Au Bois Vert

We finally made it to Madagascar at around 1:00 p.m. today.  The flight was less than smooth, but very interesting.  To begin with, I haven't been on a flight that empty in ten years.  There was nobody in first class, and the rest of the plane was less than half full.  It very much felt like a flight from the nineties, from the way that the stewardesses were dressed to the containers they used to serve our lunch.

Even from the air, I could tell that this was going to be an experience.  The vast countryside was mostly vacant, peppered with an occasional farm or "village" (and I use that term loosely).  As we got closer to Tana, the landscape shifted from virtually untouched to being covered by terraced fields -- a not-so-subtle indication that the Malagasy are of Malay-Indonesian origin.  More and more villages also started to pop up.  The typical village was composed of 4-5 buildings on top of a hill.  One was, almost without exception, a church, and the others were indistinguishable one-story buildings made from mud bricks, many with thatched roofs.  The other striking feature of the countryside was the lack of asphalt. All of the roads were made of well-trodden dirt.  Until we hit the runway, which was (thankfully) paved, we only saw a single asphalt highway snaking its way through the hills of an otherwise red-clay desert.

The airport was definitely an experience.  After disembarking, we handed out passports to one of the security officers who quickly took them, put them in one of a dozen stacks walling a few other guards into their desks, and stood in a giant mass of people, waiting for them to approve our visas and (quietly) call out our names.  From there, we grabbed our bags, walked out of the secured, and were immediately accosted by dozens of locals -- taxi drivers, "tour guides," and porters -- all hoping to persuade us to shell out a few thousand ariary (the exchange rate sits at ~3,200 ariary to $1 USD).

Before I could find an ATM and pull out a wad of 10,000 ariary bills, I spotted someone from our hotel holding a sign for us.  Because we're only staying here a night, I figured that we'd be alright without cash for the evening and we headed out with him to his van.  As we were loading up the van, some other guy came over, repeatedly saying, "Au Bois Vert" -- the name of our hotel -- "Au Bois Vert."  He forcibly took our packs off of us and put them in the back of the van, only then insisting that we give him a tip.  Rarely have I seen a foreigner so annoyed with me.  I told him that I didn't have any ariary and closed the door while our driver went to pay for parking.  For several minutes, the porter just stood outside the van glaring at us.  Then, after the annoyance had built in him, he started just repeating the word "rand" -- the South African currency.  Now, I had a 100 rand note with me (~$7), but I wasn't about to give that to him, especially after he was being so creepy!  After another few minutes, he moved to the other side of the van and stayed there until our driver started walking back to the van.

Driving out of the airport was eye-opening.  The sides of the red-clay road were plastered with makeshift wooden shacks, each peddling something -- cell phones, raw meats, cooked dishes, etc.  As we moved into the more developed parts of the town, little changed other than the size of the buildings.  There were still the same kinds of shops, and the same dust-covered kids sitting in the same leaning doorways.  There were, however, two major differences.  First, some of the buildings were two-story stucco construction.  Second, there were way more people everywhere, including in the streets.  It was immediately clear that there are no rules of the road here.  Dogs and chickens stand in the road as they please.  If you don't like it, you can honk, but the animals, often unfazed, leave you with only one option: Drive around them.  Pedestrians are no different, often walking in the middle of the streets.  In several instances, there were cars just parked in the street.  They hadn't even tried to pull off to the side.  Perhaps the most shocking thing that I saw on our drive, however, was a ten-foot-long, three-foot-high pile of trash on the "sidewalk" that someone had lit on fire!

Honestly, when I saw signs for our hotel not far from that trash-fire, I became a bit concerned.  Yet we pulled into the front gate of the Au Bois Vert and the scenery immediately changed.  It's a 3 hectare compound, walled off from the outside world.  The place is beautiful, from the painted carts strewn around to the charming bungalow-style buildings, and the fantastic little restaurant.  They even have a few radiated tortoises, one of which had the meanest mug I've ever seen in my life!

We had a late lunch of zebu, chicken, and duck skewers paired with a Three Horses Beer (locally just called "THB"), which is the flagship Malagasy beer.  The zebu was really good.  I've read that eating zebu undercooked carries with it the risk of contracting tapeworms, but it was definitely worth the risk. Hopefully I won't have tapeworms in my future because (1) few things gross me out more than tapeworms; and (2) I don't think I could stand to lose that much weight!

After a nice walk around the grounds, Kati collapsed on the bed in our bungalow for a nap and I headed up to the pool for a relaxing afternoon with my book.

Dinner was also excellent.  I had a zebu lasagne and Kati had a zebu stew.  After a bottle of Pinotage, a few gin and tonics, and some orange-infused rum, we headed off to bed.

Tomorrow we're hitching a ride back to the airport (maybe 10 minutes) to catch a flight to Morondava for the adventurous leg of our trip.

Joburg Layover

Sixteen hours.  That's the longest flight either of us has ever taken.  It was brutally long.  Now, in

fairness, it might have felt longer than it actually was because of the annoying old people surrounding us.  At least nobody thought it was a good idea to bring their baby on the flight!

We landed in Joburg around 4:45 p.m. without issue, though the fact that we had to submit to an ebola screening in customs was a little unsettling.  The Intercontinental Hotel, where we're staying, upgraded us to an executive suite, which is pretty great.  We didn't have too much time to explore, so we decided to take the train into Sandton and grab dinner in Nelson Mandela Square.  

Joburg is not a particularly safe city.  We met a number of South Africans while traveling in Eastern Europe back in 2011 and heard a number of horror stories about this place.  For example, two well-to-do twentysomethings we met told us that everyone has iron gates that separate the bedrooms in their houses from everything else, because burglaries are so common.  Or, a doctor from Joburg told us that: (1) nobody stops at red lights for fear of being car-jacked; and (2) the best-selling invention several years ago was an attachment that would shoot flames up the windows of your car if someone touched them while the ignition was on.  I've had no issue walking through the unlit back streets in Istanbul, and I didn't bat an eye traveling through the Eastern Bloc, but something about South Africa scares me.  Yet, despite my concerns, we had a great evening.  I never felt unsafe on our trip, and the South Africans are an incredibly entertaining population of people.  Perhaps the funniest thing that we noticed about them is their obsession with selfies.  

There really isn't any "local" cuisine in South Africa, but the closest they come is Cape Malay, which is very Indian-inspired and curry-based.  We didn't find a Cape Malay restaurant, but we did stumble across a pretty great Indian place.  After a great pinotage and some ostrich tikka, we grabbed some beers from a pop-up bar in the square, and went to catch the train back to the hotel.  However, unbeknownst to us, the trains here shut down around 9:00 p.m., so we had to grab a cab home.  The cabbie was a little sketchy, and definitely wasn't the best at driving a manual transmission, but he got us back to the hotel nevertheless.

Tomorrow we catch a flight to Antananarivo at 9:20 a.m. and we'll spend the afternoon relaxing in the Malagasy countryside.  Almost there!

Up, Up, and Away

It's finally here.  Even as I sit here in airport, waiting for the first of our many flights, it doesn't seem real.  Just two hours ago I was frantically trying to finalize appellate briefs and sparring with government attorneys over deadlines.  Now, I literally have nothing to do, and it's amazing!

The Eighth Continent.  Land of the Man-Eating Plant.  Madagascar.  No matter what you call it, it sounds exotic.  Over the last few years I've started to realize that I take my broad knowledge of the world for granted.  People seemed skeptical when we went to Eastern Europe and Turkey, but most everyone at least had some vague idea of where we were going.  When I've told people that we're going to Madagascar, I've gotten one of two responses: (1) "Woah, I didn't know people actually went there," or, more frequently, (2) "Where is that?"  Madagascar is the fourth-largest island in the world and its a cradle of biodiversity, so it's hard for me to understand how so many people don't know where it is, much less anything about it.  (The third-most-frequent question I get asked is if we're going to see the penguins while we're there...thank you Disney).

This is going to be, at the very least, an interesting trip.  While reading about the demographics of Madagascar, I was struck by one unbelievable fact.  Ninety-three percent of people living in Madagascar live on less than $2/day.  In fact, even those in the well-to-do professions (e.g., attorneys, doctors, and accountants) live on less than $5/day!

We're going to get a taste of many of Madagascar's highlights over the next two weeks.  We land in Johannesburg tomorrow and spend a day there before catching a flight to Antananarivo ("Tana"), the capital of Madagascar.  After spending a night there, it will be time to get on another flight to Morondova - a city on the western coast.  There we'll do some day and night walks through the forests before taking an 8-hour excursion up a dirt road to Bekopaka.  Along the way we're going to ford two rivers.  No joke.  I haven't been playing too much Oregon Trail.  We are literally fording rivers.  They have makeshift rafts made from chopped down trees that locals paddle or walk across the river with the cars on them!  I am unnecessarily excited about this aspect of the trip.  Once in Bekopaka, we're going to spend two days exploring the Tsingy de Bemaraha...a national park of giant limestone spikes in which 80% of the species that live there are found nowhere else in the world and nowhere else in Madagascar!

On October 8 (my birthday!) we'll be making the 8-hour return trip to Morondova, stopping along the way to watch the sunset at the picturesque Allee de Baobabs.  Next, we'll spend a day back in Tana exploring the markets and cultural sights before flying up to Nosy Be and catching a ferry to Constance Tsarabanjina - the five-star private island resort that we're spending our second week at.  With any luck, while we're there we'll be able to see some humpback whales, hissing cockroaches, and dozens of lemurs!

It's going to be quite an adventure, so stay tuned.  I'll update as we go to the extent we have internet, but I make no promises.  Your best bet is to subscribe to our feed so you get notices when we post.

Estamos Volviendo a Estados Unidos

Estamos Bebiendo De Pinas

Today is our last day in the Dominican Republic.  When we came down here, we had big plans of traveling around and seeing the country, but we quickly got swept up by the relaxing atmosphere and spent the entire week relaxing at the resort.  I have to admit that, while I'm disappointed our whale watching and cultural experience plans fell through, this has been really nice.  I'm so keyed up in my daily life (even when we travel) and live by such a regimented schedule that it's been really nice to depart from that, if only briefly.  It certainly takes someone else forcing me to relax to actually make me happen, but it's necessary every once in a while.  Lately I've felt burned out, but now I feel totally refreshed and ready to take on the North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  Kati and I spent it relaxing, eating Chinese food, and watching the Olympics.  It was wonderful.  Unfortunately, Spencer and Haley did not have as happy of a Valentine's Day.  At around 4:00 p.m. yesterday Spencer got violently ill and spent the rest of the evening stuck in his room under the weather.

Our flight leaves at 5:30 this evening, so we get until around 2:30 to relax at the resort.  Naturally, and in part due to a desire to not be sandy for the flight home, we're spending the day at the Eden pool with Juan.  The best part of the day, hands down, is that Juan has made us pineapple glasses to drink out of in honor of our last day.  That's it for now.  There's too much sun and fun to have before we go. Rest assured that we will be making a trip back down to the Dominican Republic in the future to truly explore the island, experience the culture, watch the whales, and find the perfect Panama hat.  Until then, hasta luego.

Arrr is Pirate for Party

At Pirate Night

I could get used to this kind of relaxation. My decisions each day are limited to the basics.  Should I relax on the beach or by the pool?  What kind of drink should I get next?  What kind of food am I in the mood for tonight?  I thought that by now I'd be going a little stir crazy but, to the contrary, I'm pretty content just sitting around drinking and catching up on some reading.

Monday, much like every day, was split in half.  In the morning, we relaxed on the beach underneath some thatched umbrellas so that Kati and my sunburns could recuperate in time for our impending massages on Wednesday.  Then, the afternoon was spent at the Eden pool where Juan, our favorite bar tender, has taken it upon himself to double every drink order that I place under the guise of giving me the typical American "BOGO" - buy one, get one.  Somehow, even though we stayed out of the sun the majority of the day, we managed to get even more burned.  One of the coolest things that we discovered on Monday was a swim-up sushi bar.  The sushi, while limited, was surprisingly good.  Plus, you really can't beat eating sushi while sitting on a bar stool, chest-deep in refreshingly cool water.

Tuesday was a bit more unique.  We followed the same general pattern - beach in the morning, Eden in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, Kati was in a lot of pain from her sunburn and spent the afternoon in the room, trying to catch up on sleep that her burns had deprived her of the night before.  But luckily, by the time dinner rolled around, she was feeling much better.  Dinner was fantastic, at Isla - the Dominican-style seafood restaurant - it as pirate night.  They went all out for it.  All of the waiters were dressed like pirates and they'd put up a pirate ship, cannons, and all sorts of other decorations.  We were greeted with rum-filled coconuts and a wonderful seafood buffet.  The highlights of the buffet were Caribbean lobsters and mahi mahi.  I forgot how good fresh seafood is down here.

After dinner, the pirate-themed entertainment began.  They had a 15-foot tall stilted pirate and a choreographed pirate fight.  In fairness, there was more flipping and acrobatics than fighting, but it was still incredibly entertaining.  The band that was slated to play had some issues.  They blew two fuses as they tried to kick off the party playing "Tequila."  Finally, after an extended hiatus, they resolved the technical issues and kicked off one hell of a dance party.  We all let loose and had a great time throwing back tequila and dancing the night away.  After the party ended, Kati and I went for a nice stroll on the beach at night before turning in for the evening.

Relaxing on the Beach

On Sunday, our first full day in Punta Cana, we went on a little bit of an excursion.  We heard rumor that, about a mile down the beach, there were places called "Coconut to Go" where we could buy cocunuts to drink out of.  It turns out that these coconut shops are on the beach of a new resort, the Royalton.  It just opened 90 days ago, but it was hopping and it's really cool.  The rooms on the first floor have swim-out porches!  I hate to champion a different resort than the one that we're staying at, but it was a great place.  Rather than bar stools, the bars are flanked by swings.  The main difference between the Royalton and the Hard Rock is the demographic of its guests.  The Hard Rock is a much older crowd that has come to relax in style and quiet (ironic seeing as Hard Rock has spent decades pitching itself as a young and hip company), while the Royalton is a much more party-oriented and hip scene.

On the way back, we were walking along the beach when a big wave crashed into the beach and pulled a speedboat from its beached position into the ocean.  It slipped within feet of my back.  At first, we thought that it was anchored to the beach, but quickly we realized that it wasn't.  Luckily, Spencer quickly thrust out his hand and caught it before it could drift off into the ocean.  The walk was great, but, seeing as it was our first day, none of us were quite prepared for the equatorial sun and everyone got horribly sunburned.

Here's another interesting fact about the Dominican, it's the home of the Panama hat.  Seriously, you would think that the Panama hat would have originated in Panama, but it didn't.  I'm keeping my eyes out for a great hat while we're down here.  No luck so far, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Exciting News

Completely unrelated to our present excursion, I have some very exciting news.  One of my blog posts has been picked up by an internationally-read travel website and cited as authority.  Unsurprisingly, it's one of my posts about Slovenia and Ljubljana.

Check it out: http://storify.com/visitljubljana/romantic-ljubljana

I'm one step closer to my dream of being a true travel writer!