Sorry it’s been a while since I last posted. Life has been busy and routine so there hasn’t really been much to write about. But over the last few weeks, I’ve been able to get off the ship for the weekend a couple times and thought I’d share those adventures with you.
These two weekends off ship are almost at completely different ends of the spectrum; from roughing it camping in tents, to living it up in a hotel with a pool and jacuzzis in every room.
Firstly the camping trip. A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to go camping here in Madagascar. It was only about 30km or so out of the city but took a lot longer to get there. We were picked up from the port at about 9am in the morning. We drove for approximately 1 hour to a riverside village. From there we jumped in a small boat and went up the river for 2 hours. Then it was a 20 minute hike up the steep paths to the campsite.
We were able to enjoy sometime settling in to the campsite before having lunch. We then went on a walk around the nearby villages and saw some kids playing soccer, visited a school and church and enjoyed a waterfall all whilst avoiding giant puddles of mud.
We were enjoyed the night by the fire and eating local food for dinner. And then slept in our tents, getting a little wet from the rain. The next morning after breakfast we hiked around the villages and the plantation, stopping to plant cassava and see all the other produce that was being grown.
Then it was back in the boat to travel home again. It was a great trip, not a relaxing trip but still really fun.
My second weekend off ship was very different. I’ve just gotten back from the Junior High/High School retreat; basically school camp. We took 17 Grade 6-12 students to a local hotel for 2 nights. The hotel was beautiful. Big rooms, big canopy beds, a jacuzzi in every room, a massive pool and a field to play games on. It was a great few days away for the students to get to relax and have fun (not as relaxing for us teachers, but still an awesome time). I enjoyed hanging out by the pool and getting to know the students a bit more. Not as many pictures from this weekend that I can share since the students were around a lot.
We have 6 more weeks of school until the semester is over, and less time than that here in Madagascar. I can’t share exact dates of when we sail but we will be leaving early December.
Girl On Board 