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Day 23. Toamasina to Tana
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| "the stairs" of Antananarivo |
Our time on Île Sainte Marie is over and we have to go
back to Tana, from where our plane to Holland leaves tomorrow
night. The Lakana pickup takes us to the airport. Despite the
hard rain (today as well) the plane arrives on time. Only a hand
full of tourists gets out of the plane and a handful gets in.
We fly back to Tamatave, the coastal town we passed earlier. The connecting flight to Tana turns out to leave much later than it's supposed to, so we have 4 hours time to visit Tamatave. Actually, a welcome surprise.
There's a long line of cabs in front of the airport and every
time i lay my eyes on them they make exaggerating, simultaneous
signals, which looks very funny. We get in the one in front
of the row and let us drive to Mazy Be (big market). It's a
colorful market full of fruit, food, furniture and an ideal
place for buying souvenirs, as it costs almost nothing. Soon
we are carrying bags filled with stuff and take a pousse pousse
to a nearby restaurant. It's on the see where rich malagasies
have dinner, cell phones exposed on the table. For one last
time we enjoy the fish and lobster.
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| Tana Plaza |
Our taxi driver is waiting and ready to take us back to the
airport. Once we're there it turns out we got there just in
time to jump in a Twin Otter, a miniscule 2 engine airplane,
ready to take off.
When we arrive in Tana we go look for a taxi. A fellow walks
up to us, names a price and signals us to walk with him. "The
car's right there" he constantly says but we're already
dragging our luggage for 5 minutes, all the way past a police
checkpoint. We get suspicious, take our luggage and jump in
something that has a taxi sign on its roof. 'Taxi clandestine'
says the driver with a smile and points to the fellow, who gives
us an angry look and wishes us the worst, probably.
After a long ride through busy Antananarivo we arrive at Hotel
Mellis, without much atmosphere but cheap. It's located nearby
Tana Plaza, the most important street of Tana. For dinner we
go to the nearby chic Hotel de France, which gets mainly visited
by western business people. There we meet, who would have guessed,
the frenchman from our adventure on the boat. With the three
of us we have a party at the bar and and have an extensive dinner
until late in the evening.
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