7.30 am our drivers pick us up. I have made an official complaint against Andry Gilbert and so we first make a stopover at the police station. Probably nothing will come out of that but at least we have done something. And after you have done your story the night before you would almost think that bringing in the written complaint wouldn’t take much of your time, but here the procedures make you wait until the commissioner is there. Afterwards you are send to the reception where another officer writes down that you handed in a complaint and then they refer you to the first floor where they type out your statement. About two hours later we are finally on the move again. Ok, here we go!
30 kilometres into the trip we are standing next to the road with an engine that has overheated… According to one of the guys they didn’t close the lit of the water reservoir properly this morning. Ok, shit happens, but Kosta is convinced it’s a more serious problem than that. When after 30 minutes the drivers start calling around and we hear the words ‘contract’ and ‘gasoline’ in Malagasy we are sure that this car isn’t going anywhere with us today. They are looking for someone to help them out. I guess they don’t want us to return to Antsirabe and have a chat at the police station again. LOL All good for us if someone takes over, we really are easy going travellers…. but there is a limit to everything in life, even to my kindness and understanding (ahum LOL). The new car arrives with new driver. An hour of trying to stay calm follows, an hour of discussion about money (of course) and about the amount of fuel we take out of the tank to put into the other car. When Kosta and I are finally satisfied with the result, we leave for Ranomafana.
After 50.000 curves (holding on to a plastic bag just in case LOL) we finally arrive. I have a bit of hope it will work out with Freddy, our new driver. He finds us a good place to stay after checking several guesthouses for us. This is all we need right now. A good night of rest will get the energy level back up. I have to admit, after a day of not feeling very well, followed by a very long day of public transport, then by one of discussions, waiting and a visit to the police station, to finally a day where a car breaks down and arguments with the two drivers almost make me lose my calm (yes, these are only the first 4 days in Madagascar LOL) I am wondering if I’m not getting too old for all of this. : )
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