#ifaty

Saturday September 16 – Ifaty 

Slept in this morning for the first time! Woke up though with the first mosquito bites of the trip as the bungalow was not completely sealed and the bed had the worst mosquito net on the trip in the only place where it was needed. Heard some other creature making noise around the roof in the night and according to our guide it might have been a mouse lemur. Didn’t see it though – just saw the gecko that I startled with the lights when I got back from dinner last night! Met the others for breakfast and had a leisurely meal given we had no activities. There was an option for snorkeling that a couple of people went on but it turned out to be pretty boring, apart from the ride out on a craft that looked to be very unseaworthy! Relaxed on the beach for a bit and went in the ocean, which was very warm. Then headed up for lunch before coming back down for some more time on the beach. Had a nice dinner with the group and sat around talking for a bit; although was still falling asleep by 9:30 so not an overly late night. Had a startle by the “security” when we headed back to our bungalows in the dark. They wore plain clothes, sometimes a hoodie and carried sticks around and like to hang out in the dark. I hadn’t notice the guy the previous night until I reached my bungalow door and then I was frantically trying to get the key in and open the door! ? I think the hotel should maybe consider a security vest for the guys to avoid any future heart attacks by guests!

Friday September 15 – Isalo to Ifaty

 Had our final drive today west to the beach town of Ifaty.  En route we drove through the sapphire mining area, including the town of Ilakaka.  This area of Madagascar is poorer than the other areas we visited so we were not allowed to get out of the bus much during the drive. In Ilakaka we stopped on a bridge to watch the townspeople panning in the river for sapphire bits.   Don’t think they were likely getting much but the town (and many others on the drive seemed to have an inordinate amount of gem shops).  After the river, as we drove through town, we spotted a guy in one of the stalls wearing a Canucks shirt, which was a bit of a shock!  It did look like they had a number of used clothes for sale in the markets that were left by or sent from North America so it was likely sent by one of the many bandwagon fans! ?  We passed by a rum “factory” which looked like it produced something that would cause instant blindness.   I think we were also happy to stay on the bus there and avoid any samples! We also passed by a number of Tombs, including on shaped like a large boat.   We stopped in the beach city of Tulear for lunch at a nice looking place where I had a pizza,  which was good.  We then carried on the short bit north to Ifaty and our hotel on the beach.   I lucked out and got a bungalow right on the beach.  Although it did required quite the climb to go to the restaurant!  We hung out at the bar after freshening up and enjoyed the fact that we didn’t have any more early mornings and long bus rides!   After dinner headed down to the bungalow and had no problem falling asleep with the crashing waves.