the doorway and nearly scared us to death!  It was almost 9:00 pm at this time, and we’d been in his house for a couple of hours cooking.  At first, I think the guardian was a little upset, (and who wouldn’t be, coming home late and finding two random white people sitting in your house, cooking food in your kitchen!) but when we gave him the note from Fernando, (who also had not shown up…) he smiled at us and gave us a key to one of the bungalows.  Then, we all sat down and ate rice and beans (though the guardian didn’t seem to like our beans very much, as they were only halfway cooked because we were so hungry!) and finally went to bed.  That concluded the first, slightly desperate night in Farankirana. 

The next day was much better, though it still did not go as planned.  My plan had been to walk to Navana with Fernando when he arrived so that I could interview villagers as a part of my thesis research.  Fernando was not, however, at Farankirana when we got up in the morning.  We woke up early and ate some leftover beans for breakfast, and asked the guardian if he would cook for us for 5,000 Ar a day.  Then we decided to take a long hike in the rainforest, where we saw many beautiful rock formations, tall Canarium trees (which are the home to the Aye aye, a rare species of lemur), and interesting animals.  When we returned, Fernando still had not arrived—in fact, he never showed up the entire time we were at Farankirana.  Because of this, I obviously never went to Navana and I never managed to conduct any interviews.  I will discuss how this development changed my plans for my thesis later in this entry.  As for the rest of our day in Farankirana, Joe and I spent more time on the beach, ate lunch, took naps, and went on a night hike in the forest.  During our night hike, we saw four lemurs, one of which we were unable to identify, two of which were mouse lemurs, and the last of which was an Avahi laniger.  We actually managed to get a picture of this lemur, though it is not a great image.  This ended up being a really perfect day.  Passing time in the sun on an isolated, tropical beach; exploring a rich, diverse rainforest; seeing animals and plants that most people have never seen and probably will never see; and getting to share it all with a person I really care about created a beautiful memory I will cherish for the rest of my life. 

On the morning of Thursday, June 28^th, we took our last hike through the forest (and found still more interesting organisms) and swam in the ocean for the last time.  We ate lunch, cleaned our bungalow, and left Farankirana, hiking back to where we were dropped up by the lachina two days earlier.  We hoped that a lachina driver would arrive to pick us up around 2:00 pm, because that is what Fernando had arranged for us—but considering we had no idea why Fernando never showed up, we were unsure of any of our plans.  Still, we arrived at the location, and there was—unsurprisingly—no lachina driver there at the time.  It turns out that we had nothing to worry about, as 15 minutes later the driver showed up!  (In the meantime, we sat on another beautiful beach…the sand was dark and there were millions of specks of mica mixed in, so it looked like we were sitting on a vast golden field.) We had another pleasant ride back to Maroansetra, and arrived an hour before dark.  And that completes the tale of our first solo journey in a foreign country!  We not only survived, but persevered through some small challenges, and came out of it with incredible memories. 

The next day, which was our last full day in Maroantsetra, Joe and I went with Zach to the market and I purchased some saris, which the women in Madagascar often wear.  We met up with Fernando, who was very apologetic for not meeting us in Farankirana.  He explained that the interview kept being pushed back further and further and that he was just unable to leave Maroantsetra because it was too important to miss.  Zach was aware of the situation and told him that we were probably fine, so not to worry about us.  Thankfully, he was right.  That night, we met Asia, the new student from the states who is going to be taking over Zach’s project now that he is done with his part of the research.  She seems very nice and excited to be in Madagascar.  She and Hanna will work together for the next 5 weeks or so, and then she will be returning to the states.  I hope she has a great time in Madagascar, and wish her and Hanna luck!

We also had a party that night for Hanna’s birthday—she turned 23 on the 27^th of June.  We invited the peace-core workers in Maroantsetra to come to the house, and baked brownies (from an instant pack that Hanna’s mom sent her from the states) with icing on the fire (which was a trick!), made fried banana and chocolate sandwiches, fried mantioch roots (which taste like potatoes, only even better!), and made cookies with strawberry jam.  This was the first time we had had such wonderful sweet food in weeks, and we made the most of it!  It was a very fun night.  I will miss all of those people.

On the 30^th, Zach, Joe and I packed all of the things we wanted to take home with us, and Hanna and Asia prepared for two more weeks in the field.  We said goodbye to Etien, the guardian of the house we had stayed in, which was sad for me.  He was a sweet old Malagasy man who always had a huge smile on his face and gave us big bottles of honey from his bee hive.  We were then all picked up by the WCS truck and taken to the airport, where Hanna and Asia waited with us for our flight.  We said goodbye to them around 10 am, as their lachina to Morovovonana was going to leave soon.  It was very sad to have to say goodbye to Hanna—we’d been through a lot together.  I will miss her very much and hope she loves the rest of her time here in Madagascar! 

Our flight to Antananarivo was quick and uneventful.  The first day we arrived in Tana, we had dinner at a wonderful restaurant, which serves delicious food for very cheap by American standards.  Yesterday, the 1^st of July, we went to the huge Artisan market in Tana to buy souvenirs, which was a fun but also frustrating experience.  It was very interesting to get to see all of the merchandise, which is almost entirely hand-made: jewelry, masks, statues, boxes, baskets, beads, stone work, weaving, hand-made paper…it was all beautiful.  The frustrating part was dealing with the store owners; any time you showed even the slightest interest in a piece of work, they tried to force you to buy it!  And you also had to barter, which at first I was nervous to do…but then I realized that their initial prices were grossly inflated, and so it was pretty easy to get them to go down in price.  So that was an interesting experience.  Last night, we ate dinner at a restaurant/bar called the “Oasis” and watched the European Tournament soccer game, Spain vs. Italy.  The bar was hosting the event on a huge projector screen and each person got to vote for who they thought was going to win.  I had no idea who would win, and didn’t really care, as those of you who know me well would guess.  I randomly chose Spain.  The game was actually sort of interesting, probably because I had absolutely nothing else to do but watch it.  Joe and Zach were really into it, so it was kind of fun to watch them.  Joe wanted Italy to win, and Zach had voted for Spain.  I’m sure some of you know that Spain beat Italy 4-0.  When the game was over, the bar owners pulled the names of the people who had voted for Spain to win out of a box for prizes.  I won a jersey, which was cool; if only they had known I was the least interested person in the bar, they probably wouldn’t have let me have it!  Zach won a flag for Spain and Joe won nothing because he had voted for the losing team.  L.

Today, Monday, we are going to have brunch at a place called the “Cookie Store,” (I really hope they actually have cookies!!) and then we are going to the Botanical Garden/Zoo in Tana.  I’m excited to see some of the species I was unable to see in the wild.  I will update again when I’m back in the states!  Our flight leaves tomorrow.  I can’t wait to see the people I’ve been missing! 

~Chelsea