I'm just finishing up a little Tulear/Anakao time and itching to get
back to Beza.
I've been here for a little over a week now. Originally the plan was
to come into Tulear for a couple of days, see my friend J defend his
PhD dissertation (he did a great job -- highest honors) and then roll
back to Beza with another researcher who will be there for 3 weeks or
so.
This was the plan. It's not how it happened.
Ay and I came out with another research team just before New Year's
eve. We left C & P back at Beza -- P is leaving in the next 2 weeks
and they are on their way out today for a little holiday before he
returns home to the UK and C comes back to the lonely life in a tent
(sorry C -- we've all been there).
We left with M&F's research team -- they had finished up all of their
work early and were going for a little holiday at Anakao, a small
fishing village with some nice resorts on the west coast (not too far
from us). They were really generous letting us tag along in the car so
we could get Ay to the dentist (and I got an unplanned trip to the
beach!). We had a great NYE dinner and rang in the new year at one of
the bars down the beach, dancing and drinking THB. It was pretty great
and a welcome change of pace from beans & rice and forest life.
And Ay came down with a nasty toothache. It was bad enough that he
wanted to come to Tulear to see a dentist. This must have been bad,
because i know I wasn't so excited at the idea of a Tulear dentist
poking around in my mouth. So, because of Ay's bum tooth, we ended up
leaving Beza and having a short beach break before coming back to
Tulear.
On the way to Tulear from the beach though we broke an axle on the
Landcruiser. Woops. This didn't make anyone so happy because it meant
we had to stay a night in Betioky (not that bad, and in a hotel that
was nicer than the others I've seen. However, use the word 'nicer' in
its most general and comparative context). Since the car was FUBARd we
had to find a new ride to Tulear that could fit 7 people and their
gear. This ended up being a tiny Peugot truck with most of us piled
into the bed for the drive from Betioky to Tulear. It wasn't a bad
ride in the back and since we had benches to sit on and a relatively
large amount of room (compared to the taxi-brousse), we got to Tulear
in style.
We got Ay to a dentist that actually wasn't so scary. Gloves, masks,
and the appearance of sterilization. He even had the dentist's
standard giant mouth/tooth models and huge toothbrush (I know I felt
comforted). Luckily there wasn't anything wrong with his tooth--
dentist thought he had food stuck between his teeth. The dentist told
him to brush better, gave him some mouthwash and sent us on our way.
By this time we had been in Tulear for a few days. J's defense was set
to be the next day, so we had some time to kill. The hotel we've been
staying at has wifi, so this isn't too hard for those of us who don't
get to check email/facebook/wikipedia/internets all that often. This
is also prime movie and tv show watching time for Ay & I.
I was supposed to head out yesterday, but our car wasn't ready. Then
it was leaving today at 7. Nope. Not happening. In fact we have a new
car coming from Tana today, which hopefully will be able to take N & I
back to Beza tomorrow. I hope so. I'm getting tired of Tulear. It's
time to get back to my tent. It's been nice to have relaxing and tasty
meals with good people, see a colleague accomplish his goal, celebrate
with cold beer, and check back in with the world and loved ones, but
it's time to get back to the babies, poo collection, and unfortunately
the wasps that have started to come out.
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