Meeting my chicken bus match

We purchased our initial Jo’burg –Madagascar tickets through an American travel agency in May and decided at that point to organize domestic flights for the majority of our trip. The first leg of our journey was to be the only exception, and we planned to brave the Malagasy public transportation system for two “short” (think ~150 km) segments of our trip.

I am generally game for the occasional developing world public transportation adventure (e.g. the infamous “chicken buses” of Central America), but I promised my mom that I’d make an effort to avoid sketchy transportation in Africa. I figured that we’d e able to spend a little extra for nicer/safer buses in Madagascar, and in our absolute worst case scenario, we’d end up on some decent rural bus akin to what I experienced during my time in Asia and Latin America. Wrong. Sorry mom, we definitely tried to avoid it, but sometimes, the chicken bus is inevitable.

We had a couple of elements working against us. First off, there is only one class of bus transport in Madagascar. These buses are called taxi-brousses (literally “bush taxi”), and are actually large vans. The government fixes the ticket price by distance, so there isn’t any incentive for the companies to invest in snazzier buses that command a higher ticket price. Second, our mastery of communication with hand signals can usually get us to the bus station and to the point where we can buy tickets to our destination, but beyond that, we pretty much have to cross our fingers and hope for the best. Complicated questions about road worthiness leg room are totally out of the question.

The first leg of our overland trip was rough, but manageable. The second leg was where things got really interesting…So we arrived at the rural bus station in Moramanga Madagascar, bought our tickets to Tamatave, boarded the bus and proceeded to wait for the bus to fill up before leaving (there aren’t any set departure times, and buses just leave when they are full, which can take several hours) - bear in mind that we couldn’t talk to anyone, so we were a bit confused about why the bus wasn’t leaving. After a good hour or so, they had loaded up the bus with people and luggage to the point where the bottom of the bus was only just clearing the ground, which meant that it was time to go.

The ride was long and hot and dusty. We were crammed like sardines into our seats. I got stuck in a middle seat, which was pretty bad, but Chris was caught between two car-sick kids and a woman who was also having a rough time with the windy roads, so I actually think that my knees-in-the-chest middle seat was pretty ok.

We made about 20 stops along the 130 km journey. Mostly we stopped to cram additional passengers into the bus, but we also paused frequently so that the driver could pull over to buy snacks and fruit from road-side stands (fortunately the windy roads didn’t get to him too). We also made a couple of stops to help out buses that were experiencing mechanical trouble.

Around km 90, jus when Chris and I were starting to feel confident that we’d make it to our destination on-time, the bus started making strange noises, and pulled over to the side of the road. The other passengers seemed to be pretty familiar with this routine, and everyone piled off the bus and looked for a shady spot on the side of the road. The driver got a pair of coveralls and some tools from the trunk and climbed under the bus (you know it’s bad when you permanently keep a pair of coveralls on hand for breakdowns). Unable to communicate with the other passengers, we had no idea if the problem was minor or serious, so we plopped down in the shade and hoped for the best (you will notice that “hoping for the best” has become a theme of our trip to Madagascar). After an hour or so, the driver changed out of his coveralls, we all piled back into the bus and continued on to Tamatave.

The trip was supposed to take 5 hours, but we’ve learned that Malagasy time is +2 to 3 hours in pretty much any circumstance, so naturally the trip ended up being a little over 7 hours. We arrived in Tamatave just before dark and totally exhausted from the journey.

As if the bus ride itself hadn’t been enough, when we arrived in Tamatave it had been raining for several hours and the city had lost power, so the bus station was a giant, unlit swamp pit. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a bit of a neat-freak, and the idea of maneuvering through a giant, dark mud pit wasn’t the most appealing scenario. Eventually we made it to our hotel, and kissed the ground.

Our taxi-brousse adventure in Madagascar was definitely a character building experience, and it tried my patience more than almost any other bus trip I’ve made to-date. Let’s just say that Chris and I were happy that we’d booked domestic flights for the rest of our trip in Madagascar.

-Julia

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

These taxi-brousses aren’t made for tall people

From Misc Africa 2010

Our bus pulled over onto the side of the road

Lemurs!

After two days in Tana, Chris and I headed off to Andasibe national park. Our plan thus far had been to work our way from the capital of Madagascar to Sainte Marie island over the course of a week, stopping at some of the highlights along the way… one of which was Andasibe national park.

The park is set in a lush rain forest in the mountains on the East coast of the Madagascar. This is one of the only places where you can see the indri indri, Madgascar’s largest lemur. Andasibe was a brief stop, as we only stayed there for two nights, but our morning hike through the misty rainforest listening to the call of the indri indri was truly unforgettable.

-Julia

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

Malagasy countryside en route to Andasibe National Park

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

Indri indri lemur

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

You have to admit, they are pretty darn cute

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

A family of lemurs sitting in a tree...

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

We also saw this cute little wooly lemur and he baby resting in a tree

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

And the didamed sifaka lemur was pretty cool too

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

Hiking through the jungle

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

A sign posted outside the park. Yes, the language barrier has been a major challenge here.

From 06-10-10 Andasibe web

This chameleon was chilling outside of our bungalow

Madagascar – not for the faint of heart

After a little over a week in Cape Town, we hopped on a plane to Madagascar. I’ve always been intrigued by this mysterious island that some call the 8^th continent and have really been looking forward to this portion of our Africa trip.

We arrived in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital (aka “Tana”), and spent two nights in the city getting settled and figuring out our travel plans for the next few weeks.

During our one full day in Tana, we decided to try one of Lonely Planet’s suggested self-guided “walking tours” so that we could get a sense for the city and a little taste of the local culture. I have a pretty good sense of direction, and when provided with a map, I can normally find my way from point A to point B (Chris is pretty good at this too, which helps). This city, however, proved to be the ultimate navigation challenge. Allow me to set the scene for you: the city is located on a series of hills so the all streets wind around in curves and circles, traffic is insane (I have yet to see a stop light and traffic signs are rare), the streets have incomprehensible 5-syllable names that ALL start with the letter “R” (like “Ravelmanantsoa”, “Ratsimilaho” and “Razafindranovona” … no I did not make those up, they are actual street names), and to make matters worse, none of the streets have street signs, so even if we could understand the names, there was no way to figure out where the heck we were going. Outcome: we got totally lost and spent the better part of a morning aimlessly wandering around Tana. Fortunately, city is pretty safe during the daytime, so it wasn’t like we were going to accidentally wander in to a favella or anything. Eventually, we found our way back to our hotel and rewarded ourselves with a tasty meal at one of the upscale French-Malagasy restaurants downtown.

Since arriving in this country, I’ve been struck by a couple of things that have led me to suspect that traveling in Madagascar is will be rewarding, but also very challenging. My gut feeling is that this country will be unlike anywhere I’ve ever travelled before. First off, the poverty here is extreme and profound. In most developing countries, you see the stark contrast between the rich and poor with glimmers of a small (but normally growing) middle class, but here I have seen almost nothing but severe poverty.

Second, communication is really tough. I can say approximately 4 things in French. The local people here primarily speak Malagasy, and most also speak varying degrees of French. No English. Zip, zero, zilch. I have already resorted to hand signals multiple times during the first few days. This could get interesting.

Third, there are very few other western independent travelers. Of those we have seen, about 90% are French and don’t seem really interested in striking up conversation with the two lone Americans. There is, however, an abundance of crusty old European guys accompanied by beautiful young local girls. I saw a lot of this in Thailand and the Philippines. I’m sure that some of them are couples who are genuinely happy, but it’s tough not to make my own conclusions, and as a woman it pains me to see this scenario played out over and over…

On the other hand, Madagascar is also an incredibly beautiful place with amazing plant and animal life that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world. Also, the local people(the few that we have been able to connect with) have been very warm and kind, and the local cuisine is pretty tasty…which is always a major plus.

If nothing else, I know that Madagascar will be an adventure…

-Julia

From 06-08-10 Tana web

Tana - Madagascar's capital

From 06-08-10 Tana web

Wandering the hilly streets of Tana

From 06-08-10 Tana web

Chris blending in with the locals

From 06-08-10 Tana web

Testing out my sweet new mosquito net and headlamp at the hotel in Tana

Touch down in Cape Town

We’ve been here for nearly a week now and are happy to report that we love our new city! Cape Town is a beautiful, cosmopolitan city, and I really think that we are going to like living here.

We landed on Thursday morning and used some hotel points from my consultant days to check into a Westin. It’s probably not the best place to get exposure to real Cape Town culture, but it was an extremely comfortable landing pad for jet-lag recovery and getting oriented with the city…which we REALLY needed after 3 days of traveling and the luggage catastrophe at Heathrow (we are still waiting for our bags and discovered that, in the frantic moments of unpacking and repacking our bags at the airport, we managed to leave some really important items in our shipped bags and both ended up with a bizarre hodgepodge of clothes…this has resulted in some very “creative” outfits).

After a solid 24 hours of hibernation/recuperation in the hotel, we emerged into the light of day and began exploring the city. Since then we’ve been doing some of the typical touristy outings, while also checking out potential neighborhoods and getting to know the city. Some of the highlights have included: hiking atop Table Mountain (stunning 360 views of Cape Town, anyone?), late afternoon lunch in the BEAUTIFUL seaside neighborhood of Camps Bay (prettier than Malibu), and our excursion to the Cape of Good Hope (where else can you see views of two oceans, an ostrich, a baby penguin and a baboon in the span of 15 minutes?).

I also should report that we feel MUCH safer in Cape Town than we thought we would. Quite to the contrary of what we’d heard from some people before we left, there are NOT gangs of thugs roaming the streets of downtown Cape Town attacking innocent bystanders at random. What we did see, however, during our first day wandering through the city were families picnicking on the grass at Green Point, couples enjoying lunch at outdoor cafes, and moms riding bikes with their kids on the promenade. I felt a little silly for being so nervous when we left the hotel earlier that day. Sure, South Africa has a high crime rate, and yes we are still being careful and using a healthy dose of caution, but we are both relieved that the safety situation in Cape Town is not nearly as dire as the typical American perception.

-Julia

From Africa 2010

Our beautiful new city!

From Africa 2010

Stunning views from Table Mountain in a crystal clear day!

From Africa 2010

Taking a breather from our hike

From Africa 2010

The top of table mountain really is quite flat

From Africa 2010

Camps Bay

From Africa 2010

Self explanatory

From Africa 2010

Cape of Good Hope

From Africa 2010

Chris and our tiny rental car. We only drove on the wrong side two times that day...

From Africa 2010

Baboons!

From Africa 2010

This baboon decided that our car was the place to hang out..for quite a while actually

Click here to check out the full highlight reel from our first week in Cape Town.

In transit: 3 days, 3 continents and luggage drama at Heathrow

It took us 3 days to get to Cape Town. First we flew from Oregon to London, had a 36 hour layover and then continued on to Cape Town direct from London.

Our trip from Oregon to London was seamless. We flew standby on Continental, and made all of our flights. Chris’ mom works for Continental, and generously offered us the use of her companion/vacation passes. She also flew with us on the second leg of our journey to make sure that we made the flights and to see us off on our big adventure to Africa (Chris and Mary Pat got bumped up to first class, and I joined them in the front of the plane about halfway through the trip…Continental flight attendants are the best!!!).

We were all super tired when we got to London, but it was great to see Chris’ mom, and they extra day of jet lag recovery before our long flight to South Africa was a life-saver. Our hotel was in Windsor, so while we didn’t actually stay in the city of London, we did enjoy a relaxing afternoon in Windsor. The following morning we said goodbye to Mary Pat and headed to the airport.

That’s when things stopped going so smoothly, and all hell broke loose. To add some context to the story, take a close look at the following photo taken at PDX:

From Pre-africa departure (CA and OR)

We have a LOT of luggage. Granted we packed for a year, and needed to bring a combination of work attire, travel gear, etc. But still, it’s a lot of stuff…even for me (which is saying something).

We got to the South African Airways check-in desk and were informed that we were only allowed 20 kg of check luggage and 8 kg of hand luggage per customer. We had significantly more than that (like another 30 kg each).

Uh-oh. So we just need to pay a moderate extra baggage charge, right? Not the end of the world.

In my dreams. It turns out that South African Airways charges £36 per kilo (over $3,000 to for the excess baggage). Uh-oh. That’s a LOT of days of safari. Attempting not to panic, we explained that we were moving from the US, and were completely unaware that their baggage allowances were so restrictive. We actually tried to research this BEFORE we bought the tickets, and were under the impression that we would be allowed 2 bags each, which is typical for an international long-haul flight. This was actually one of our reasons for buying these specific tickets, so you can probably understand our frustration when we were totally stonewalled by the SAA employees. They were merciless.

They did, however, inform us that there was a baggage scale around the corner and a shipping service downstairs. At this point, we only had an hour before the flight was set to close, so we lugged our bags around the corner, and proceeded to unpack and repack EVERYTHING in a panicked mad-dash. Then we raced to the baggage shipping office with our tornado of luggage chaos (effectively scaring the crap out of the poor polish dude working there). The luggage shipping service was less expensive than the additional luggage charge, but it was not cheap. I’m 95% certain that SAA is in cahoots with the shipping company. The check-in agent was just a little too quick to suggest the shipping company as a solution. I’m still angry about this and am launching my own personal boycott of South African Airlines. Ha! Take that!

While the luggage debacle wasn’t the ideal first impression of South Africa, things quickly changed when we arrived safely in Cape Town on day 3. The city is amazing, and all of the people have been incredibly warm and friendly. Stay tuned for the next installment of our stories from South Africa…

-Julia

From Pre-africa departure (CA and OR)

Obligatory England phone booth photo

From Pre-africa departure (CA and OR)

Chris with Mary Pat on our walk in Windsor

From Pre-africa departure (CA and OR)

Windsor Castle!

Oregon: relaxed rainy days and a little firearms training with Uncle Chuck

After 2 weeks of packing up our apartment in SF, preparing to move to South Africa and saying goodbye, Chris and I headed up to Oregon to spend a few days with my family before launching off on our big journey together.

It was great to have some time to relax and decompress before our departure...and Oregon is the perfect place for a little chill-out time.

One of the highlights of our visit to Oregon was learning to "shoot stuff" with my Uncle Chuck. Neither Chris nor I have ever fired a gun before, and when my uncle found that out, he offered a firearms tutorial before our departure...you know, just in case we get charged by a lion (very unlikely), happen to be armed (even more unlikely) and need to defend ourselves. Chris was a natural and hit the targets 50% of the time. Me...not so much. The kickback on the shotgun definitely took me by surprise, and I was only slightly better with a rifle. Hmmm...I'll probably leave the shooting up to more experienced marksmen.

We also had a great time visiting with my Aunt Cheryl, Aunt Rachael and Uncle Norm in Salem. And with Uncle Reid and Tio Miguel in Portland.

Thanks so much to my mom and dad for hosting us in Oregon and for giving us a wonderful farewell! We'll miss you guys so much!

-Julia

From Pre-africa departure (CA and OR)

Beautiful Oregon!

From Pre-africa departure (CA and OR)

Hanging out by the river with uncle Chuck

From Pre-africa departure (CA and OR)

Saying goodbye to mom

The only thing worse than a bee in your bonnet is a bee in your wetsuit

After Tayrona I decided to spend a few more days in Taganga before moving on. It was tough to muster the motivation to leave the hotel's inviting hammock patio, and I'd met a fun group of travelers in there.

When I returned to Taganga, I met Monique, an Aussie traveler who was also PADI certified and interested in checking out the diving in Taganga. We did a couple of fun dives with one of the local dive operators. The dives themselves were nice and he visibility was good (I saw seahorses for the first time!), but the water was 21-22 degrees Celsius (which for those of you who work in Fahrenheit, equates to DAMN cold). By the end of the second dive, I was ready to swear off non-tropical dive excursions for the rest of my life.

I also had a little altercation with a bee who found his way into my wetsuit during our surface interval. Not fun. Luckily, the little addition to my dive gear was a harmless little sweat bee and not a wasp or yellow jacket.

From Colombia 2009

Taganga from inside a taxi

From Colombia 2009

Sunday at the beach

From Colombia 2009

Chris and Alex, a super-cool Canadian couple I met at Casa de Felipe

From Colombia 2009

My dive partner, Monique

From Colombia 2009

Working on my tan

From Colombia 2009

Sunset over Taganga

From Colombia 2009

The patio

From Colombia 2009

The greatest idea ever, you get to hang out with your friends and never have to get out of the hammock!

From Colombia 2009

See what I mean about hard to leave?

From Colombia 2009

More Casa de Felipe

From Colombia 2009

Monique, enjoying a post-dive beverage