Wait for the third wave

The second half of our trip was to the northeastern side of the island. This was the highlight of the holiday,

I have stayed in two eco-resort places in Guyana before, and they were both excellent. However, this place, Masoala Forest Lodge was superb. You can't ask for better settings. It consists of 6 tents, and the maximum capacity is only 12 people. It is located in a remote part of the Masoala National Park. There is a large dining hall in front of a beach. Photos will not do justice to describe the beauty of the place. Right next to the beach there is a pristine tropical rainforest, just exactly like their catch phrase “ ou la foret rencontre la mer."

Around this lodge there are two small eco lodges and a village with only 150 inhabitants. I could hear nothing but the waves of the ocean and birds& insects. A couple who manages the lodge are very warm south-african. It is as if we were staying in a relative’s home. For dinner, all the guests sit together around a large dining table, and it is a real family atmosphere. We got to chat with some lovely Swiss people and talk to the couple about Africa etc. Even for a short time, there is a sense of community and really special…

One of the best part of the stay here was the food. It was mostly seafood from this area, fresh fruit and for both dinner and lunch always came with dessert! For someone like me who always feel deprived of fish and seafood living in a landlocked country, it was like a dream!

It is absolutely a gorgeous place, well worth the 90 minutes really bumpy speedboat ride (the second time to confront my fear during this trip.) Two German ladies who were supposed to come to the lodge with us the same morning, saw the rough sea and were too scared to get on the boat. They must have lost their booking that is not so cheap…. I was certainly really scared. I had my arms and feet tightly crutched to whatever I can hold onto, and I was full of bruises when I got off.

In the lodge, if you wish, you can walk around the rainforest as long as you want (an official guide is assigned to each group). You can also do nothing, which we did for a few days out of the six days of our stay. You could swim, snorkel or get on a sea kayak and enjoy the sunset in the Indian Ocean.

Having endured the busy travel schedule the first half of the trip, we mostly took it easy. I was reading Paulo Coelho book that my good friend gave me as a birthday gift; my boyfriend who was so loyal to our (supposed to be) strictly French speaking vacation was reading Camus novel or looking seriously into his laptop with a headphone on, as he takes a distance education music production class.

After three days of on and off rain, I got a bit fed up and was longing for some sun, especially because I wanted to swim and snorkel. The weather forecast was not favorable, so I thought of something that I used to do when I was a kid. Before some school excursions or special events, I used to pray for sun by making a special doll and hung it near the window accompanied by a special song. The doll is called, teruteru bozu (sunny sunny boy/ monk …?). I created a make-shift version of that with a handkerchief and hung it in our tent. My boyfriend thought it looked like a voodoo doll to curse someone. Believe it our not, the weather gradually improved somehow.

It was still a bit gray with occasional rain, but we managed to do some snorkeling and sea kayaking. I tried for the first time sea kayaking, which was not what I would normally do. I was initially scared but finally I got used to it and loved it. We did it three times in total, and every time we went one notch higher and went further. When we were trying to re-enter the sea from a beach where a few large rocks made the waves higher, the host, Chris (manager of the lodge) told us “ Waves come in a set of three, so wait for the third wave and start paddling hard.” It was exhilarating.

When you sit on the sea-kayak (different from the river one where you put your legs inside the boat), you really feel like you become part of waves. Waves move underneath you, and it is such a wonderful feeling.

The third time we kayaked along a small river. It was so quiet and peaceful. On the way back we witnessed a small drama unfolding in front of us. A hawk stole a chick of parrots from their nest, and they (parents birds) were chasing the hawk, which was holding the chick. It was a rare sight and felt like a real time national geography or documentary.

It was challenging to re-enter the ocean from the river. Waves were quite strong. As instructed by Chris, we paddled really hard, managed the first wave and then got turned over and fell into the sea. I was totally soaked, but it was so cool!

On the kayak, we saw many silver flying fish jumping, a flock of tunas, birds diving into the sea trying to catch some fish. AMAZING!