Saturday 8 May 2010

3rd day

Had quite an eventfull day yesterday. I went for an explore in the morning and met many people. Everyone is very friendly. Especially as there aren't many Muzungus (white people) here so they all want to talk to one. I went to a beach and watched giant bats drinking sea water. not the biggest bats, these ones only(?) have a metre or so wingspan. We ate supper in a small palm leaf hut by the side of the road. Cassava, grated papaya and brussets which are basically kebabs. We then went onto a bar. It turns out that alcohol is not quite as prohibited as you might think. This may be partially due to the fact that law enforcment is nonexistant here. I don't think there is any form of it on the island in fact. Possible exception of two exceedingly bored looking guards outside the bank. So anyway this bar was made of palm leaves and the alcohol it sells is fermented palm oil. It tastes like motor oil. but its 1 euro a litre so what the hey. A strange thing about this country is that they don't produce much themselves, most things are imported. So the chicken for example comes from Brazil. I understand this is because its of such poor chemically treated quality that nowhere else will buy it, making it extremely cheap, cheaper in fact than trying to raise chickens here. The strange combination of imported and local goods means there are some strange price differences. The kebab meal I had cost around a euro I think including a coke (theres a tiny factory on the island and they recycle bottles so enthusiastically that you can't take coke bottles out of the shop, you have to drink it there). A half pint of beer in a can however costs 3 euros. and I saw a horn for a car that cost £60. As far as I can make out the deficit caused by the fact that they import everything and export nothing is made up for by the fact that they all go to France to earn money. Meaning that most families living here have a number of people in France sending back wages.
I'm going to see if UI can upload some photos shortly. We shall have to see if I can get that to work

Sam

6 comments:

  1. So you are genuinely a local oddity.... no change there then :P You should definitely go and meet their families, what an awesome way to get to know the island. Plus those kids will gain some hardcore street-cred for socialising with the Muzungus :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Also (and I'm not kidding) I hit 'stumble' and this came up -
    http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1203-hance_anjouanscopsowl.html

    That's weird.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DAMN IT!!!! I wrote a comment and then pressed backspace and it went back a page not a letter and lost my comment! Not happy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Attempt #2

    Jesus christ small bats with a wingspan of around a metre? I am now officially terrified of the day the bats decide to take over the world. Have images of regular sized bats being around 2m, and the big ones must be bigger than condors. You shall find me cowering in the basement.

    Also why are you converting everything into euros? Except of course the car horn? Slightly confused.

    Glad to hear you're enjoying yourself so far though.

    Love

    ReplyDelete
  5. Haha also just realised that if either of us comments on your posts it looks the same. Muahahahaha this could be fun.

    P.S. sorry to spam the board with this crap.

    ReplyDelete
  6. hehe quite a stumble cazz!
    yus the biggest bats are a little over 2 metres in size. with any luck I shall see them soon!
    I may fly home on one...

    ReplyDelete