Auf Wiedersehen, Switzerland! Next stop, Madagascar

Somewhere outside of Luzern

This week, I really had to make lemonade out of lemons.

I really shouldn't complain about my landlord.  She called me up when I was desperately trying to find a place to stay 2 months ago, and she let me choose my rent.  No complaints there.  On Saturday, when I got my train ticket to Paris for the 16th, she mentioned something about her sons coming to town to visit, but it's no problem if I stay as long as I pay for the week (since I paid up until the 10th).  Reasonable enough.

On Monday morning, after making my cup of tea and getting ready to discuss one week's rent, my landlord asked, "so what time are you leaving?"

I'm not completely sure what prompted her sudden change of heart, but it was obvious that my time there was over.  Fortunately, there was still a hostel available.  Unfortunately, only until Wednesday.  Since I had a few days left on my Eurail pass, allowing me to go anywhere within Switzerland on those days, and since I have to pay for a hostel no matter where I go, why not see more of Switzerland? 

Last picture of Swiss swans for a while

So off I went to Luzern, a German-speaking city in central Switzerland, the start of two peaceful and beautiful days enjoying the country before I take off.

Instead of staying in the city, I opted for walking around the lake, and the views were completely stunning.  I took a bus to the other side of the lake around sunset and got equally amazing views of the mountains over the winding lake.

I went to Lausanne on Friday, on the other side of the lake from Geneva, which I’ve been meaning to do since I’ve passed it by so many times by train.  On a whim, I decided to rent a bike and ride to Vevey along the lakefront, which I later found out was a 40-km round-trip journey (I’m certainly not in bike shape!).  Come to find out, it’s part of a huge network of bike trails going all over the country.  Why didn’t I do this sooner?

It was amazing seeing Lake Geneva from a different angle, having the convenience of going where cars can drive, but being able to stop whenever I wanted to.  Hills covered in vineyards with old stone walls, random castles nestled on top, and towns that aren’t reachable by train. 

I'm definitely going back to Switzerland someday.. if only to bike more!

Next stop: Madagascar

So why Madagascar?  I've been asked this every time it’s been brought up, but it’s hard to explain because it's several different things.

For one, it's French-speaking, at least in the major cities.  Where it's not French-speaking, they speak a sort of French creole, Malagasy, and that's fascinating in itself.  The culture is supposed to be interesting, as well, with a heavy Indonesian influence.

It's in Africa, without a lot of its problems.  I've always wanted to go to Africa – somewhere – but because it’s just me, I want to be as safe as possible.  People in Madagascar are very nice and polite, Yellow Fever (present in just about all Sub-Saharan Africa) isn’t an issue, and I’ll be several thousand miles (and a body of water) away from the political problems of Sudan and Rwanda.

I made a great effort to find a solid volunteer program and managed to find Azafady (www.madagascar.co.uk), a UK-based organization that promotes environmental and social sustainability in the Southeast area of the island, close to Fort Dauphin.  It’s been recognized in the area of sustainable travel by Virgin Airlines, and for good reason:

1. It provides volunteers with the expertise of environmentalists and local experts, not to mention food and purified water;
2. It allows volunteers to participate in everything related to the organization’s efforts, from sampling lemur, reptile, and plant populations, to environmental education in schools, from planting local tree species in a heavily deforested area (Madagascar is 90% deforested), to creating sanitary infrastructure for local people;
3. It provides relevant information to external organizations that influence the support the country gets and the limitation of businesses that want to exploit the region;
4. Even its statistical methods are sound.

Another reason is that, while I’ve tried to keep in good communication in Europe, I want the chance to escape for a while.  I will be away from the internet for 2-4 weeks at a time (but will be getting a cell phone), so for the good part of 2 months, I’ll have plenty of time to relax (when not working), reflect, and just be.  I’m not very religious, but perhaps this is the “pray” portion of my “Eat, Pray, Love” – like journey.  Since Europe was very much about eating.

And as someone interested in the environment and hoping to drive myself in that direction job-wise, participating in a worthwhile sustainable endeavor while also being in probably one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world – what an incredible opportunity!  And for photography too.

One reason I’m happy to leave Switzerland is the often exorbitant prices.  Then again, my two months in Madagascar will probably be more expensive in the end, just in an effort to be safe.  For one thing, I had to get a good number of vaccinations: typhoid, rabies (since I’ll be working with lemurs), Hepatitis A, etc.

I have also purchased just about everything possible to thwart the threat of mosquitoes, since there are no vaccinations for malaria: Malarone (a malaria prophylaxis, fortunately not the one that causes psychological issues), 30% DEET-based and non-DEET bug sprays, a mosquito net, clothing spray, mosquito-repelling bracelets, even a natural medicine from Switzerland that makes me smell less attractive to mosquitos (since they generally like how I taste).

And then, last but not least, I have enough medication and supplies to remedy scrapes and cuts, the flu, motion sickness, allergies, sinus problems, pain relief, and syringes for shots or blood transfusions (I’d like to not think about needing that).

So I know that you will all worry (I’m nervous, too!), but I’ve done everything in my power to make this a successful trip.  If nothing else, I’ll do my best to keep my dad updated, and I’ll update the blog and answer emails every 2-4 weeks as I get the opportunity.