So, the Village stay. What a week! It was fantastic.
We left Tana early Thursday morning and drove to Ambositra, a town halfway to Fianarantsoa. We stayed one night there at some pretty bungalows, went into town and bought beautiful woodworks for very little money ( I may have even gotten some souvenir girfts...) and then had a little party that night. The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Fianarantsoa (I'm still not sure if I'm spelling that right) and got to the Hotel Chez Papillon in time to have lunch and chill out for a bit.
Next on the agenda was a reunion with the Malagasy Mahomby students that would travel with us to the village and act as "facilitators" while there. Some of us were paired up, but others had 2 malagasy partners. My girl was called Tahina and she was extremely shy, but sweet. It was a little akward at first, but it got a little better with time. I found out that there would be 4 other american students in the same area in different villages, which was a comfort to know. Another girl, Allegra, would be in the same village but in a different house.
That night we were all excited and tried not to make too many expectations. Our group of 10 departed Chez Papillon at 6 am with way too many bags. We each had to take a huge gunnysack full of supplies for our host families. It was a ridiculous amount of stuff.
We all piled into a taxi-brousse that was made to hold about 14 people in the back and 3 in the front. There were three in the front, but about 25 in the back. I guess I got lucky because I was put in the front with another american girl, a stinky driver and about 3 tubs of gasoline. We drove for approx 3 hours, stopping in a random spot every half hour as bathroom breaks. Police control on the intercity roads is pretty ridiculous too. They would stop the taxi-brousse about every 4 km! I think we bribed every other policeman, though, just to speed up the process.
We arrived at Mahaditra at around 12:30, just in time for the weekly market. Out in the countryside the people really don't see Vazah that often, or at least it seemed like that was the case by how much they stared at us! We then went to the Mayor's building while he filled out some paperwork and then we divided up and went to our separate villages. From Mahaditra, my village was 4 km away and, carrying all the stuff, it took about 1 + hour to get there. Once outside Mahaditra, it was obvious how spectacular the Betsilean rice paddies were. They use a system of terraces very unlike the rice fields around Tana.
Eventually we had to wind our way through the narrow pathways between the rice paddies, trying not to fall over with all our bags. Allegra took a small fall just as we exited them though, hehe. I was dropped off at my house and we ate right when we got there. It was a tasty meal, rice and a little bit of chicken. I was exhausted at that point so I took a nap, but I didn't really sleep much because there were so many flies in the room. They kept on landing on my lips and it was absolutely disgusting. When I got up I had to go to the bathroom and they pointed me in the direction: the woods. I was quite excited, actually, because that meant I could get away from all the stares (they were staring at me even while I was sleeping fom outside the window). You really get used to being stared at here. I'm going to get back to the US and wonder why no one is staring at me!
I slept the worst night since arriving to Madagascar. There were at LEAST 20 mice on the floor next to my bed eating the left overs of dinner. The bed was flea infested and I got at least..mm...20 bites, and I could hear cockroaches all over. There were probably 20.
So that was my first night there, but I'm too tired to write more right now. I'm still fighting a cold. Bye!
We left Tana early Thursday morning and drove to Ambositra, a town halfway to Fianarantsoa. We stayed one night there at some pretty bungalows, went into town and bought beautiful woodworks for very little money ( I may have even gotten some souvenir girfts...) and then had a little party that night. The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Fianarantsoa (I'm still not sure if I'm spelling that right) and got to the Hotel Chez Papillon in time to have lunch and chill out for a bit.
Next on the agenda was a reunion with the Malagasy Mahomby students that would travel with us to the village and act as "facilitators" while there. Some of us were paired up, but others had 2 malagasy partners. My girl was called Tahina and she was extremely shy, but sweet. It was a little akward at first, but it got a little better with time. I found out that there would be 4 other american students in the same area in different villages, which was a comfort to know. Another girl, Allegra, would be in the same village but in a different house.
That night we were all excited and tried not to make too many expectations. Our group of 10 departed Chez Papillon at 6 am with way too many bags. We each had to take a huge gunnysack full of supplies for our host families. It was a ridiculous amount of stuff.
We all piled into a taxi-brousse that was made to hold about 14 people in the back and 3 in the front. There were three in the front, but about 25 in the back. I guess I got lucky because I was put in the front with another american girl, a stinky driver and about 3 tubs of gasoline. We drove for approx 3 hours, stopping in a random spot every half hour as bathroom breaks. Police control on the intercity roads is pretty ridiculous too. They would stop the taxi-brousse about every 4 km! I think we bribed every other policeman, though, just to speed up the process.
We arrived at Mahaditra at around 12:30, just in time for the weekly market. Out in the countryside the people really don't see Vazah that often, or at least it seemed like that was the case by how much they stared at us! We then went to the Mayor's building while he filled out some paperwork and then we divided up and went to our separate villages. From Mahaditra, my village was 4 km away and, carrying all the stuff, it took about 1 + hour to get there. Once outside Mahaditra, it was obvious how spectacular the Betsilean rice paddies were. They use a system of terraces very unlike the rice fields around Tana.
Eventually we had to wind our way through the narrow pathways between the rice paddies, trying not to fall over with all our bags. Allegra took a small fall just as we exited them though, hehe. I was dropped off at my house and we ate right when we got there. It was a tasty meal, rice and a little bit of chicken. I was exhausted at that point so I took a nap, but I didn't really sleep much because there were so many flies in the room. They kept on landing on my lips and it was absolutely disgusting. When I got up I had to go to the bathroom and they pointed me in the direction: the woods. I was quite excited, actually, because that meant I could get away from all the stares (they were staring at me even while I was sleeping fom outside the window). You really get used to being stared at here. I'm going to get back to the US and wonder why no one is staring at me!
I slept the worst night since arriving to Madagascar. There were at LEAST 20 mice on the floor next to my bed eating the left overs of dinner. The bed was flea infested and I got at least..mm...20 bites, and I could hear cockroaches all over. There were probably 20.
So that was my first night there, but I'm too tired to write more right now. I'm still fighting a cold. Bye!
posted by Sandra ten Zijthoff at 2:59 AM
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