Saturday, August 2

Le petite dejeuner, that’s French for breakfast, traditionally jam and bread and jellies. Today one of Gabe’s Peace Corps friends, Jane, joined us for lunch, which consisted of very large prawns, some other fish, and wonderful veggies. Jane had to walk several hours to get to our location, but she confided that she had been looking forward to that lunch for months. Jane and Gabe swam for a bit and then we drove into town, to see where Gabe had lived and worked his first year.

Once in town we got to see the school at which Gabe had taught, and the house in which he had lived. In the neighborhood we ran into several small children, at least one of whom had been learning English, and she and Gabe carried on a conversation in English. Both of them were very proud.

Going from the school and into the center of town, we had to cross a foot bridge that was actually a toll bridge. The bridge was made of bamboo shoots, and was described as a floating bridge. The toll went toward replacing the bamboo every several weeks. We were told that we were lucky, in that the bridge was actually relatively new, so it still floated fairly well. The toll was 20 Ariary for each of us, just a few cents. The town had a vibrant marketplace and we enjoyed walking through the market and seeing all the different things that the townspeople had to sell. We did not enjoy the rather aggressive man who accosted us and refused to leave us alone until Gabe was stern with him. We suspect he might have had schizophrenia. Gabe ran into a woman he had dated when living in that town, and they exchanged pleasantries. We got to walk along the beach and see the ocean and pick up a few shells. We met Gabe’s good friend Mark, and got to tour the eel plant that he was constructing. Mark is an entrepreneur from South Africa, and Gabe counted him among his closest friends during that year in Mananjary. That night we had dinner at a place called Chauvin do the math with Ellie. After dinner Ellie drove us to Jane’s doctor, who she was staying with. Then it was back to our hotel.