Diego Suarez
27 August 2014
Gina & Paul
Main Street Diego Suarez
We ended up moving to the anchorage near the commercial port. Tahina checked out the anchorage by some other sailboats, but most of theses were on moorings and the fetch made the anchorage a little more uncomfortable. We were not interested in taking a mooring, after our last experience at Saint Marie so decided to anchor around near the small boat harbour. It was a much more comfortable anchorage, and with winds blowing at times up to 30 knots, we were very still. We had decided with Tahina to always have someone on a boat to watch both the boats and dinghies. There have been tales of stolen dinghies around here and we just decided to play it safe. We visited the city; that is a short walk along the foreshore and up the short hill. It seemed this was not a place that many tourists visit. It was obvious in that touts didn't accost us initially. They did eventually, as we got closer to the markets, but it wasn't like many other places we have been. We found a supermarket that was visited by expats and had almost anything we would need (we didn't need much) and walked the town. It is seems a very old colonial town, with old buildings built in the last 2 century's. As with most of this part of the world, maintenance since inception is not on the local agenda. Most of the buildings were in much need of a major renovation. We eventually found the local fresh food market and this was all encompassing. You can buy anything from local meat, chicken, salad items, vegetable, and any plastic ware you may want to adorn your table with. What was amazing was the disparity of shopping. We went from the supermarket, where those that had a lot shopped, to the market, where those that had very little shopped. The market went from cobbles streets to muddy paths where people sold whatever they had. This place has a definite African feel to it, so different from Asia. The people were generally friendly and we had some very colorful interactions with some of the stall sellers. Malagasy is the predominate language and a few speak French, even a few less speak any English. What was worse is that Madagascar used to have another currency; so many prices were displayed in the old currency. It made things seem more expensive than they really were and, once we realized this, things were not as expensive as they seemed. It was an experience that that we are sure glad we did not miss. It was an insight into what lies ahead for us as we explore more of Madagascar and Africa. Of note, I like to send the occasional post card but what surprised me that this is a large city but nowhere did I see a post card to buy or a post office. If I was more inclined, I may of asked (in my best non French) if there is a post office, but that would be a waste of time, as I can't find any post cards.