Hovahtra & Madagascar Roads

Bringing the pirogues into shore

Last week we visited a fishing village, to do practice field research/"focus groups" with a few of the fishermen. It's pretty incredible, Fort Dauphin is a hotspot for seafood, there's a lot of it. At the same time, almost all of the fishing here is still done in "pirogues" or canoes. The interviews we did were interesting, we sat in the sand surrounded by village children, and the conversation was facilitated between French and Malagasy by our instructors. 

Us, the crazy vazaha in the pirogue on shore

 

Part of the village's school

Pirogues coming into shore

The fishers get up at 2-3 in the morning to head out while the sea is more calm, and stay out there until 10 or noon. In the environmental sense it's also interesting, as there are fishing regulations about fishing, but there's no enforcement so they aren't followed. All in all the area was beautiful but the village seemed very poor. After the fishing village we visited a gorgeous beach called Lokaro, for lunch and then swimming after. It ended up being cloudy and windy, but the water was warm so we ended up swimming anyways. 

Lokaro

We also got a good perspective of Madagacar roads. It took us about 2 hours to go 30 kilometers, if that gives a good idea. A lot of roads are eroded, but also just not kept up. There's a lot of driving on any side of the road with less potholes, the drivers honk going around turns on one lane roads to give warning. So far we've experienced 2 very flat tires (one on the return trip from Lokaro) and given the state of the roads I guess that's not too suprising.
 

Also on the way back we stopped and checked out these carnivorous pitcher plants, which were growing along the side of the road on part of the trip. That's it for now, we just got back from visiting Andohahela National Park- I took over 100 pictures of the last few days, so it may take a while to sort through them. On Sunday we leave Fort Dauphin again to do our unit on lemur ecology, so I'm definitely looking forwards to that. To finish, here are some photos of the carnivorous plants, and one of the country side I took on the trip home from out visit to Hovahtra and Lokaro.

Roadside stop to check out the carnivorous plants

Another Blog

One of my compatriots also in the program is also attempting to keep a blog, if anyone is interested in checking in on what we've been doing you can try her blog, although I don't know if she's had any more success at keeping up-to-date than I have. If anyone's interested it's: Zato Sary which means 100 pictures in Malagasy.

Madagascar- Food

Just one part of an extremely large, delicious meal at the restaurant Les Chausseurs

Baguettes, apparently a mainstay of many Malagasy diets

I wasn't really sure what to expect as far as food goes, coming to Madagascar besides the expectation of eating a lot of rice. That's definitely been the case, that I've been eating a rice on a daily basis, but other things that I've been eating a lot of were somewhat of a surprise. For instance: bread. I think I've actually eaten more french baguette style bread, than I have rice thus far- having it up to 3 times a day: always for breakfast, sometimes for picnic lunches and on some nights of my homestay, we had it for dinner too.




One thing that's available here that all of us americans are enthusiastic about is peanut butter. Peanuts grow locally and there's local peanut butter in the supermarkets so I've already had my fair share of PBJ sandwiches.

The one thing I find myself missing the most is vegetables. We have them on occasion, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with not having any with dinner, and having three forms of carbs instead(such as rice, pasta, bread, pommes frites/potatoes). I've had a variety of meats and seafood, including zebu(steak), fish, crab, shrimp. I've had chicken a couple of times, but am pretty sure I wouldn't choose it myself to buy for dinner- you buy the live chicken and kill it yourself. The meat, both zebu and chicken has been very good- most likely due to the fact that is from "naturally raised" animals.

Papaya tree

Crazy looking Jacques-fruit

I love the fact that "exotic fruits" like bananas, papayas and others are local here- it's great being able to have bananas and a clear conscious about shipping distance too. I tried for the first time, a fruit called jacques fruit- which tastes something like bubble gum, and then what I think is called "couer de bouef", which is creamy, sweet and a little bit like vanilla yogurt- possibly my new favorite fruit.

Fresh  juice(I think it's orange)

As far as drinks go, since we're not supposed to drink untreated water, there's been some variety. At my homestay, for breakfast we have "tea" which is boiled water, and then add sweetened condensed milk and sugar(although I just use the milk). It's surprisingly good, a little bit like hot chocolate without the chocolate. We also have what they call "coffee" for dinner sometimes, which is actually made from scorched rice that's then been cooked with water to make a beverage. It does look and taste a bit like coffee, but not as strong, but is still good. Or if the rice wasn't scorched they'll do the same thing, but it's weaker in flavor- reminds me a bit of genmaicha tea(green tea with rice in it).

Beyond that, SIT has been providing us with lot's of "Eau Vive", which is the bottled water here, it comes in 1.5 liter bottles. We've also gotten to drink some fresh juices of the local fruits, soursap fruit, orange, pineapple, papaya, which have all been pretty good. I've also had some real coffee at non-homestay breakfasts, which I really like with the sweetened condensed milk in it. I also tried the local beer "THB" (Three Horses Beer), which is advertised everywhere, and it was pretty good.

Signs for Eau Vive and THB (and Coke)

Rice- from the field

Coffee tree!

All in all? Eating well, I haven't encountered any foods that are "too weird" yet, although I'm definitely craving a bar of good dark chocolate and it's nowhere to be found. Oh well...

Another large diverse restaurant meal 

Exciting place mats at le Stadium Restaurant

Teapots at le Stadium

Pic St. Louis

View from about a fifth of the way up on the ascent

 
Well I encountered my first Malagasy "malady", and it suffices to say it was not one I expected. But more of that later.

Last weekend we went on a beautiful hike, just outside of Fort Dauphin to the top of Pic St. Louis, from which there was a gorgeous view of Fort Dauphin, and beyond. It felt as though we could see all of the south coast of Madagascar, although I'm sure that's far from the case. The hike was pretty difficult, and fairly rough. A lot of it was straight up ascent for long stretches. Both students and members of their homestay families were allowed to go, my homestay dad came along. Most inspiring were one student's grandmother who made the ascent, and one family who brought and carried their (~ )6 month year old  baby the whole way.

Brush fire

The views were simultaneously spectacular and saddening, as much of the openings for views were due to the fact that much of the area has been deforested or burned and in more than one area there was fresh evidence of it.

Recently cleared

 At the very top there was a rock which we could climb up on- it was like being on top of the world. Apparently it's tradition to write your name on that rock, so I did, although chances are it will have washed off now with the rains we've been having this last week.

I wrote my name on the rock

View from the top

Then on the way down, we went down the opposite side of the mountain, which was a lot faster and much steeper as well. There were lots of places with loose rocks, or steep enough step downs between large rocks that we'd need to sit down to go between them. Not very long after starting the descent I slipped and fell down. I'm pretty sure I managed to (lightly) sprain my ankle. It wasn't terrible and I was still able to hike down the rest of the way, but definitely managed to cause some concern with my homestay family- who on returning home, insisted that I soak my ankle in hot water and put on a some sort of pomade.

I didn't really know what to say, except that I didn't need a doctor as there didn't seem to be a way to tactfully say that from what I've always been taught you're actually supposed to ice an injury, not to mention I don't know if ice is really all that readily available. But now a week later, it's mostly better- I've still been able to get around, walk to school etc., so I think there's no harm done. It's definitely interesting though, the cultural difference in things we think of as "common knowledge". The Madagascar "common knowledge" is practically contrary to our own in the respect of what you apply to an injury. It also makes me reflect on how much trust we put into what we're taught, that our science and values are the right ones. Ice might have been what was best in that case, but you never know, do you?

But so there's my first Malagasy malady. It's definitely not the first one you think about, when barraged with warnings about Malaria, dysentery, other food-borne bacteria, poor water, etc. all of those warnings for "3rd world" tropical countries. Go figure that the first time I sprain something in a non-horse related incident is within 2 weeks of leaving the country. And now I leave you with some more pictures from Pic St. Louis. Until next time!

View of the local airport runway

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