Friday, April 18
The morning started out at about 5:30 a.m. simply because we woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Ugh! Our flight wasn't out until 12:50 a.m. the next morning.
We met up with Ja and Rachel around 8:00 a.m. to get some breakfast. We left the hotel and headed out on quite a trek. We stopped at a little deli that supposedly served breakfast. It had tables and chair set up. We got menus and decided what we wanted.
We told the waiter we wanted a ham and cheese omelet. He informed us he didn't have any ham or cheese. So...we picked another item. This time a croissant with jelly and butter and fresh fruit. He again informed us he didn't have any jelly or fresh fruit. So...we said, "What do you have?" Basically, not much and nothing we wanted! So we left.
We stopped by an internet cafe because Rachel needed to do some banking via the internet. There were a couple of tvs showing the French equivalent to Fox News Channel. However, the commercials....disgusting - that's all I will say about that! I had to tell Walter not to even look at the tv!
We took a taxi (boy was that an experience) back to the hotel because they had a little cafe for breakfast. We sat down at a table. The waiter (or so we thought) came to take our order. We asked for a ham and cheese omelet. Ha! This man informed us he was the bartender and the chef wasn't there. He could make us scrambled eggs but NOT a ham and cheese omelet! Come on! If you can make scrambled eggs, you can put some ham and cheese on top of it. But, NO, this guy refused to do it. Not again! We said ok to the scrambled eggs and ordered a croissant with it. At lease we got some food!
From there we hopped into the car and went to pay a car repair bill Ja had. From there we went to the Croc Farm. The road to get there took us about 30 minutes and we only went about 2 miles. The road was that bad! On the way to the farm we saw people working in a rock query (sp?). Their job was to take big rocks and pound them into smaller rocks and then again into smaller rocks and so on until they had all different sizes. That's all they did all.day.long. So I got a couple of pictures.
We parked at the farm and went inside. It only cost $5 per person to get in - what a steal! Upon entering, you have to walk through the gift shop to get inside where all the animals and reptiles are. Hmmmmm, I think they want to make sure people buy souvenirs. Anyway, there were purses and lots of them. I started looking at 'em and saw a hot pink purse (just my color - in fact, my favorite color)! I looked for a price tag and couldn't find it. The clerk showed me where it was. Get this - in a 4th world country this purse was - are you ready for it - $1,000! Now, one must realize that all the purses were made out of genuine croc skin, but, come on - $1,000! For a purse!!!! No way! I didn't really like the style but they definitely wanted to keep it more than I wanted to pay $1,000 for it!
The infamous purse
The price tag - $1,000 in US dollars!
So on inside we went. We walked through an aviary and saw the birds below. I thought they were beautiful.
I think this is an African Grey parrot - not sure though.
The infamous purse
The price tag - $1,000 in US dollars!
I think this is an African Grey parrot - not sure though.
We moved outside to where the rest of the animals were. We happened upon a "free" tour guide. He was a very nice young man and he willingly (for a price, of course) guided us through the park. The following was some of what we saw.
None of the animals were fully enclosed with the exception of the crocs and the birds. This snake, by the way, was not poisonous.
Iguanas - dozens of them
Walter fed a giant tortoise - His head was as big as Walter's hand.
Iguanas - dozens of them
The tour guide found a couple of chameleons loose and Walter and Ja held them (Rachel and I say no - I really didn't want to hold it - not sure about Rachel). Notice the beautiful colors.
Walter fed a giant tortoise - His head was as big as Walter's hand.
It was on to the crocodiles. This was the pen with the babies - less than 2 years old. Notice how many there were - hundreds!
These crocs were the medium size ones - not babies and not adults
These crocs were the medium size ones - not babies and not adults
A close up of the medium sized ones - notice the croc with the missing foot. Yikes and ouch!
Ostriches - The guy in the orange jumpsuit was our "free" tour guide. He was really nice but he almost got himself pecked several times by that ostrich! I didn't dare get that close to them.
Then we saw the lemurs in the trees. There were 5 of them and they live up in the trees at the croc farm. We watched them jump from tree to tree and they didn't miss once. I wonder if any have missed in the past and ended up falling in the croc pens!
This lemur took a piece of fruit right out of Walter's hand.
Here are the big boys - the adult crocs! And let me tell you - they were BIG!
This lemur took a piece of fruit right out of Walter's hand.
Here are the big boys - the adult crocs! And let me tell you - they were BIG!
We happened to be there right at feeding time for the big ones. Notice how the men don't seem nervous about being around all those crocs.
There were dozens, if not hundreds, of the big crocs heading over to eat. It was quite a sight.
After that we had lunch inside the park. Ja and Walter had crocodile. Guess what? Yep, you guessed right - it tastes like chicken! We saw cans of crocodile meat that we could buy but they were very expensive (why would I expect anything but expensive - I mean, after all, there were $1,000 purses in the gift shop!) so we decided not to.
We left the farm and headed to a giant craft market. Along the way, I saw the sign below.
After that we had lunch inside the park. Ja and Walter had crocodile. Guess what? Yep, you guessed right - it tastes like chicken! We saw cans of crocodile meat that we could buy but they were very expensive (why would I expect anything but expensive - I mean, after all, there were $1,000 purses in the gift shop!) so we decided not to.
We left the farm and headed to a giant craft market. Along the way, I saw the sign below.
Doesn't this sign look unusual. I mean, it says "stop" but the triangle to us Americans means "yield." So...which is it in Malagasy? I don't know. I just thought it was odd.
Some sights of Tana
A picture of a house in Tana. Notice the rusting tin roof.
Some sights of Tana
A picture of a house in Tana. Notice the rusting tin roof.
You see that there car? That, my friends, is a taxi. Imagine piling 2 big American men, their wives and a baby in one of those. We did it. Not just once - but 4 times! They appear to be the old rickety cars from the World War II era. It really wasn't that bad. We did have a good laugh each time. Getting out was a lot harder than getting in!
We went to the craft market, bought some souvenirs and headed back to the hotel. We left the car at the hotel and walked to a restaurant. We ended up eating at a - get ready for this - MEXICAN restaurant. The funniest thing about it is that the chef boasts about learning how to cook Mexican food in New York, of all places! We thought that was hilarious! The food was pretty good, too. The one thing I noticed that needed to be improved was how to properly warm the tortillas. Mine were hot but when I rolled them up they cracked!
We went back to the hotel after dinner and fellowshipped until it was time to leave for the airport. We were exhausted already and we had a 23 hour flight along with time zone changes up ahead of us.
We got to the airport and got in line to check in. I needed to go to the restroom. I went and there was a woman sitting at the door of the restroom and she handed me a roll of toilet paper. When I was done, I handed it back to her. Yes, my friends, she was an official TOILET PAPER MONITOR! Can you say 'hilarious'? I didn't know it at the time but I was supposed to "tip" her for doing her job! I didn't have my purse with me so I couldn't have done it anyway. Ja told me when I got back to the line about tipping her. He said she was probably irritated but chalked it up to me being a foreigner.
We got checked in and had to go through customs to get in the security checkpoint line. Ya know, after traveling through 3 countries, I'm convinced that nobody knows what the correct requirements are for carry on luggage. In Paris, the officer told me all of my face creams had to be in the plastic bag (they aren't liquid). In Madagascar, the officer told me I had to take my deodorant and the plastic bag full of acceptable liquids back to the check-in line and have it put in the cargo hold. We looked at him frustrated and told him that we had met the correct requirements. He kept telling us the same thing. One of the women workers overheard our conversation and told me to just put the deodorant in the plastic bag, zip up the suitcase and leave. Whew! We did it lickety split and got ourselves outta there before the guy noticed us.
We got on the plane safely and were on our way home. I thought the flight to Madagascar was long. The flight home was longer because we were up for 2 1/2 days by the time we got home to our house. We had jet lag for several days and weren't able to sleep well. Best of all, Monday afternoon, we picked up our kids and felt complete again. The kids were away from us for a few days shy of a whole month.
We went to the craft market, bought some souvenirs and headed back to the hotel. We left the car at the hotel and walked to a restaurant. We ended up eating at a - get ready for this - MEXICAN restaurant. The funniest thing about it is that the chef boasts about learning how to cook Mexican food in New York, of all places! We thought that was hilarious! The food was pretty good, too. The one thing I noticed that needed to be improved was how to properly warm the tortillas. Mine were hot but when I rolled them up they cracked!
We went back to the hotel after dinner and fellowshipped until it was time to leave for the airport. We were exhausted already and we had a 23 hour flight along with time zone changes up ahead of us.
We got to the airport and got in line to check in. I needed to go to the restroom. I went and there was a woman sitting at the door of the restroom and she handed me a roll of toilet paper. When I was done, I handed it back to her. Yes, my friends, she was an official TOILET PAPER MONITOR! Can you say 'hilarious'? I didn't know it at the time but I was supposed to "tip" her for doing her job! I didn't have my purse with me so I couldn't have done it anyway. Ja told me when I got back to the line about tipping her. He said she was probably irritated but chalked it up to me being a foreigner.
We got checked in and had to go through customs to get in the security checkpoint line. Ya know, after traveling through 3 countries, I'm convinced that nobody knows what the correct requirements are for carry on luggage. In Paris, the officer told me all of my face creams had to be in the plastic bag (they aren't liquid). In Madagascar, the officer told me I had to take my deodorant and the plastic bag full of acceptable liquids back to the check-in line and have it put in the cargo hold. We looked at him frustrated and told him that we had met the correct requirements. He kept telling us the same thing. One of the women workers overheard our conversation and told me to just put the deodorant in the plastic bag, zip up the suitcase and leave. Whew! We did it lickety split and got ourselves outta there before the guy noticed us.
We got on the plane safely and were on our way home. I thought the flight to Madagascar was long. The flight home was longer because we were up for 2 1/2 days by the time we got home to our house. We had jet lag for several days and weren't able to sleep well. Best of all, Monday afternoon, we picked up our kids and felt complete again. The kids were away from us for a few days shy of a whole month.
No comments:
Post a Comment