the morning was calm,but wind soon came up.we did not fancy getting dinghy into water in wind,paticularly as it blows up worse in pm.so we hailed a man with a little green canoe with outrigger.he spoke no English,but we spoke enough French,and we paid him to take us ashore.interestingly his name is Brucepin. we conveyed return at 4 pm.
he lives in a shack on beachfront,so we were happy our boat would be safe.everywhere in Madagascar has a bad reputation for boat theft,esp outboard motors.
it was a short walk to main st ,rue Colbert,to tourist office,where we got town map,dirxns to markets,and walking trail booklet=Dans les rues de Diego Sueres,which like all tourist info in the southern indian ocean,is only availan]ble in French! we should have relearnt francais for this year.maybe we still should-for the pacific.
lunchtime found us at the Restaurant Les Arcades.we got a streetfront table to watch.the entre,capaccio poisson was delicious,as was the main,brochette de merou,avec legumes.
continuing up the main stret we passed several adventure travel shops-quad bikes 4x4wd tours,kite surfing,and consequent t-shirt/tourist shops.so tourism is now big,after the military/naval,and the fish factory business.
lots of yellow tuk tuks ,and lots of little yellow Renault 4 taxis
the markets looked poor,the African women in colourful clothes,some with yellow ochre faces,the prices cheap.we got bananas,papaya and eggplant
at the excellent supermarket we got chicken&pork fillet for next few nights,and zebu fillet for next passage.also baguette,fruit ,eggs and yoghurt
then back via port area,past ruins of the once grand Hotel des Marines.
Brucepip was waiting for us to get back to haven .he had an extra paddler this time,needed as we went out into strong wind.the little boat leaked so badly,I had to bail
so another interesting travel day in madagascar
now just waiting for green ghost to arrive
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