After months without any travel - which has not happened since ... has never happened in fact! - I bought a ticket for Nosy-Be. I always liked the island. I like its climate. Even in the rainy season, it is mostly dry during the day. It has a festive and feisty atmosphere. People dance, sing and laugh a lot here (in my native south, an expression says "if you are a weirdo, to the north you should go " ... it goes without saying that I am a bit loony). I love the colorful Nosybean population with Malagasy people from all over the country, but also Italians, French, Belgians…. I love its generous and exuberant nature. And of course, the Sakalava culture, whose rituals, humor, colorful dialect and nonchalance seduced me since my first visit 15 years ago. There is also an international airport and a large port, which make Nosy-Be easily accessible from abroad… rather useful in the event of a relapse of acute travel-craving!
I got in touch with the main real estate agencies on the island and went on a treasure hunt. Almost everything I visited was beautiful… Each site could be have been the one, each site had its unique advantages: this one a huge room open to the horizon with beautiful parquetry for yoga, this other one fully furnished with an access to both the lake and the ocean… Everything was gorgeous… Yet nothing totally convincing…
The day before my departure, the agent suggested a last try. The place was far from everything, but not too much. It was rustic, but not too much. It was a guesthouse, but first and foremost a house. A house. A Home sweet Home. I walked barefoot, I touched the stones, the trees, I smelled the flowers… It was very sweet. It was welcoming.
But I was still hesitating a bit and decided to find out more about the place. I was looking for a sign. I was trying to hear Ambatozavavy's invitation. And she reminded me of her name! Ambatozavavy, namely “Maiden Rock”, a sacred Yoni, the Matrix, the Shakti. A traditional place of consecration, a place of ritual, a place of blessing, a space to return to oneself, to return to the Self.
So be it and so it is ❤
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