Archive for December, 2008
Happy New Year!!!
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008
Happy New Year Everybody!
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Me and a Pachypodium
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
I think it makes my legs look longer
See ya next year!
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Are We There Yet?
Monday, December 29th, 2008
We hike and hitchhike and this is what for. To climb another mountain, to spot another lemur, another chameleon, and catch the sunset – wedge it between the orange mountain peaks and squeeze every last drop of light to illuminate that perfect shot. Where are we going? Maybe we are already there? I chase these questions away, because for now, I like my life just the way it is, even if I’m chasing my tail. From where I stand, the view is clear – once I catch it, like this girl here, I just might get myself one of these backseat drivers to ask the most important questions in my life, like “Are we there yet?”
ring-tailed lemur
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Dragons Exist
Sunday, December 28th, 2008
…luckily, they are only as big as a dry leaf, and look like one too.
uroplatus fantasticus
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A Madagascan Bug
Saturday, December 27th, 2008
I’ve got the bug. A Madagascan bug. Dozens of Madagascan bugs, in fact. Box-like green ones with spikes, and huge winged beauties that streak through the night sky like comets – their long tails trailing them like long bright ribbons. There are hungry ones too, marching on the ground searching for a good place lo latch on and then leave behind a bleeding victim whose blood will no longer be able to congeal, not for the next few minutes at least.
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Arrowhead
Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
chameleon
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Bye-Bye Kermit
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
green tree boa with lunch
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Escape Into the Wild
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
I’m contemplating an escape, a run-for-it, a fake-my-death drop-off-the-edge-of-the-earth run away mission that will forever allow me to remain in fairyland. Now, I only need to convince my prince to join me on my breakout. Oh wait! I have already…
But honestly, a sweet and haunting yearning to veer away into the bush is gnawing at me from time to time. At night, when I follow the guys on the search for Madagascar’s nocturnal treasures, I find myself planning my escape: I could just let my mates advance further and further, so enthralled with the hunt they wouldn’t even notice the light from my flashlight getting dimmer and then disappearing into the darkness altogether. Or I could even escape during the day – the forest is thick enough, and I have watched it and the guides long enough to make sure they will never find me.
I’ve noticed such thoughts possess me only when I overdose on life. When I see an uroplatus blend with a tree or watch me with its wild eyes from high hanging vines like some Tarzanosaurus, I want to abandon any form of existence I knew before and stay here, in the bush, blend in and surround myself with implausible creatures like this one.
uroplatus
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Taxi-Brousse Special
Saturday, December 20th, 2008
Ah, the taxi-brousse – the punishment we must endure for being able to see Madagascar’s marvels on nobody’s but our own schedule and trying to absorb, though not suffocate in, the local culture all at the same time. We kid ourselves, of course, we are bound, if not imprisoned, by the schedule of the taxi-brousse – our time here is not infinite and we must move on when it obliges to peel its over-packed self off the bus terminal’s sticky asphalt and waddle for days to our next destination.
But then, there is the taxi-brousse special – a private car that will take you wherever you want for a price.
Eager to get to the next patch of Madagascar heaven, we left Aye-Aye Island early enough to catch our ride. There was no taxi-brousse going in our direction that day, but the owner of the island was nice enough to find us an alternative – a private extended-cab truck loaded with PVC pipes, bags of rice, TV set, and more boxes and boxes was going to where we needed to get. For the same price as the taxi-brousse the driver squeezed us in the back seat. I would have ridden in the back, on top of the rice bags – there was more leg room there, but as a respectful vazah I couldn’t.
Luckily, we didn’t need to be confined to the narrow back seat for too long at a time. Numerous river crossings made us come out every few kilometers and engage in the mind boggling task of bridge repair. Tearing off a plank here, shoving it to reinforce the decking there, plugging up holes with palm leaves and sand. The truck prevailed every time, moldy boards giving off wet squeaks and nearly buckling under its weight. I crossed these bridges on my tiptoes.
It took us over fourteen hours to drive just 65km. My behind had just made its peace with the padded plank we had for a seat, and I thought we’ll be driving like this through the night, when the driver stopped in the middle of what looked like a ghost town. There were shacks and houses all around, but no soul in sight. The driver explained this is where we all will be spending the night, chased everybody from the truck cabin and stretched out in his seat.. Soon we could hear him snoring.
We were so tired. Every muscle ached. We found a concrete stoop, threw on it our mats and sleeping bags, generously smeared ourselves with bug repellent, and crawled in.
We woke up together with the town. Sleepy women strolled back and forth with buckets full of water, their children gawking at us from behind their skirts. Stores were opening, and men stood in doorways brushing their teeth and spitting, in a very manly manner, onto their own doorsteps and chickens.
I was the town’s bum. The sleeping bag pulled over my head felt like a newspaper sheet, and the mat beneath me like a cardboard box. As fast as we could we’ve gathered ourselves, had a breakfast of fried dough and coffee, and squeezed in to the back seat of our taxi-brousse special.
Half a day later we were at our destination. It will be 115km we’ll never forget.
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Little Sucker
Friday, December 19th, 2008
panther chameleon being bitten by a mosquito
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