Miandrivazo

We only stayed one full day in Miandrivazo.  It is a small village with spotty electricity and no internet.  The main tourist draw is that it is the starting point of the Tsiribihina River boat ride.  There are two ways to get to Morondava, the coastal city near the Alley of Boababs.  Either you can drive on crappy roads for many hours, or take a 3 day trip down the river, visiting villages that are only accessible by river.  Obviously we choose the latter option.  And, there are two types of boats to choose from - either a cramped canoe or a motor boat that fits up to 15 people.  We decided to splurge and rent the motor boat for 1.3 million ariary (complete with guide, cook, boat men, captain, friend of boat man, and daughter of guide).  So a total of 7 people plus the two of us. 

Actually renting the boat was also quite interesting.  The barrage of boat middle-men was relentless from the time our taxi bus pulled in to the bus stop to the time we decided on a boat, nearly 24 hours later.  We were bugged during dinner, while getting ready for bed in our hotel room (Caryl opened the door on just his boxers, which did not deter the salesman), and the minute we opened our bungalow door in the morning.  We couldn't go anywhere in the town without men stopping us and asking about the boat trip.  We eventually realized there were really only 2 camps of boat dealers, with many "hangers-on" trying to get a finder's fee.  We ruled out the guy who bothered us while we were relaxing after a long travel day (his best offer was 1.8 million) and choose Riri, who appeared more professional and gave us a better deal.  But, when we called him to arrange the trip, he asked us to tell our hotel we decided not to do the trip and to meet him around the corner from our hotel.  We didn't lie to our hotel, but met him clandestinely.  He later explained that he does not like to "pay off" the hangers-on, and that's why he was able to get us a better deal.  We met with him in his living room, which had a flat screen tv and no less than 3 large sound systems, paid for with boat money, I'm sure.  But he also had 3 cats and a kitten, so I trusted him.  So, we arranged the trip, starting with being picked up at 6am at our hotel the next morning.  We enjoyed a hassle-free dinner, and got a decent night's sleep.

The next morning, we waited at our hotel for over an hour for our ride to show up, fighting bugs and annoyed at having to wait after waking up at 5:30.  After the first 15 minutes two men in cowboy hats came to tell us Riri would be a little late.  Apparently the bus we had planned to take has left even earlier, so he was scrambling to find us a car. The car finally arrived, a beat up old thing older than me (which if very common here).  Since the car was making a weird noise, the first thing we did was take it to the shop, where a "mechanic" welded a large piece of metal to the underside while we waited.  Then, finally we were off to the loading dock!

The ride to the dock took about 45 minutes with no more surprises.  While we waited for our boat to get loaded up, our guide, John, disappeared with some locals.  When he reappeared, we hopped on the boat and left.  Well, one of the first things our guide shared was that one of the locals had been spreading rumors about him in town, and that they had gotten in a fist fight while we were waiting.  To prove his story he showed us his hand, which was already starting to swell, and continued to do so for the remainder of the trip.  Needless to say, he was not a very good guide.  Thankfully the rest of the joyful crew made up for his nightly drunken ravings.

I am attaching pictures of our first day on the river - us relaxing, a convenience store and a local restaurant and bar (yes, the straw huts serve as temporary stores in the dry season when the river level is below the sand banks), a beautiful waterfall, and the sunset over the river.  If you're ever in Madagascar we both highly, highly recommend this trip.  We're also glad we paid for the motor boat and not the canoes.