Tamatave

After a wild week in Tana I took a bus down to Tamatave on the East Coast. It’s a big tropical town. I was there once before when the eye of a cyclone passed overhead. (see post: My Cyclone Vacation To St. Marie) This time I met up with Mimi and Jessica, then Sawyer and Kyle arrived the next day. Also, a handful of Volunteers were in Tamatave acting as translators for Operation Smile, a yearly event where surgeons from around the world do free surgery to fix cleft pallets for kids and teenagers. Heroes. Much Respect.

I think I drank too much beer and I didn’t get enough sleep. Which reminds me, I read the biography of Jim Morrison on the bus down to Tamatave. He drank a lot, too. Every sunset we were on the beach, drinking and eating munchie food, like clams, then we went to a restaurant in town. My plan when I decided to go to Tamatave was to stay in a cheap motel and edit videos and write. I even had the seedy motel picked out. Oh well.

Back to Antananarivo

After 4 days of good timing with my good-timing Volunteer friends, I boarded a bus back to Antananarivo. I was a little hung over and cranky on the ride up there. Interestingly, on the taxi ride from the bus station to my hotel I saw Sam Feibel. He’s from Connecticut. He’s a damn good photographer and a fun guy to be around. Yo, I’m a good photographer myself, but I don’t capture the photos that he does. He knows how and when to photograph people. I’m too shy. Also, I saw him in Tamatave because he was working Operation Smile.  We ended up staying at the same place, The Bamboo Lounge Hostel, located in the center of town. That part of town is sketchy. A few Volunteers had been robbed there, so the Peace Corps made it off-limits.

Lost Passport News

Also, while back in town I finally made a police report about my lost passport. That went smooth as silk. Then I went to the US Embassy to see if my passport was ready, if not, at least I could rattle their cage and let them know that my flight to Spain was going to leave soon.

I got to the consular section of the Embassy feeling pessimistic. I asked the lady at the counter and she said that it had not come in. My body went limp. She saw the despair in my eyes, and said,“Let me check if it has come in this morning.” So I sat down and waited, thinking what I was going to say if she came back with bad news. Suddenly, someone behind the counter said,”They got it!” I leaped up with happiness and did a touchdown celebration. A gentleman waiting near me got excited, too. I told him about the lost passport. He was about 55 or 60, good-looking, tan, and in shape. A James Bond type and well dressed like Bond, too. Turns out he had lived in Miami for two years and his son was born there.

A Lunch Date

I said good bye and departed with a skip in my step and boarded a bus to downtown. I was on my way for a lunch date with a Malagasy girl. We met through Facebook. She was very attractive, spoke English very well, and from what I could tell from Facebook, she’s hard working and successful. We had lunch at a swanky café. I ordered a carpaccio salad, which was to die for. But damn! She was such an attractive woman that it was a shame that I met her only right before leaving the country.

 

The Last Night

So this night I went out with my friends Kamaka, Nate, and Nate’s girlfriend to Kim Star, a Korean restaurant near Kamaka’s apartment. The food was delicious: kimchee and spicy chicken, and like always, the beer went well with the kimchee. I drank that night just because I was eating kimchee. Nate and I even did a karaoke duet. The next day, my last day, I took a taxi to the airport and I was in a surly mood as usual. I thought I’d be more nostalgic and marvel-eyed at departing a country after 2 years. I don’t know if I’m correct or not, but I suddenly felt very unconnected to humanity. It’s like this 2 year experience has turned me Autistic.

Conclusion

Love and be friendly because you may check out early like Jim Morrison.