We packed like sloths. We were silly, a little grumpy, and fuzzy. For me, when I don’t sleep it feels like I'm dreaming: light, airy, but fleeting. We managed to get all of our stuff together, dry our specimen, and eat something before leaving Ranomafana around late morning. We decided to take the backseat of the Toyota, or back benches I should say. We thought we might be able to sleep through the ride. We could not have known how different the pothole-ridden road feels from the front seat of the car to the back benches. It was so bumpy and uncomfortable, but we have seven hours to hold on and hope we could close our eyes for a little. We would take turns falling asleep here and there, but no real sleep was promised until that night. The day dragged on, and when we thought we had made some progress it seemed we still had so much more trip to go. It was much different from the magical journey to RMP. We did have fun though. We ate lunch at a hotely in a small town, and we were the last ones to eat lunch. The staff didn’t see us in the corner of the restaurant, and started to blast the music to attract more customers. Emile wobbled around the corner and said in Malagasy “Um, did you forget we are here?” It was funny. There were many moments like that.
The highlight of the day was souvenir shopping at a crafts shop along the road. Rocky informed us that this place was the origin of many cool craftsman artwork from this area. We got to watch a little demonstration on how they make these gorgeous panels of inlaid wood of a variety of colors. They stain different types of wood in mud for a month to get a range of colors including yellow, grey, green, brown, red, and white. They then cut our patterns or designs from thin slices of this wood and inlay them in bigger board, creating this mosaic panel that is just exquisite. I had to indulge my artistic side and get some things to take home.
Before heading into the car, we managed to get some famous wild silk scarves. Finally we hopped back into the car, and I realized that sleep depravation and shopping is a dangerous combination. The rest of the ride was long, and I kept getting these strange waves of nausea, but finally, around 11:30pm we drove up to the biodiversity center, and I was so happy to lay down my aching body in my soft bed in the dorm room here. Sleep came all too quickly and I drifted off into my malaria medicine dreams once again.
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I woke up in a daze, but thankful that I had got some sleep...finally. I knew I needed to do laundry today. My Peace Corps skills came drifting back into focus as I submerged our soiled clothes in OMO (laundry detergent) and cold water. I had washed my clothes by hand for two years in Morocco, and I knew exactly how to do it. There is nothing quite like the smell of laundry that has been line-dried by the wind and sun. I volunteered to do all the laundry, and I managed to finish by 3:00pm, just in time to catch some rays and prepare myself for another day trip tomorrow. We only took one day between field trips, and it was not enough for me. Though I am glad we are using our time here as efficiently as possible. We left again for Andasibe at 7:00am in the morning. Phew!
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