The latest news from St Augustin…
Hi everyone,
It has been a while since I sent an email, but I have basically been living in St Augustin. Only came into town for resupplying and sending off school work. It really feels a bit like home, staying in the same bed several nights in a row, knowing what you will have for dinner, talking to the cooking lady, the washing lady, other people in the village and finally also starting field work. Not the feasibility study we are doing for our organisation, but collecting material for my thesis. Beside counting fish and learning vernacular names for species, is it not going very well though. I have not found a research assistant yet, I dont even need an assistant, I just need a translator, but there are apparently few people speaking French in the village… I doubt that, I just think that people are too shy. But I will go on the hunt for my assistant when I come back from my mission.
Kris and I are sent off to Mahajanga, that is on the northwest coast. We will leave later today and arrive in Tana late tomorrow, spend the night there (Indian restaurant and chocolate dessert, here I come!!) and then leave early Sunday morning for Mahajanga. According tot the programm which we just received, we will then again on Monday morning for somekind on town which is not even mentioned in the guide book; finally we are totally going of the beaten track! And we have been promised rainforest, so I really look forward to the trip. Excluding the tiresome rides in the taxi brousse that is.
Otherwise, the latest adventures include a local rum village, accessible over a steep moutain slope. Unfortunately did we not find out until we got there – so I had to climb in sandals and a skirt. Not the most comfortable things. Also, on my last pirogue trip I got a sunburn on my behind, since my pants ripped apart and you dont really think about putting sun screen there. Arif made a nice joke about my ass being hot, in every sense od the word. But I am all ok now. Apart from several blisters at my feet and a cut on my leg…these things just happen.
More fun was eating the baobabfruit. It looks like a hairy coconut and has small seeds inside. You first eat the white surroundings, which are a bit lemony, abnd then you bite the seeds apart and eat the nutty meat inside. Really good for snack. Also, lots and lots of litchis. Wont be able to live without them once I am back in Europe. The fruits here are simply just amazing!
But that are all the news so far. Summer is approaching, the sun now rises at 5 am and setting at 18…more daylight, more time to work! And it is getting really hot, so hot that we barely can sleep at night. But I still enjoy myself a lot and dont even want to think about that I passed my half time point last week.
Cheers,
Ulrike