Our 35th wedding anniversary! Started with a lovely sunrise and then an early start.
We knew that the whole of today was going to be spent traveling, so we had intended to celebrate a bit last night, but David is still not feeling great, so that didn’t happen.
As expected we spent 12 hours in the car today driving from Belo sur Mer to Morombe. For the most part the roads were, once again, just dirt tracks. There was one short stretch of asphalt for about half an hour just to show that such things do exist; it’s a new road being built by the Chinese. Didn’t stop the zebu using it though!
We stopped to talk to some people who were farming cassava and got to taste some. I’ve had it before but never raw straight out of the ground which turns out to be the best way. It is similar to coconut in texture and appearance, but has a much weaker flavour.
Another highlight on the way was the ferry crossing. It was not too dissimilar from our other ferries, but the major difference was that, on this one, the engine was broken so we were towed across by a team of very fit Malagasy. Zo paid 160,000 for the ticket; a price he negotiated. This was a private ferry run by the locals (the public ferry was marines on the sand – I think they forgot to move it at the end of the rainy season!)
Tonight’s hotel was the most basic so far, Chez Lorette but Zo assured us it was the best one in town! We arrived at 7 having seen another lovely sunset!
He had kindly arranged a special meal with coconut milk for aperos and pineapple and tiramasu for desert. He also presented us with a balsa wood model of the bouti.
