Power down...

Expedition 36 is now well underway. It's the most international of groups so far with volunteers from : UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany, Holland, France, Spain, Canada, Portugal/Mozambique, South Africa, Switzerland, Madagascar - and there are still two American volunteers to come.
It's nice having such a variety of nationalities, though I've noticed that those from the British Isles (and Ireland) tend to stick together, with everybody else mingling much more. In this group, most of the British vols are also of similar ages, so it could also be down to that too.
So far all the vols seem keen and interested in everything and everybody danced at the epi-bar with the nahudas when we met them - which is always a good sign, because we usually do it on a 'diving night' which means people can't drink more than a beer.
However, they were also dancing there on Friday and then again on Sunday and unfortunately, got rather a bit too drunk there last night and stayed out beyond our curfew of midnight. It's actually the first time that Justin and I stayed until the curfew time, so the curfew could have been abused many more times in the past, but it's the first time I've known about it for sure. So today we had to go round telling everyone 'off' for breaking the camp rules and also talking to them about drinking too heavily in the village and putting our reputation at risk.
We also - for women mainly - had to talk about them putting their safety at risk too by drinking that much. I hope that giving them a telling off will be enough, but I guess we'll see next party night. There were also a few staff who broke the rules so I had to talk to them too. Policeman is not a role I really relish, nor do I enjoy telling people off. It's interesting how different people react though. One staff member accepted full responsibility - yes, he was too drunk and yes he should not have drunk that much or encouraged volunteers to break the curfew. But other staff members, and at least a few of the volunteers played it a little bit innocent - claiming they didn't have watches, or didn’t notice us all leaving and trying to get them to leave etc. etc. But I'd seen them hiding from me, and a couple had out and out refused when Louis (field scientist) had tried to persuade them to leave, so I know that they were just lying to get out of being told off. It really made me feel like a teacher telling off some school children when they couldn't accept responsibility and were trying to somehow get out of it.
Anyway, that was pretty stressful and not my favourite part of the job. BUT the best thing so far since I arrived happened this week because I finally got to sing with the women's association. :) we met on Saturday for a rehearsal. Lalao gave me the words to one of the songs - really difficult words too! And we rehearsed that one, and then another four! I had to join in the dancing too. The rehearsal was just such fun. I felt very welcomed by them, and they thought my dancign was hilarious (which it probably was!) and it was such a pleasure singing harmonies with a group. It sounded great cos we were in quite a small room too. :) the next day, we performed to the volunteers when the womens' assocation cooked lunch for everyone.
The Blue Ventures malagasy staff thought it was absolutely hilarious that I was singing and dancing with the women!! I felt a little embarassed. Mostly because I did not kinow most of the words of the songs and just sung some las or some random vowels! The tunes were relatively straightforward though so I still got to sing and sang some tunes and some harmonies. :) So that was my main highlight of the past week.
Other than that, we have hardly dived because of having had the tail end of a cyclone hit us last week and we had much wind and rain and the accompanying poor visibility as a result. With the rain we've also had rainbows, greater humidity, poor visibility, more insects and a couple of snakes.
The water quality from our showers and taps has also started to clear up. When the shower bucket is full of water, you can now almost see the bottom! It's very exciting! Perhaps I won't have to resort to showering in bottled water after all. And we got apples for
dessert twice last week too. So life continues to be ever changing here.
Right now we have no electricity because the generator died in the storm. So
some work is difficult.

End of expedition extravaganzas

We reached the end of another expedition. It's weird how the time goes here - six weeks seems to have lasted for ages, and at the same time has gone extremely quickly too. Can't believe we've said goodbye to another set of volunteers. It only seems like last week we were in Tulear meeting them all for the first time.
I really enjoyed the end of this expedition - mainly because the camion actually turned up on time and so I didn't spend the whole evening worrying about whether or not it was going to arrive. I also managed to make sure that people saw me for money and other admin early on in the day, so I wasn't being pestered over dinner.
Even so, I was told after dinner by Gildas that he wasn't going to Tulear on the camion after all, and we also needed 1.2 million ariary (about £700) in two days to pay for our eco-lodge land. Planning ahead isn't something which generally happens much here!
Another of our Malagasy staff members also decided to go on the camion at the last minute. She will return next week we hope.
I did a couple of nice recreational dives with the volunteers on the last diving day too, which was very relaxing. Anyway, so, we celebrated the end of the expedition with song as Charlie and Becks had rewritten the words to Don't Worry Be Happy inspired by the volunteers. That gave much amusement. Becky and Charlie also wrote poems for the volunteers which were also really funny and inventive. They should be up on the BV website this week. We all went down to the epi-bar for a final night of dancing before vols and staff left in the camion at 4am the next morning.
Saying goodbye to this lot was really hard. They all were so complimentary of their whole experience and all said really lovely things to both me and Justin too about our management. It's really good to get that feedback - even if they were drunk at the time ! Site is so lovely and peaceful without anyone around. Justin and I went over to Laguna Blu for a very luxurious and chilled out break. It was only for twenty four hours but it was definitely worth it. And I was most excited by the avocado we ate for dinner.
Not much else to report right now as it's Saturday and the new lot are arriving tomorrow night (all things going well). Who knows what this next group will be like, but there are at least 11 nationalities and they range from 18 to 45 in age. There's also a camerawoman amongst them which is a bit daunting for me. Happily, there are plenty of extroverts around who love the limelight and love to perform but even so, I'm not relishing the idea of someone touting a camera around 24 hours a day. Especially as my grooming has become somewhat lax these days!
One highlight of the week so far actually was attending another meeting of the women's association. This time it was called by our new medic and she shared the floor with Lalao - one of the malagasy staff - who helped to translate. The meeting was held sat on the sand on the beach outside of the Club Alo Alo building (where we hold the children's environmental club).
The purpose of the meeting was to publicise Blue Venture's family planning clinic which we run every Thursday in the village. We introduced the meeting by singing a refrain of Salt & Peppa's "let's talk about sex" to much hilarity and Becks then proceeded to tell the women about the clinic, about family planning and to answer their questions and concerns. There were about 50 - 60 women there at the start and it was fascinating to hear their
questions and misconceptions about fertility and about contraception. Though, to be honest, they weren't any stranger or less informed than certain sectors of the British population. The meeting ended with Becks trying to demonstrate how to put a condom on, though the only thing she could find to demonstrate it on was a stick, which provoked laughter from all - myself included. I thought that it was interesting as Becks, Hanta and
Lalao are all in our thirties and do not have children and we were talking to women who were teenagers, right up to women in their forties and nearly all of them had very young, or breastfeeding children with them. Becks says that she saw a woman at the clinic last week who is 29 and has already had 5 children.
Much as I am enjoying these brief interactions with the women of the village, I would like to get to know them better somehow, but the lack of time to just sit and hang out with them is as much of an issue for me as the language barrier.
Monday update: vols are here. There are lots of them. Two more are arriving tomorrow, and another three after three weeks. The ones who are here already seem like a nice bunch so far and at least two of them appear to have a lovely, surreal sense of humour. Right now they're in with our medic who is hopefully scaring them into looking after their health. I'd like this to be the first expedition where no one gets evacuated!
It'll be a busy week. I'll let you know how well we survive it!

On living and working onsite

One hundred years ago, or even in Andavadoaka today, if you wanted to talk to someone or to give them a message, you went to their house. If they were in, you could tell them what you wanted them to know. If they weren't in, you'd either wait until they were, or you'd go away and come back later. Or perhaps you'd write a message out and leave it on their door.
Then came the landline telephone (but not in Andavadoaka). This meant that you could call
someone first to see if they were in. If they didn't answer, you accepted that they weren't in and you called back later. If they were in, they would answer the phone and you could talk to them.
Then came the answerphone (though not in Andavadoaka). This meant that even if they weren't in, you could leave a message which would get recorded and they could play it back later. You started to therefore have different expectations. Now, even if someone wasn't in, you didn't have to wait to tell them your message, you could just leave a recorded message and they picked it up. Of course, there were some people who didn't like to leave a message on a machine. But there will always be luddites.
Then came the mobile phone (though not for most of Andavodoaka. Yet). This meant that even if someone wasn't in (their house), they were 'in' and you could talk to them. Revolution! You never have to wait to get hold of someone again.
Our working environments have also changed in a similar way. We are at work, even when we're not at work thanks to mobile phones, faxes, internet and wireless modems in coffee shops. We're always in touch. We expect immediacy with our contact and we're impatient when we don't get it.
Now, you might think it strange, but living and working in Andavadoaka is somewhat similar. Despite the general laid back pace of life here, despite the fact that there are no mobile phones in use in the immediate vicinity. Despite the fact that I work in a hut 15 metres from the sea (as we speak - cos the tide is up), my colleagues and staff expect the same kind of immediacy. This isn't down to technology, it's simply because our hut is our office and our home and we are always there. Unless we're not. But my point is, when we're there, when we're 'in', people expect us to be IN and available. Whether we are or not. And it's difficult to tell people to go away.
But the fact is, if we were not in the hut when they came round, they would go away and come back later. Or leave a message.
But unless someone needs evacuating, it's very rare that we are actually NEEDED at that immediate time. Likewise, a lot of the Malagasy staff expect their issues to be dealt with as and when and aren't very good at planning ahead. So they'll leave things until the last minute, so that we feel obliged to deal with those things rather than turn them away - at 6.30pm or at 7am or whatever time of day it is that they come.
I now have a laminated sign that says "do not disturb" in three languages. But it won't be enough.
I'm going to have to get used to physically telling people to go away and to come back when I am working. It's going to be hard to do. But if it was a 9 to 5 working environment, then people wouldn't expect me to be at work at all other hours of the day and night.
And though it's not a 9 to 5 environment, and I wouldn't want it to be, I'd rather it wasn't a 5am to 9pm working environment and so people have to get used to the idea that even when I'm in, I might not be 'IN'.

I did my 400th dive this week. I didn't celebrate it in any particular way - by diving naked or wearing a silly bikini. I didn't even go without my wetsuit. But it was a very lovely, very pleasant dive and a nice way to pass that milestone. I've done 60 dives since arriving here in September so there's every chance that I'll also see my 500th dive in Madagascar. Perhaps I'll make an effort for that one.

More wildlife update: big scary spider in our shower on party night. I don't
know what was worse. The fact that it was there when we went to bed in the dark (thank goodness for mosquito nets) or the fact that it wasn't there when we woke up in the morning. We haven't seen it since. I'm resting my hopes on the gecko having eaten it - though the spider is about twice the size of our resident gecko.

I got nominated for tai be this week, for only the second (or possibly
third?) time since arriving in September. Not only did I get nominated once, I actually got nominated 4 times. It had been a particularly discombobulated day admittedly (one of my nominations was for losing a tape measure over the side of the boat), but I still thought that nominating me for having a hairdryer was slightly spurious and it felt a little like I was being ganged up on (although not in any malicious way).
I didn't have much competition (from myself mainly!) and so won the vote (lost?) with quite a majority. So, for the first time since arriving in Andavadoaka, I took my first snorkel test.
As I was already fairly tipsy due to having consumed one rum at Laguna Blu earlier that afternoon and a small glass of shandy (it doesn't take me much), I elected to do the snorkel test with some lemon fanta instead.
Justin and I went back to Laguna Blu the next day on day-off for a lovely lunch. The food was nice, but it was nicer just to be somewhere quiet, without volunteers and with vegetables that weren't boiled out of all recognition. We have booked in for a night at the end of the expedition - which also happens to be valentine's day.

Food, wildlife, food & wildlife

Saturday:
Thought I'd update you on the food and wildlife situation
right now.
Mango season has well and truly finished. I'm very sad
about this. Lychee season was also very short (and very
sweet) - for about three weeks in December.
We've moved into orange season now and they're the only
fruit/veg available in the village at the moment. Only
they're not quite in season. And they're not very orange.
They're actually green and pretty sour. More like a lemon
or a lime in taste. We try and eat them anyway though just
to make sure we're getting some vitamins. There are also
sometimes plums for dessert at Coco Beach. They're green.
And unfortunately I don't like them.
Otherwise, the diet continues pretty much as it has done -
bread and eggs for breakfast, rice, beans, a salad, and
fish/meat/omelette and maybe vegetables for lunch. Then we
get more rice, beans, fish/meat/squid/omelette/fried egg,
potatos or pasta for our evening meal. Chips and sauteed
potatoes continue to be a camp favourite. I seem to be the
person who is the happiest about the beans - which I
actively  enjoy. There are three or four different kinds
and sometimes,  if there's no beans, we get lentils. Which
I'm also quite happy about. But not as happy about as the
butter beans which I've now named "happy beans". "Why are
they called  happy beans?" the vols keep asking. "cos they
make me happy"  I reply. Clearly I'm on a different
wavelength to most people here when it comes to food.

Wildlife and food update: On the other hand, I am sad to
report  that Justin has just spent 10 minutes blowing ants
off my  brazil nuts after they ate through the plastic bag
they were kept in, and then proceeded to start to eat the
brazil nuts. We discovered that they'd also attempted to
make a house out of the bits of brazil nuts and clearly
don't recognise that my luxury imported snacks should not
be wasted on ant accommodation.
Brazil nuts now safely sealed away in a lidded saucepan,
away from the thieving ants.

Wildlife update: I'm sad to say that the yellow-beaked kite
that was flying past my hut every day has not made an
appearance since we got back from holidays. There is a
Madagascan kestrel around which is very pretty, and there
are  flamingos out in the spiny forest by the salt lakes.
There were a lot of snakes initially when we got back from
Tulear  but not seen any for a while. There continue to be
resident geckos and small skinks everywhere.
Hermit crabs continue to skulk around, and some of the big
red crabs can be spotted scuttling about at night. In the
water, I continue to not see any dolphins, turtles, sharks
or any particularly big fish. I have seen an octopus this
week though and a very big titan triggerfish. Remember the
night of the suicidal dragonflies? Well, this expedition
we've had the night(s) of the big flying ants, and last
night it was the night of the small flying beetles. The
herd of goats that hang out on the football pitch continues
to breed like... Well, goats and can often be heard marauding
through the camp at 5 in the morning - jumping up on our
verandas and generally causing havoc and mayhem. And trying
to find food.

Meanwhile our group of volunteers continues to shrink ever
further.
Nick, arrived back on camp last Wednesday, only to leave
again (at the insistence of his mother and under the
direction of a  doctor in the US) on Saturday. His infection
was improving, though not yet better, but the remoteness of
our location meant that the doctor (and his mother) didn't
want to take any risks of it getting worse again. Suzan,
a lovely Dutch volunteer, left with him. Her departure
was at least planned.
She had only been able to stay for four weeks. It was sad
saying goodbye. Then, we said goodbye to two more volunteers
on Sunday - Bodil and Julie. They were Danish and had also
been great to have around. Unfortunately, Bodil had a tiny
cut on her foot that had started to be infected and our
medic thought it best for her to ship her out and get her on
IV antibiotics to ensure it didn't go the same way as
Nick's had. Bodil and Julie had been due to leave on Wednesday
this week, but even so, it was especially sad to say goodbye
to them at such short notice. Many tears were shed. Camp was
a bit flat as a result last night and we attempted to buoy
things up a bit by watching a movie. Only the projector
wasn't compatible with our computer and none of the dvds were
compatible with the other computers that were compatible
with the projector. So we gave up and went to bed.
We're now down to 9 volunteers and they're under strict
instructions not to get any cuts or fall over or do any damage
to themselves. Cuts weren't always getting infected as quickly
as they are now. We wonder if it's the time of year or the
temperature of the (sea) water or just bad luck.
Right now, there are also some visitors around. There's a
bunch of people from WCS (wildlife conservation society)
who'd been to a climate change conference in Tana and a
bunch of people from small grants projects looking at two
different projects, including the funding of our proposed
eco-lodge.
Diving continues with some improved visibility (hoorah! At
last!) and we have finally finished some 'science' on some
of this expedition science sites. Phew. Being as this is the
main reason that our volunteers are here, this is good news!
It took so long to train them this expedition for various
reasons, but at last the training is finally over and we can
just get out and do some surveying, some exploratory dives
and gather some more data.
Only 10 more days left of this expedition. Time flies. I guess
therefore that we must be having fun.