Greetings from the passage squatter

August 22, 2011

Where to start! Okay first of all I did not sleep very well last night because the toilet kept on spilling out water into the bowl so it was constantly filling up. This was not my fault to those of you who would think so! I was nowhere near it when it started doing this and its cistern is hidden behind a panel in the wall to I couldn't even go in there and jiggle things about. I closed the bathroom door but that really didn't help much. This morning it also stopped wasting water all on its own so I expect the problem had to be linked to water pressure or something. It hasn't started up yet tonight so fingers crossed it behaves.

Today was the day for finding out where everything is in the hotel. First task – seek and destroy breakfast! I make it sound as if I had an enormous breakfast when in reality it was just a bowl of muesli, some pineapple juice and a cup of the worst tasting tea I have ever had! The tea was so bad that I did contemplate throwing all good sense to the wind and having coffee … but I resisted.

After breakfast I asked about the pool and was told it was in the basement so I went down to take a look. It was still closed and all the lights were off but it looked nice enough. The gym is down there too, not that it is a huge gym but it does have 2 treadmills so I am happy.

My Malagasy contact was due to collect me from the hotel at 8am and blow me down if he wasn’t early. This is seriously a first for any of the places I have visited J. I think I should backtrack just a little and tell you why I am in Madagascar: I am here to work on the regional project which I run called WIOFish and, for those who don’t know, WIOFish is a database that collates information on all the fisheries from the western Indian Ocean. Madagascar is the eighth (and last) country to be included in the system so it is quite exciting for me to be here. This morning I was taken to the Ministry of Fisheries and Fishing Resources to meet the Director General (DG) and give him a briefing about the project so that he could come and open our workshop and say some meaningful things to the participants. He was very friendly and the meeting was over pretty quickly. He seemed very enthusiastic about the project which is always a good thing.

I was dropped off at the hotel again just after 9am to hang about until 2pm for the official opening. My contact here has offered to show me around a bit on Wednesday afternoon so I skipped going out to see the sights. Instead I headed off to the gym and worked off the laziness from last week (when I did no exercise because I had the flu) and the stress that these workshops always produce. I found out that the pool and gym are open from 9am to 9pm – very reasonable hours so I will be making good use of them over the next few evenings.

At 2pm everyone arrived and we got down to business. The DG opened the workshop, I gave my introductory presentation and then the DG left. I went through the database and I think that at this stage the participants feel a little shell-shocked at the amount of work that needs to be done. I’m used to this reaction on the first day and I know it will go easier with them tomorrow.

We had a coffee/tea break before heading back into the meeting room to draw up a list of all the Malagasy fisheries. There are not as many as I expected but still enough to keep everyone busy. Tomorrow morning we will actually start entering data so that should be fun J

Once we had finished for the day, I headed off to the pool for a relaxing swim. It is a bit of a strange place … it is underground and yet there are sun loungers arranged at the water’s edge. Each lounger has a lamp placed strategically next to it to provide light. There is also a Jacuzzi tucked away in a dark corner but I will definitely be giving that a skip – I only get in a Jacuzzi with people I know as I am not fond of being and ingredient in human soup with a bunch of strangers. Anyway the swim was good and maybe tomorrow evening I will walk/run on the treadmill and then have a swim too.

I was out in the passageway checking emails when I met up with a fellow South African who was on the transfer to the hotel with me. He was on his way to the gym at the next-door hotel because he didn’t think this hotel’s gym was good enough. He definitely has to be keen though because it costs him $25 (that is US dollars) a session! He is here on business and has something or other to do with selling plastics. He has tentatively invited me to join him for dinner either tonight or tomorrow night. I have not decided whether I will go with but will see how I feel later.

To end here are some photos: The first three are the views from my window of Antananarivo and the last two are for Paula and they are the views that I have from the passageway when I am online.