Tag: Travel

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The Nomadic Life Travel

10 Destinations Worthy of A Traveler’s Bucket List

Daydreaming about travel is almost as fun as traveling for real. Seriously, there have been scientific studies on the topic. It’s also the driving force behind some wonderful blog posts and articles in the travel blogosphere. NY Times has a beautifully done article titled 52 Places to Go in 2014; Afar Magazine gives its readers travel inspiration regularly, but they too have compiled their own (shorter) “Where to Go in 2014” list. Other sites target their lists to more specific types of travelers, like Go Overseas’ Best Places to Learn Spanish and Matador Network’s new book featuring 101 Places to Get F*cked Up Before You Die.

This list, however, is my bucket list. It’s where I would go if money, political conflict, and time were no issue. I didn’t choose these destinations for being up and coming destinations to travel to in 2014, or because they are great places to teach abroad. I chose them because, for each their own reason, these are the destinations that give me travel inspiration. I hope they inspire you as well!

1. Beirut, LebanonThanks to Alixanaeuphoria

Currently, there is a travel advisory against all travel to certain areas of Beirut — but that doesn’t change the fact that Beirut has been high on my travel bucket list since I was a teenager, eating chicken shawarma for lunch every other day while my peers lined up for Taco Bell. While Lebanese food alone (hummus, ftayer, baba ghanoush, makdous, shawarma, baklava…) is reason enough to travel to Lebanon, Beirut also has a reputation for fantastic nightlife and plenty of cafes to munch mezze and smoke water pipes in by its beautiful seafront. Someday, Beirut… someday…

2. Patagonia, Argentina/ChilePhoto Credit: Wikipedia Commons

Patagonia is an awe-inspiring region full of natural wonders and opportunity for adventure. The massive region of Patagonia (from the word patagones) sits in both Chile and Argentina, and stretches down to Tierre del Fuego — the end of South America and launching point to Antarctica. Its natural features are as diverse as the area is large. It includes jutting mountains, glaciers leftover from the last ice age, and a vast, foreboding desert (believed to be the seventh largest in the world). For outdoor enthusiasts, rock climbers, hikers, horse-back riders, and anyone looking for adventure with one of the world’s most scenic backdrops, Patagonia is (supposedly) a must.

3. Oaxaca, Mexico

Oaxaca by Hi Tricia

Why visit Oaxaca, Mexico? Well, for the culture and cheese-drenched food, of course. For a long time, I overlooked Mexico as a travel destination, while hypocritically chasing taco trucks and drinking horchata, until someone brought up Oaxaca. Travel in Oaxaca, apparently, is different than a jaunt in one of its beachy, spring-break loving neighbors. While there is no shortage of beach in this southwestern Mexican state, the diversity, colonial architecture, lively Dia de los Muertos celebrations, and cuisine are what really make it worth visiting for more intrepidly-minded travelers.

4. Waitomo, New Zealand

Time and time again, New Zealand pops up on all sorts of “must-see” destination lists. It’s safe, beautiful, and offers attractions that appeal to a variety of travel personalities. 10-year old me, however, had no idea or concern about these factors. All I knew about New Zealand was: glow worms; caves full of glow worms. Fifteen years later, being surrounded on all sides by glittery glow worms still sounds awesome. On New Zealand’s north island, in Waitomo, visitors can do just that.

5. Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul is just one of those places that lives in the hearts of all travelers deeply affected with wanderlust. It’s visually appealing, with windy markets full of colorful goods just begging you to get lost in. The food is fresh and fantastic. It’s cheap. And it’s just different enough from the West to hold the allure of “otherness”. Maybe it’s beginning to be a bit more beaten-path, but who cares?

6. Portugal

From Porto to Lisbon and every small town in between, there are so many reasons to visit Portugal, and so many reasons why this little Western European country is far too underrated as a travel destination. It’s cheap (more importantly, the wine and port are cheap), photogenic, easy to get around, and has an endlessly scenic, craggy coastline and sunny beaches. Also, El Camino de Santiago has a route that passes through. Seriously, I’m this close to throwing my hiking shoes and a wine key into my backpack and hoping on a plane to Lisbon now.

7. Cuba

Cuba has long held fascination for travelers because of its caught-in-another-era personality. But Cuba’s opening up — slowly but surely — and it looks like it is soon in for a change. Catching a glimpse of Cuba before it lifts the embargo and embraces a modern transformation is the main motivation to visit Cuba now, but of course not the only reason. There’s also the rum, the cigars, the hot weather, the people, and music. Seriously, Cuba has produced some talented musicians (I loved Leo Brower’s music enough to tattoo “Una Dia di Noviembre” on my right arm) and thanks to them, some beautiful songs.

8. Zion National Park, Utah

Though Zion is Utah’s oldest and most popular park, it doesn’t get as much talk time as bigger names like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon. Too bad, because it’s probably just as gorgeous and impressive as either of those. Among much else, the park is known for its massive pink, cream, and red sandstone cliffs, a unique combination of wildlife and geology, and of course numerous hiking trails, rock climbing opportunities, and even some spelunking. But mostly, it’s a sunrise on top of one of those sun-colored cliffs that I’m after.

9. Kyoto, Japan

Beirut, Oaxaca, Istanbul, and now, Kyoto? There’s definitely a travel to eat trend going on with this list and  during a recent trip to Tokyo, Kyoto got on my bucket list for being the culinary capitol of Japan. Tokyo already had me sold on Japanese food, so lets see if a trip to Kyoto will leave my friends rolling their eyes and muttering “would you shut up about Obanzai Ryori already?” Of course, food isn’t the only reason to visit Kyoto. It was Japan’s capitol for over 1,000 years and now boasts a unique meld of the modern and hip, nestled next to an impressive amount of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and a still working geisha district.

10. Seychelles

Every wanderlust list has to include at least one cliche, lounge by the beach in a “tropical paradise” sort of destination. Seychelles is this list’s cliche palm-trees-and-sun destination. But with so many other places in the world to go if you want to sit under a palm tree on the beach, why Seychelles? Well, this cluster of 115 islands off the coast of Africa may be growing more and more accessible to travelers, but it’s still off the beaten path enough to lack the crowds more well known beach destinations attract. The costliness of visiting Seychelles probably helps with this, but like I said before, these are the destinations I would go to if money was no object, right?

What are your bucket list travel destinations?

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Adventure Travel Africa Ethiopia The Nomadic Life

On the Roof of Africa: Trekking in Simien Mountains, Ethiopia

Four Days of Walking

For the four days Liz and I trekked through the Simien Mountains, the smell of wild thyme followed us. The wind was full of strong gusts of the scent that reminded me of old, unidentifiable memories, as we hiked from one beautiful vista to the next, among wild baboons, birds, and ibex. It seemed like we were forever pausing at a cliff side to stare out on blue-green rolling mountains from the roof of Africa. At one point, I noticed that the horizon was never straight, always slanted, which could explain why it also always felt as though we were trudging uphill. It felt that way because it was that way.

Simien Vista

Because of the season, and the rains that came every day, the park was filled with a dozen shades of green, from the dark army green of lichen hanging from low, umbrella-like trees, to the bright yellow-green of terraced barley fields, and the pale yellow-green of tufts of wild grass in between. Bursts of yellow, purple, and a muted pink from wildflowers filled the gap and I could never seem to take a photo good enough to record just how beautiful this mixture of color looked.

Flower Collage Simiens

With the colors, the rain also brought mud and clouds. We trekked through muck, hopped across streams, and sometimes found the trail had turned in to a river. On our final day of the trek, we hiked 400 meters to the top of a peak through cold rain and hail, only so we could eat cabbage sandwiches in a cloud and stare at more cloud. From the top of a second peak, we waited for half an hour, chatting, eating cookies, with a pair of chain-smoking French tourists, watching the clouds move over the valley, waiting for them to part just well enough for us to see and understand just how high up we were.

Cloud Parting

On our first full day, we took refuge from the rain in a rounded hut, while an elderly woman with a worn, yellow scarf, slowly roasted coffee for a coffee ceremony. Our guide, who we all thought to be shifty and easily offended, sat in the corner and sipped his coffee, while our scout, who we all gathered to be well liked and jovial (even though he only spoke about 10 words of English), sat at the center making jokes in Amharic and making the old woman and her daughter laugh. The rest of us, excluded because of our linguistic shortcomings, fell into conversation amongst ourselves.

Ethiopian Round Hut Simiens

Coming down from the mountains to our campsite on the second day, a group of rag-tag children came sprinting up the mountain with little woven boxes in hand that they wanted to sell us. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but we were tired, so we paused to play and joke with them. They tried to teach us how to use a whip to herd donkeys, and we tested their English. One of the girls began mocking the Canadian girl’s laugh, which sent all of us, especially our elderly scout, into riotous laughter.

That night, like every night, we descended into our campsite feeling wet, cold, and tired, but eager to eat whatever it was our cook had whipped up. Usually, she made an Ethiopian interpretation of what Western food was, but we didn’t know how to say that we’d rather just have injera and shiro.

Campsite Simiens

On our final day, Liz and the other American raced up a nearby peak, while the Canadian girl and I wrote in our journals on a cliff by our campsite, watching a bird that always sounded like he was burping dive in and out of the sky. Like that we stayed until nearly dusk, waiting for our car to pick us up. When we asked our guide “what will we do if our driver doesn’t show up?” — being North Americans who need a contingency plan — he shrugged and gave us a vague “we’ll do something” response. Serendipitously, our car showed up just as I was trying to process what “something” would mean, and we drove back to Gondar at 5 mph in a thick mask of fog.

How to travel to the Simien Mountains

Road to Simiens and Baboons

Anyone who travels to the Simiens needs to hire a scout at minimum. Some people recommend having a guide, since scouts don’t usually speak English, but I would have been fine without ours! They’re cheap, only a few dollars a day, though it’s polite to tip at the end as well.

Cooks are optional, but affordable and nice to have someone else make your food after a long day of hiking. Also, if you hire donkeys to carry your bags, a cook will make sure they get to the next campsite. Hiring a donkey to carry your bag is also optional, but nice.

All of this can be arranged in Gondar or at the park office in Debark. Starting and ending in Debark is a good way to save a little money, and convenient if you are heading north to Axum after the trek (going back to Gondar is about an hour or two of backtracking).

In the end, we spent about $220 each for everything (food, transportation to/from Gondar, guide, cook, scout, permits, donkeys, and lodging) for 4 days and 3 nights of trekking.

Photos

Campsite Child Simiens{1} Vista on the roof of Africa
{2} Flowers along the trail
{3} Waiting for the clouds to part from a summit
{4} Traditional house in the Simiens
{5} Getting ready to go at Campsite #2
{6} Baboons by a waterfall
{7} The road in/out
{8} Scouts and guides talking around a campfire while a local girl visits

Categories
The Nomadic Life Travel

Oh Hello, America. Long Time No See…

By Tom Check

Last Tuesday, I was stepping off a flight from Tokyo and being welcomed back into America by the oh-so-cheery Dallas airport.

I’m kidding. Dallas was a weird first sample of America after two and a half years abroad. It was just a little too AMERICA for me to handle after a 12-hour flight in which I intelligently took Benadryl to help me sleep, and then watched 10-hours worth of movies instead of sleeping. I wasn’t in the mood to understand everyone’s conversations, and was a bit of a zombie as I wandered around the airport ogling junk food options and trying to make sense of the fact that I am once again considered a small person (5’3″, if you were wondering…). A man sat down a seat away from me at one point and, as Americans sometimes do, said something about how terrible the weather was at no one in particular, but loud enough for me to understand I was meant to respond. I didn’t respond, I just lapsed into thought about how odd this habit was.

Since last Tuesday, I’d say I’ve become a bit more socially apt than that (being well rested helps), but bits and pieces of life back in America continue to distract and boggle me. Reverse culture shock, I suppose. (Although I don’t really feel shocked, just boggled. Should we perhaps change the term to reverse culture bogglement? Reverse culture confusion?) Anyways, here are a few of the things about America that have stood out:

We really, really love our troops

This is mostly thanks to a bunch of overhead announcements at the Dallas airport. On one hand, it seemed normal to me that, once again on American soil, I’d start to be bombarded with “support our troops” propaganda and that super cheery demeanor airport staff gets around military personnel (mention Peace Corps, however, and you get none of that excited and gushy “we so appreciate what you’re doing for our country!” Whomp, whomp, whomp). On the other hand, it was one of those things that felt distinctly American. We really f*ing love our military, but I didn’t see so much of that abroad.

Christmas and consumerism

Some of the travelers I met in the past couple of months shook their heads a bit when I said I’d be returning home at Christmas.

“All of that consumerism is going to be shocking!” They’d say.

Those who didn’t, were probably fearing their own Christmastime return.

It has been a little shocking, but Tokyo helped lessen this blow a little. At least in Japan, where Christians account for a minuscule part of the population, Christmas is a blatantly consumerist holiday. It seemed to be nothing more than a nice excuse to buy a small gift for a friend, and I kind of liked the simplicity of this notion. In America, however, there’s so much pressure to buy for everyone you know, and wrap it in pretty boxes and paper that will quickly go into the garbage. Furthermore, with all the options of things to buy in America, and so many options of each specific item (color, price, best deal, sales, etc.) I find this attempt to acquire gifts a bit daunting and time consuming. Perhaps, this is a good time to implement my friend Chacha, of The Rich Life’s December challenge: The Gift of Giving No. I’m not sure my 3-year-old niece would appreciate this though.

We create and sell some pretty useless crap

Today, I saw a commercial for a cut in half birdhouse you can suction cup to your windows so you can watch what birds do inside birdhouses. Enough said.

Washing machines are fantastic

And why are they fantastic? They shrink your jeans back to a fitted size, you can have your clothes washed while you sleep, and do I really have to explain the simple joy of pulling a towel straight out of the dryer? Yeah, washing machines are fantastic.

So many choices!

Like I already expressed, the seemingly endless array of choices can be a bit overwhelming — but in the case of food, it’s also very exciting. Menus take me about 10-15 minutes of processing, and grocery stores are a whole afternoon’s worth of entertainment. I’m really trying hard not to every delicious thing at once, especially after going a little crazy with the 7-layer dip and pigs in a blanket at a recent Christmas party…

Americans love friendly banter

I was still in Tokyo when this one hit me. I made a joke to one of the stewardesses using grammatically complicated English and slang — and not only did she understand, she laughed. I had two epiphanies getting on that plane: I could stop speaking like an ESL teacher with strangers, and Americans really do love to make friendly small talk with just about everyone and anyone. The conversation with my waitresses aren’t just “one coke and a pizza, please,” but also an opportunity to announce that so far, today’s been a good day, and by the way, how are you? Americans really are friendly — and I’m glad that my experiences this week have been living up to this awesome stereotype.

Now, please excuse me. I have an afternoon excursion at the supermarket planned…

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The Nomadic Life Travel

Why I’m Thankful for Travel

image

Being Thanksgiving and all, the blogosphere is filled with recently posted, thoughtful pieces about thankfulness and the like. Among travel blogs, I’ve come across a few introspective posts on what travel makes us thankful for, and all the eye-opening bits and personal transformation that come with being an intrepid, nomadic soul. I enjoy them, and there’s quite a few things I could think of myself (my American passport, to start with), but what about the reverse? Maybe I’m hitting on some of the same sentiments, but I wanted to talk today about why I’m thankful for travel and the opportunity to explore.

For the friendships

Travel encourages us, even forces us, to make new friends. When you are a stranger in an unfamiliar place, you can’t just hide in the comfort of your own home, relying on TV and old friends for company. You have to be brave and talk to someone you’ve never met before. Sometimes, when I’m on the road alone for awhile, it’s loneliness and the realization that I haven’t opened my mouth to say more than “one coffee, please,” that gets me out of my own head and striking up conversations with whoever will let me. I’ve met so many amazing and inspiring people this way.

I’m thankful that travel has taught this shy kid to be a bit more bold and see the whole world as a potential source of friendship, not just the sorts of people that look similar to you. Also, I’m thankful for all the like-minded people that I’ve accumulated as friends over the past few years, because believe me, I’ve found some good ones ;D

For what it teaches us about ourselves

In the semi-unstructured realm of travel, we have a lot of time to think introspectively and reflect on what we are experiencing, how we react to unfamiliar situations, and what that says about ourselves. It also puts us in new situations that bring out this really base self of everyone’s personality. I really believe that how you handle a stressful situation (like missing a bus or being ripped off) can reveal a lot about yourself, and that these situations are a way to practice bettering ourselves. Ditto for how we act around new people. In travel, as opposed to at home, we experience these sorts of things often, and get to learn something new about ourselves every day.

There’s also the concept of learning by contrast. I don’t think I fully understood what being an American meant until I studied abroad in Senegal and Malta. By learning what it meant to be Senegalese/Maltese/British/French/Spanish/etc. I was also learning about my own national identity and how we fit into the world. For this, I am thankful for travel.

For what it teaches us about others

wpid-storageemulated0photoeditorPeace-Corps-Education-Class2.jpg.jpgRoaming the world exposes us to endless personalities, cultures, and outlooks on life. When face to face with our differences, I think we are more likely to break down stereotypes and understand that finer differences exist underneath any one label (i.e. Asian, Christian, lawyer, etc.). The humanity of the ‘other’ is impossible to escape, and so long as we travel with an open and inquisitive mind, we are likely to learn much more about others than we ever could have at home. Sometimes, even the context itself suddenly sheds light on something we may not have understood before. Sometimes, we also discover there’s a lot to learn from these other perspectives — maybe I didn’t have all the answers after all…

For the skills we pick up along the way

How else would I have figured out how to wash a pair jeans by hand, speak Malagasy, or drive a motorbike if not through travel? I guess I had all the resources to do so at home, just not the initiative. In this regard, I am thankful that travel doesn’t just create the opportunities to develop new skills, but pushes us to do so as well.

For the patience and good humor it gives us

Travel isn’t always sunny beaches and good food — it can be stressful, challenging, and downright upleasant at times. There’s nothing like a 36 hour bus ride on a hard metal bench to teach a girl how to meditate and be patient (and also, how to hold “it” in when you really have to pee) or vendors in a Moroccan market place asking you every 5 seconds “where are you from?” for you to practice fending off irritation by making jokes (“I’m from Japan, obviously…”). Anyone who has traveled for a long time (hopefully) has gained the ability to be patient and laugh off the small things. How could you survive it if you haven’t?

For the adventure

If you haven’t figured it out already, I love a good story, and even better, a good adventure. Travel, and even just applying that sense of wonder and discovery to your everday life back home, is my favorite way to have new adventures. I’m thankful for all the big and small adventures, everything from trying a new dish to trekking across the Simien Mountains, that travel has allowed me to embark on.

For showing us what’s really important in life

wpid-storageextSdCardDCIM100D3000DSC_00942.jpg.jpgAnd finally, perhaps a combination of everything I’ve just mentioned, I am most thankful for travel because it has taught me what’s most important in life. Maybe this doesn’t apply to everyone, but I don’t think careers and success are more important than friendship and happiness. They hold weight, for sure, but after living and traveling abroad for quite some time, I’m a little nervous to return to our materialistic, progress-obsessed nation (this fear has mostly come out of reading Cosmo magazines on my Kindle…). For all the running around and 60 hour work weeks we do, I don’t believe we’re really becoming a happier and more satisfied, just creating more cravings and demands. After experiencing life at a much more basic level, maybe it’s better to strive to have enough in the ways of material posessions and to be comfortable than all these unnecessary excesses. Maybe, everything we do in life should be towards making it a better, more pleasant place for others, and enjoying every day, rather than working our butts off so that “some day” we’ll be well off.

So that’s my list, but how about you? Why are you thankful for travel?

Categories
Africa Kenya The Nomadic Life Travel

Landing Without A Plan in Kenya

Zebra

Stepping off the airplane into Nairobi’s international airport felt surreal. Normally, I think of airports as these familiar, unchanging structures — which is ironic since they are buildings built for the purpose of transience and travel — that I can confidently navigate worldwide, no matter if I’ve never been there before or I have been there a dozen times. However, because of construction and the recent fire at Nairobi’s airport, it seemed more like I was strolling through an outdoor expo than an airport. They had erected large white tents to act as an arrivals terminal. The bathrooms were port-o-potties. Customs agents sat behind a folding table in folding chairs, then sent us outside to walk to another tent where our bags waited, lined up next to a paper sign with our flight number, rather than rotating on a large carousal. The airport felt temporary and transient, which I suppose matches its purpose better than colossal airports like Charles du Galle and Dulles.

But the airport may have been misleading. However small it felt, we were without a doubt back on a more beaten path, set to wander around a country with an abundance of travelers and a healthy tourist industry — an excellent situation for us, since we had done little research about our first stop on our round-the-world trip and would need other travelers and resources made for travelers to help us along the way.

Finding Things to Do in Nairobi

Kenyan Coffee

At first glance, we found Nairobi fancy and developed, and since we were coming from somewhere less developed, we had no qualms about spending a day or two pretending to be fancy as well. I was excited enough just seeing asparagus and red peppers on a cafe menu (sad, I know). So, after looking at 101 Things to Do in Nairobi, we decided to forget about the normal touristy stuff, and instead watch a cheesy movie on a big screen at Junction Cinema, drink our first I.P.A. beer in two years at Brew Bistro and Lounge, and have a bagel and coffee at a Nairobi coffee chain, Java. While others at our cozy hostel — Upper Hill Campsite — set out on day trips to Nairobi Giraffe Farm or to shop in local markets, we shyly slunk away to the mall, telling our new friends that we had “errands to run” when actually we were oggling new clothes and going to the cinema like a pair of bored teenagers.

Getting Out of Nairobi

Flamingos in Lake Naivasha

For some reason, I suddenly remembered photos of a flamingo filled lake in Kenya, and decided that’s what I’d want to see here (having already done a safari, and reserving a trek to see gorillas in Uganda as our one big splurge). A quick Google search told me Lake Nakuru, on the road to Uganda (perfect!) was the place I was thinking off. Chats with other hostelers, however, told us that camping alongside the hippos of Lake Naivasha would be more worth our time. Not only does Lake Naivasha have flamingos, but it’s close to the entrance of Hell’s Gate Park, which allows visitors to bike and walk through game filled valleys, rather than drive. We both loved the idea of being outside with the animals (no predators though — phew!), and the possibility of rock climbing as mentioned in an old and battered Lonely Planet, so we immediately made plans to hop a matatu (bus) to the lake the next day. We’d end up staying at Fisherman’s Camp, a classically backpacker spot and one of the cheapest in the area, but would later discover a few quieter budget options elsewhere by the lake.

Maybe Next Time?

Of course, attractions like going on safari in Maasi Mara, hiking Mount Kenya, and lounging on the beaches near Mombasa were all tempting as well, but would have taken us out of the way from getting to Uganda. We heard nothing but positive reviews from people recently returning from then. Naturally, we didn’t want to actually say no to visiting them so in the spirit of travelers who want to see it all, we kept (and keep) telling ourselves “next time… Maybe after Uganda?” We’re traveling without much of any plans right now, so who knows?

Categories
Africa In Photos Madagascar Peace Corps The Nomadic Life

Peace Corps Volunteer for a Week: When Shaz Came to Visit

The idea of inviting a non-Peace Corps volunteer to fly all the way to Madagascar and brave Taxi-brousses and kabones (outhouses) while living off rice and beans for a period of time is always an intimidating notion. I’ve tried to paint a realistic enough picture on this blog, but reading about a kabone and experiencing one are two totally different things. Fortunately, when my friend Shaz came last month to visit me, he took all of our little mishaps with surprising stride. On the way up to Mahajunga, our brousse broke down several times, and while I was slouched in my seat muttering “uhg, we’re never going to f*ing make it” he stayed positive. “Maybe we’ll still get there before the pizza place closes! Here! Drink some of the whiskey I brought!” He actually liked the food, especially brochettes (which are one of the most fantastic snacks here… he has good taste). He aslo didn’t complain nearly as much as I did about the rather putrid kabone situation at one of my friend’s sites (the outhouse has gone to shit because the whole middle school uses it). Furthermore, he even tried toka-gasy, the homemade sugar-cane moonshine that’s known to turn people blind, and was enthusiastic about it. Okay, okay, I mostly pressured him into trying toka for my own amusement, so way to go Shaz for taking that bullet! I took a lot of hilarious photos of him and another PCV throwing down shots with looks of utter disgust while I sat by and giggled.

Also, we took a lot of photos

Ankarafatsika CanyonDrink Seller Mahajunga

Mahajunga boardwalk
Girls in the window
Breakfast
Lemur Forest
Mahajunga baobab(1)
Bush

Categories
Africa In Photos Madagascar The Nomadic Life

5 Reasons Why Antsirabe is Madagascar’s Best Urban Destination

Antsirabe

Happy May, blogosphere. I’m sure for most of you it means a thawing out of the winter that lingered in the northern hemisphere, but for my part, I’ve been camping out in the same pair of sweatpants and light sweater-down-jacket combination for the past three days. Normally, I hate cold weather, but somebody imported maple trees to Antsirabe, which means at least in that small pocket of Madagascar, I can bike over crunchy, brown leaves, and indulge in the charm of autumn – my favorite season. It makes the chill worth it.

Fall in Antsirabe

But then again, Antsirabe in general just makes all the frustrations of life in Madagascar worth it. A small city just 160km south of Antananarivo on the RN7, I would argue that Antsirabe is Madagascar’s best urban gem (and this is even after visiting Mahajunga, Diego, Fort Dauphin, Tamatave, Fianaratsoa, and Antananarivo). In a country most visited for its national parks and wildlife, it’s easy to gloss over the cultural aspects of travel here. However, Antsirabe is a compact, and easy to reach city that has it all.

1. La Cabana

La Cabana

Next door to the hostel I usually stay at is a small, Malagasy bar called “La Cabana”. They are locally known for their freshly grilled chicken (actually marinated!) and cheap, cold beer. It’s one of the few places I regularly see foreigners and Malagasy happily mixed, I imagine because the prices are still ‘Malagasy’, but it doesn’t have the same dodgy, dingy appearance of most Malagasy bars. I also love it because it’s literally a place where everyone knows my name…

How to get there: Go to the ‘Score’ grocery store on the main avenue and follow the smell of grilled chicken.

2. Concerts at Alliance Française

Main Avenue

I have yet to figure out why the local music scene in Antsirabe is so vibrant – some bands from the area have even gone off to tour in La Reunion and France – but you don’t see me complaining. Almost every Friday night, folks in Antsirabe can find a live concert happening at Alliance Francaise, either for free or a small cover charge of about 5,000AR. The bands are almost always Malagasy, sometimes traditional but sometimes more of a rock/reggae kind of vibe.

How to get there: Alliance Francaise is on a small street near the supermarket, Score, and the train station.

3. A smaller, cleaner version of Antananarivo

nine

Antsirabe and Antananarivo hold a lot of similarities – both are highland cities and major economic enters – which makes Antsirabe, the country’s third largest city, feel like a less grimy and more manageable sister to Tana. Throughout the city are signs telling residents to keep streets clean and it seems like people actually listen. Sure, there’s a lot of room for improvement, but compared to most urban areas in Madagascar, Antsirabe is down right tidy. Most spots worth seeing are within walking distance of each other, and a lot of the slummy grittiness of Tana is practically non-existent in Antsirabe. For this reason, if I were to use any one word to describe Antsirabe, it would be ‘pleasant’.

4. Bikable streets and day trips

Madagascar's Highlands

Okay, I was in Antsirabe when that goat jumped on me and my bike, but for the most part wide, flat roads and slow traffic – half the vehicles are rickshaws, bikes, and cows – make it a really bikable city. Just a few kilometers south-west of the city on hilly but well-paved roads sits Lake Tritriva, a lake-filled crater. About 22 kilometers away is another small highland town, Betafo, which I personally love biking to since there’s less traffic on the road west of Antsirabe than the RN7.

5. Hamburgers

Pousse Pousse Cafe

The Pousse Pousse Café, a restaurant at the center of town near the small market (Antsenakely), has created a unique ambiance with table and chair sets made out of rickshaws locally known as pousse-pousses. I love everything on the menu, but for Peace Corps volunteers we naturally gravitate towards the place for their hamburgers. Chez Dom, another establishment further north of the town center, has a dining experience much like eating in someone’s living room. Dom, an amicable French gentleman, rocks the hamburgers by finishing them off with blue cheese.

How to get there: For Pousse-Pousse, it’s in the small market (Antsenakely) just near the Shoprite. Chez Dom is an unsuspecting house on a small road just off the RN7 by Zandina’s. Look for the giant sign to point you in the right direction

And a few more photos before I leave…

Cathedral Pousse Pousse in Autumn Street Kid

Photos: (1) A street kid shying away from my camera (2) A view of the maple trees from Ravaka hostel (3) Outdoor seats at La Cabana (4) The main avenue at sunset, just near the Alliance Francaise (5) A cobblestone street near Antsenakely (6) The RN7 about 15 kilometers south of Antsirabe (7) Taking photos while anxiously awaiting our hamburgers at Pousse-Pousse cafe (terrible lighting) (8) Rush hour traffic outside the Cathedral d’Antsirabe (9) Another shot of the maple trees (10) Another street kid

Categories
Adventure Travel Africa La Reunion The Nomadic Life

Rappeling Through Waterfalls in Cilaos, La Reunion

Last week I wrote about a few of my first impressions in La Reunion, but I haven’t even mentioned the best part of the trip:

Canyoning in Cilaos!

Graffitti

Before arriving in La Reunion, neither Chip nor I had ever done canyoning before, but while doing research on La Reunion I came across a website boasting “Reunion Island, an Eden for canyoning? That’s what fans of this [sport] say.” It didn’t take much to convince me (or Chip for that matter) and it quickly became one of the things on my ‘To-Do in La Reunion’ list I became the most excited for.
“But, what is canyoning exactly?” one friend asked me before I left.

“Well, it’s… err… something like… rappelling down canyons?” I answered.

A little dumb, I know. I didn’t fully understand what I was getting myself into, yet I was totally psyched. I knew it had something to do with rappelling, and as a rock climber deprived of climbing opportunities in her current home, my mind kind of stopped at “mid-way between rock climbing and…” Ropes? Bolts? Carabeeners? I was positively drooling at the thought of climbing gear alone.

Only, I should have read beyond “rock climbing and…”. If I had, I would have noticed “water sports”, a pair of words that I usually say a giant ‘nooo thanks!’ to. White-water rafting? Nuh-uh. Not doing it. Jumping off 10-foot high rocks into a river? I’m the girl that will stand there for 20 minutes before making the plunge. Swimming with sharks in Cape Town? I’m scared enough of the ocean as it is, do we really need to throw sharks into the mix?

So fast forward to the morning when Chip, me, four French tourists, our guide, Gilbert and I are standing around his car, getting the run-down on what to expect from our day. The area around Cilaos is rich with canyoning spots of all levels, but being total novices to the sport, Gilbert had chosen to take us to Fleurs Jaunes, one of the area’s most popular spots for beginner canyoning. Gilbert is speaking French, and I am ultra-focused trying to understand his explanations.

“If it’s easier for you all, I can explain in Creole,” he jokes when he notices how concentrated I am.

We all laugh, then out of no where (or seemingly so, because I probably just didn’t catch what he was saying), he tosses each of us a full-body wetsuit and instructs us to put them on. Immediately I know what’s coming. I’m going to be swimming, but there’s no backing out. I have no choice but to wriggle in to the wetsuit — and of course as soon as I’m all zipped in, feeling a bit like Ralphie from A Christmas Story (“I can’t move my arms! I can’t move my arms!”) I feel the need to pee.

I’m off to a great start already.

CanyoningOnce everyone is zipped up, Ralphie style, we all waddle (or maybe I was the only one waddling) over next to a tree for a photo then head out. Not five minutes from the road, Gilbert has us jump into a small natural pool and scoot down a rock slide into another pool. We get out, all of our feet and sneakers now squishy and wet. I tell myself it’s OK, I just have to accept that I’ll be drenched for the next two hours… it’s not that big of a deal, right? The shoes will dry, don’t worry about it.

IMGP0018

And it was OK. After mentally embracing the water-sport side of canyoning, I had the most fantastic time. Seriously, canyoning is the best way to make a climber like water sports. In the span of two hours, we rappelled down 300 meters and 6 waterfalls, plunging into the small natural pools the water collected in, and sometimes even getting to slide down more rock slides. In between rappels, we tried our best to chat with the others — one of them was particularly fond of yelling “nice!” in English whenever Chip or I finished skidding down a waterfall. Finally, we stopped for a picnic at the bottom of our last cascade (our sandwiches kept dry in a large, buyout dry-sac) then scrambled back up a steep trail to get back to the road.

IMGP0046

Absolutely exhausted, Chip and I returned to our gite — a hostel-like accommodation catering to hikers and other sports enthusiasts — and shamelessly indulged in a hot shower and some beers.

DSC_1334 Cilaos Waterfall

Interested in Canyoning in Cilaos?

We spent 60 euros a piece on our tour with Run Evasion, a sports store in central Cilaos but several other companies also do Canyoning tours:

  • Run Evasion – 0262318357
  • Daniel Ducrot – 0692659067
  • Cilaosadventure.com (also does rock climbing) – 0692667342
  • Fabrice Bouisset – 0692662273

For accommodations, there were quite a few cheap gites scattered around town. We paid 16 euros a night at Ti Case Lontan at 10 Rue Alsace, and were floored by how kind and welcoming the owner was. If you’re really trying to travel on a budget though, Cilaos has a camp ground called Le plateau des Chênes, a short walk out of town towards Bras-Sec.

Photos: (1) Graffiti in Cilaos (2) Our group photo taken by Gilbert (3) One of my first rappels (4) The view coming back up (5) Cilaos mountains from a hiking trail (6) View of a waterfall from town

*Photos 2, 3, and 4 were taken by our guide, Gilbert*

Categories
Africa La Reunion The Nomadic Life Travel

La Reunion, See You in a Week!

Travel Buddy!
Photo credit: iloha.fr

So… readers… I don’t really know any better way to put this… buuut, in less than a week from now, I’ll be in La Reunion! I’m doing my happy dance right now as I type (I know, I’m talented, right?), so, clearly, I’m stoked. I hardly ever write blog posts about future travels, unless I’m truly beside myself with anticipation. And right now, I’m beside myself with anticipation.

“Why La Reunion?” You may be wondering. I know some of my friends were. Well, last month while I was cross-checking some facts in my LP for an article on BootsnAll, I got distracted and started reading this tiny section in the back about the Comoros. They’re a small, independent cluster of islands off the northern part of Madagascar and being so close already, visiting them seemed like a now or never travel opportunity. I hadn’t even begun thinking of the other little islands floating off the coast of Africa (Mauritius, Seychelles, La Reunion…) at that point. However, later that day I mentioned this what-if-I-went-to-the-Comoros-after-Peace-Corps idea to my friend Chip.

“Why not go now?” he said.

“Now??” I asked.

“Yeah, during spring break,” he said, then launched into one of his usual, rambling, soliloquies (Chip has a habit of thinking out loud) about how OK, Comoros makes sense and all, but Mauritius actually sounds more fascinating because of all the cultures mixed together but yeah, La Reunion would also be a great place to visit because it’s like France but tropical and…. On he went, mentioning factoids about the smaller islands surrounding Madagascar (because Chip is also a human encyclopedia) until eventually his facts led to questions, and questions led to him Google searching Mauritius, me Google searching La Reunion.

Within an hour, my pensive ‘what-if’ about the Comoros had turned into a very real debate on whether to go to Mauritius or La Reunion. La Reunion won out in the end because the flight was cheaper (About $300 USD round-trip), it has two rad looking volcanoes (one of which erupted in 2009), Chip could be snooty and practice his French, and it has a KFC. Okay, Mauritius has a KFC too, but if La Reunion didn’t have one, this may have been a deal breaker. I’m only kind of joking (remember, I’m a Peace Corps volunteer serving in probably the last frontier American fast food giants have yet to set foot on). A week later, we bought our tickets.

At the time, volcanoes and food was about all I knew of La Reunion. I hadn’t felt the need to really intensely research it. We figured, why not land, eat some fried chicken, and play things by ear? And honestly, I liked this idea. I’m all for spontaneity with travel and having a post-it note constitute as my itinerary. But then I started reading all these websites about how to be a better blogger/freelance writer and one thing stood out: research before you go. Since I plan on churning out at least an article or two from this vacation, I took their advice and began scouring the web. And you know what? I discovered some cool things about La Reunion that have been fueling my pre-trip excitement.

Like, you can go canyoneering:

Credit to: http://www.allonslareunion.com

It’s a UNESCO world heritage site thanks to its national park (which covers 40% of the island) and biodiversity.

Thanks to i-voyages.net

There’s like, some actual good food.

Photo Credit: allonslareunion.com

And, oh yeah, did I mention I get to travel with this guy?

Travel Buddy!
Chip getting excited about this coconut….

Google definitely just expanded my eat-good-food-and-climb-a-volcano itinerary (I may need a second post-it). Anyways, wish me bon voyage and I promise to take lots of photos for all of you trapped in what seems a relentlessly ongoing winter in the northern hemisphere!

Oh, and P.S. this site has some amazing photos of La Reunion, but since I can’t repost them here, that just means you’ll all have to click and see for yourselves.:)

Categories
Peace Corps The Nomadic Life Travel

From Madagascar to Thailand: Getting Off the Red Island

“Okay, let’s get the fuck outta Dodge,” Liz said as we hopped on our mountain bikes and started the long journey from her village at the foothills of Andringitra National Park and up north. We had an hour of biking on rough, dusty roads, then a packed full bus to the nearest town, and another bus to the nearest city. We were remote, and after several straight weeks of being there we were ready to leave and eat a friggin’ pizza.

But now, several weeks later and having finished the one month-long course of teaching ESL to guides in Morarano, the launching point for most independent travelers into Andringitra National Park, I’m prepping to leave the island entirely. Over the past year of living in Madagascar it’s remoteness and the inaccessibility of some of its most beautiful places has been part of its charm — the island isn’t overcrowded with tourists, and even less of these choose to travel Madagascar independently (although this is totally doable!) — but I feel like it’s time to go somewhere that feels more connected to the rest of the world. Sometimes Madagascar seems like the edge of the world, forgotten, and totally detached. We may not be as isolated as Micronesia, for example, but I have still joked that we’re so off the grid that if the world were to end in 2012, it would forget to take Madagascar with it.

Anyways, in a few hours I’ll be on a plane towards Thailand, a country notorious for its tourist friendly paths and booming Westernized capitol, and the thought is a terrible mix of excitement and nervousness. Do I still remember how to ride a train? Will I stare at white people too much? Will convenient stores, shopping malls, and air conditioning be a jarring reminder of modernity? These are the things that run through my head as I flip through the guide book left behind by another Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) at our transit house; nevermind the Buddhist temples, elephants, and jungles it talks about.

Mostly, I’m curious to see how different a country can appear to someone who is flying directly from America or Europe (such as a good friend from D.C. who will be arriving two weeks after me!) versus a scruffy PCV living in Africa whose reality for the past year has been incredibly un-modern.

“Don’t worry,” another Peace Corps friend told me, “I still think there will be an element of third-world there that will make you feel more comfortable,”

“You mean like open-air markets and people shitting in the road?”

“Yeah, maybe…”

I was being facetious, but the friend had a point. While some things may be overwhelming, others may be strikingly familiar. I doubt I’ll be able to resist a constant comparison between Madagascar and Thailand, but we will see. Either way, it’s great to “get the fuck outta Dodge” for a few weeks.

Photo: (1) The view from Morarano