desertanimal
2003 UB313
Hey guys! I don't normally do friend Valentine wishes, but this timely find was too good to keep to myself! Hope everything is going well for everyone. So far, I have not been hit directly by any cyclones, and the political unrest in Madagascar has not affected the rural area where I live (other than that people won't let me travel alone because they are afraid that bandits will be emboldened by the governmental chaos and I am going to start sleeping with my machete in my tent with me just in case). Unfortunately, the son of someone in my field was shot and killed in the political protests in the capitol. As the embassy has been warning, I'm just staying away from the big cities and everything should be fine for me. Miss you guys!
p.s. The worst thing about the rainy season is the millions of wasps nests hidden in the foliage from knee height to face height (see pic)! But surprisingly, stings on the face do not hurt NEARLY as much as stings on the NECK! Damn! Stings on the neck hurt like HELL!
And here are a couple of pics of my favorite find so far. The boa was very patient for the half hour I handled him.
p.s. The worst thing about the rainy season is the millions of wasps nests hidden in the foliage from knee height to face height (see pic)! But surprisingly, stings on the face do not hurt NEARLY as much as stings on the NECK! Damn! Stings on the neck hurt like HELL!
And here are a couple of pics of my favorite find so far. The boa was very patient for the half hour I handled him.
I wrecked like 5 times on the way in, and on the way out, I realized that that probably was because I had never ridden a dirt bike on a DIRT road before in my life! LOL! It made me laugh at myself that I had never considered that before riding 35 km in the dirt and sand. Plus I had strapped everything to the luggage rack so that the weight was all in the back of the bike, so every time the road changed from dirt to sand, I either went down, or had to struggle a lot not to. I was much, much better at it on the way back with the stuff I was carrying on my back in my backpack instead of strapped to the back of the bike. This trip I had to walk because no one wanted to me travel alone because they are all afraid that the bandits will get me because the government is currently having some issues. People have been killed in demonstrations in the capitol and lots of stores have been burned and looted in the cities. So I walked with other people who were walking in for the market. Man, 35km on the dirt/sand road with my little Asian legs with surgically repaired knees was tough at the young, male, long-legged African pace! I doubt I'll walk it again. I'm taking the ox-cart back tomorrow morning because I bought food and don't want to carry it that far, but the beginning of March I'm going to schedule it so that I'll be traveling when everyone is also going to and from the market here, so I can take the bicycle by myself. The bicycle is WAYYYYYYY better than walking!
