Christmas

Christmas was a very welcome break after a hectic scheme. It started well, with lots of hanging out on the beach with Tahina. Then I was struck down with a super high fever. I did a malaria test and thankfully it was negative. It took a couple of days to recover from that, but I wasn't well for all of the rest of the Christmas break. That put a bit of a spanner in the works for some of my plans, but we still had fun. A few of us went to Ambinanibe for the day. This is a village with a cool beach that is good for surfing, just a short taxi ride south of Fort Dauphin. We took some food and bought some fish to cook while we were there.

I also went to Andohahela for the day. This is a few hours drive west of Fort Dauphin and is a park with transitional forest (lots of spiny forest influence, cactus and succulents etc). There was a beautiful river valley (although very dry) and some fantastic pools to swim in. The road was very bumpy but it was a good day.




For the actual Christmas day festivities we went to Sarah B and Rachel's house. We all pitched in with the cooking and the preparations for an amazing feast. Roast potatoes, mango stuffing, BBQd zebu fillet, veg in bechemel sauce, trifle... It was amazing. Washed down with a very rare glass of red wine. It was perfect. We started in the morning and stayed there all day. After all the food we went to sit on the roof to watch the sunset.

It was back to Rachel's for New year. This time it was a smaller gathering. Myself and Tahina, Jojo and Mampy, Dan (Pioneer coordinator) and Rachel. Amazing food yet again. Another rare treat, vegetable lasagna! Containing some (still slightly crunchy) aubergine and courgettes, beans and topped with zebu cheese. Made in a giant saucepan it was nearly a foot deep. Amazing. We ate it all and then had to go and lie down on the floor for a while to digest as we waited for midnight to come round.



Christmas went by all to quickly. It was slightly dampened by my being a bit ill for most of it. But Tahina looked after me and I was surrounded by lovely people in this beautiful place. Not a bad Christmas!