Diego… Sua-a-a-rez*

Some of you may recall how, in my planning days, I described a single road that wrapped around the entirety of the country of Madagascar. This has turned out to be untrue. Not only is there no ring-road, but the road that does exist in stretches is hardly worthy of the name. All of that being said, the next town following my northern route was the former port Diego Suarez, the 3rd largest city in Madagascar. The road from Sambava, however, runs out of pavement after about 4 hours of travel, making the other 15.5 hours feel quite long. (That’s right, the car ride was 19.5 (nineteen and a half) hours.) Now I’m no stranger to long car-rides, and even enjoy them on occasion, but it’s a different story when you’re traveling ala illegal immigrant, namely on a bench in the back of a pick-up truck with luggage where your feet should (need to) be (hence the duck-and-cover sitting position I used for a long stretch of the trip), and with 13 other people.

But enough about the means. What about the ends? Diego Suarez was the first actual city I’d been to in a while, and it was strange to suddenly see lots of cars and hotels and tourists, as well as, at times, off-putting, especially with the price of things (meals, rooms, etc) suddenly being more than a dollar. Still, the place was not without its charm, especially with its lovely views of the bay and old-style architecture. I particularly liked (and photographed) the palm-tree-ransacked space by the waterfront.

*the spelling here is meant to give the town’s name an illusion to the song Rico Suave