Antanarivo

Hollywood-style Antanarivo Sign

View from the bus of Roads in Tana

Right now I'm in Fort Dauphin, where we (me and the rest of the SIT students in the program) will be staying for the rest of the month. The first day, however we were in the capital- giving us our first taste of Madagascar. Antanarivo, or Tana as everyone calls it is definitely a world apart from what we would consider a capital city in the U.S. The roads aren't terrible, but they're chaotic with people crossing every which way, selling wares, bicycles on the side of the road, man-pulled carts and a center lane which both directions of traffic can drive in-and not just for passing.

We spent our first night in a hotel, which gave a good impression of what was to come- tricky old fashioned locks, water that works only sometimes and a distinct toilet paper shortage. The people are friendly, but to be stared at and addressed as vahaza (foreigner) is pretty much normal- so I'd say I'm trying to get over being self conscious fast. Learning Malagasy is really a great thing, even if it's only hello, and the standard response to "what's new?" people are impressed. I definitely have have more luck with incredibly persistent street vendors using "aha tsy mila, misoatra" to say no thank you, than by "non, merci" alone. Back in Tana though, we were still pretty clueless as to speaking Malagasy, and were just trying to get in the swing of speaking in french consistently.

Laundry drying- could pretty much been seen everywhere

Rice fields & Zebu(cattle) throughout Tana

Tana is an odd mix of slightly urban and impoverished rural, with fields throughout, and people living in small shacks near the road, to some much nicer looking buildings not to mention the U.S. Embassy which looks completely out of place.

We didn't spend much time in Tana- only one day, during which we went to a sort of park/zoo which had some of the plants and animals unique to Madagascar. My favorites were probably the fosa(pronounced "foo-sa"), which also happen to be the largest carnivores in Madagascar, and the giant tortoises. We also saw some lemurs, but I'm looking forwards to hopefully seeing some lemurs in the wild soon enough. I think now it finally has sunk in, but the first several days it seemed as if we could easily still be in the U.S. in some different region, or some zoo as far as the plants and animals are concerned. It's the people, and interaction with them that has brought reality that I really am in a place on the other side of theworld. Until next time! I still have some catching up to do, but hopefully will get to it soon. Veloma! (goodbye!)

Fosa in action