Tue, Sep 10 - Back to Tana

After yogurt, croissants, and coffee, we loaded up and started back to Tana at 8 AM.  Dave spied an avocado stalls and asked to stop. 

He hopped out and came back with six fruit!   We continued passing vast agricultural areas with people stabbing their spades into the soil to till it, and others using buckets to  water veggies planted in foot-deep hole on the hillsides.  All the rivers seem to be flowing well so there is no water shortage and the soil looked particularly rich in this valley as the spring planting begins.

Brick-making - a popular enterprise

Aluminum crafts

Several towns along the highway specialize in different crafts, so Fano broke up the ride by giving us a chance to shop.  One town makes pots and decorations from aluminum.  Another makes fanciful wooden trucks, and one we particularly liked was a large stall of sissel woven animals and mats!

Sissel animals

We entered the Tana traffic mess, and Vincent, our driver, used his expertise to weave around the city using the by-pass and then switching to local streets when things got bogged down! 

He pulled into our home away from home, Au Bois Vert, about 12:30 and we were given yet another attractive room with many carvings and decorations. 

Stone carvings in our bathroom

We met for lunch at 1 PM and divided up two of Dave’s avocados which were perfectly ripe. I ordered zebu carpaccio, paper-thin slices of raw beef with a lovely dressing - yumm!   We had the afternoon off and relaxed.  Dave and Nancy are flying back to England tonight, and Bob and I will continue on for a couple of days at Monrondava, the location of the famous avenue of Baobabs!

We had rum and cokes, more avocados, shrimp and chocolate coconut ice cream, gathered for a group photo and said a fond goodbye to Dave and Nancy.