On the way to the sea

Today we set off quite early to the highly praised Mangily, the seaside holiday resort. And on the vaunted street built by the Chinese. A paved road from Manja to Toliara by the sea. Probably to make their transport routes faster and more pleasant. Unbelievably sudden to drive on a highway like that. We no longer have to cross rivers, just cross one. A relatively wide river that cannot be crossed. So you need a boat. A raft. As we turn towards the river, two men jump to the right and left of the car, the boatmen. We take her 5 minutes to the river. The raft has just docked there and transported a car across from the other side. It's coming off the raft, so it's our turn. The raft is just big enough to fit a car and a few people on it. We get on the raft, it works quite well and then 5 men jump into the water. You hold the line in your hand, wade through the river and pull the raft. This is probably the unofficial version - the government ferry is a few hundred meters away on the river bank, but nobody uses it. The men pull us through the river, we drift quite a bit downstream, but then we realize that this is probably intentional and we arrive at the corresponding bank on the opposite side. Two of the men have abrasions and ask for disinfectant spray, I give them mine. When you get to the other side, it gets exciting again to get off this raft and a step is quickly bridged with a large stone. Then it's done and we continue on this side of the river, towards the sea. Around midday we arrive in the village of Mangily, a beach town with many palm trees. We drive along a road with some accommodations and stop in front of our accommodation, right on the beach with some bungalows. Quite simple, but right next to a hotel, if you want some softer loungers or a pool, we are also welcome there and will have breakfast there. After lunch we meet Pedro, he is responsible for the boat, snorkeling and whale tours. With small canoe boats. We arrange snorkeling for the next day and explore the beach and the area. On the beach there are numerous children, men and women who want to sell me something. It takes some practice and self-confidence before they leave me alone. A bunch of girls follow me and take great pleasure in painting my legs and arms as I walk. But I'll get rid of them too at some point. For dinner we want to explore the local restaurants a little further into town. It turns out that some of them are eerily empty and I don't dare go in there. We're not ready for food poisoning yet. Maybe on the last day. We find some chairs and people on a kind of village square. As well as a few tables with dishes. We order something and sit down. This is definitely “local”. It turns out there are three “restaurants” next to each other. Three families who each cook in a mini wooden hut and have their own menu. We eat at the first one. Coconut rice, vegetables and casava. Very good. And very nice. Maybe we'll come tomorrow and test out one of the neighbors. We go back and I fall into bed very tired.