Diego Suarez

Named for some Portuguese explorers, it is officially Antsiranana, but many/most people call it Diego. At least most Francophones do and 100% of the 3 or 4 Anglophones I've met, too.

The remarkably generous inclusion of syllables in Malagasy words is difficult for me to wrap my travel-weary brain around.

In all fairness, I was already having trouble back in Turkey, and that was 4? 5? Countries ago. I think that my brain has a limited capacity, or perhaps rate, for absorption of novel nomenclature. Adding a few new words of French each day helps me a little on my trip (a lot, actually) but not so much for also picking up names/places. It helps very little, or perhaps a rather large negative quantity, that Malagasy French is about as French as backwoods English is English. But a smile goes a long ways and thank technology for my handy pocket translator. Google: you rock.

So!
I left paradise, somewhat reluctantly, to come to the hustle and bustle of Diego. It's warm, but mild for a tropical city. The buildings are looking to be about 20 years behind on maintenance schedules, for the most part. Tuktuks twaddle and honk throughout town and diesel 4x4s belch fumes (but also I covet them).

There are numerous pale-skinned tourists here and so far I'd guesstimate that 85% are male. At least that % are speaking French. Some might be speaking another language. The only English I have heard was the very kind boy in the tourism office who speaks English juuuust a little better than I speak French. We settled on a random combination of the two, amid much laughter.

I finally gave up on trying to navigate/plan my next ~10 days. I've agreed to an organized tour operator and am paying a little extra but hopefully she is dealing with the details better than I was able. A combination of slow internet, general reluctance on my part, wildly confusing names, and a very large country with amazingly bad roads was complicated by my waiting till the last minute and local holidays. I'll be getting whatever is available at a premium rate.... But it'll still be less than $200/day including private drivers, a couple of flights, guided hikes and tours as well as 3 star hotels.

So now I can focus on finding some sort of plan for Reunion Island, which is my next stop and still wholly unplanned. I'd complain but... things have worked out really well so far (mostly).Read more