Leaving Tulear was bittersweet since it was so exciting and we were there for such a short time. But this entire week has been camping in three different beautiful places! First stop was Isalo. Huge gorgeous cliffs and rock faces stand in the middle of open land and hidden between them is an amazing rainforest National Park. We parked the bus and carried all of our things about an hour into the forest to our campsite. There were ringtail lemurs greeting us when we got there! After setting up camp, they took us for a scenic hike through the park that led to two natural pools that looked just like postcards. I actually think one of my postcards was a picture of one of these pools. The water was really cold but it was still fun. I spent most of my time looking at the different colorful layers of rocks in the cliffs and huge hanging roots coming down into the canyons. It was like the places Rainforest Café and the Tropical themed Disney Hotel try to mimic. We were only there for one short night, but it was probably most of our favorite spots.
The next day we went up to Anja, another large standing rock face in open land. These rocks were granite which almost made it feel like we were back in the US, besides the tropical plants and more lemurs jumping around. The night we got there, it poured buckets. There was a little roofed table where we ate dinner but the rain fell right through it and we scarfed our food, huddling over it with our rain jackets and ran to our tents way earlier than we had hoped to go to bed. The tent Anne and I were sharing was not waterproof on the bottom. Water soaked right through and soaked my sleeping bag and the clothes I was wearing so the whole night was spent cold and wet and miserable. In the morning everything dried quickly though. Our stuff was all on the bus and stayed totally dry also. While we left out our wet things in the sun, we spent the morning hiking around the rocks and climbing on/over/under them into some caves and forests. There was a tomb in one of the caves where somebody was buried behind a wall of bricks in between huge rocks and marked with a zebu skull. It was a little creepy but fascinating. When we came around at the end, there was a woman’s house where she had handmade thread and woven cloths and she showed us quickly how it was all done. I really wanted to buy one but hadn’t taken my money with me on this hike.
That day we moved on to Andringitra, stopping in a town to buy some wine and icecream and some warm clothing for the trip. That was a nice treat to prepare us for what we were not prepared for. Although we had been hiking pretty intensively every day, they were getting more and more difficult. Arriving at Andringitra that afternoon, we had to carry everything we needed for two nights (including tents and food, our bulky cold weather clothing, etc.) up the mountain for two and a half hours. When I said back in the beginning that Peak St. Louis was the hardest thing I’ve ever done… that is no longer true. But when we got to the top, it was much colder so it was easy to cool down and I was actually feeling really great. It was really really cold up there though! Everyone was walking around the campsite in multiple layers, sweatshirts with hoods and fuzzy hats, thick socks and boots. It felt just like Fall back at home. The mountaintops around us looked like scenery from a fantasy movie. The next day was the epic hike of the semester, Peak Boby (pronounced “booby” btw) which is the highest accessible peak, (second highest overall) in Madagascar. It looked exactly like we were hiking to Mordor in Lord of the Rings. It took us over three hours and it was very steep and strenuous, but luckily it wasn’t hot so personally, I found it to be easier than the last couple hikes. Once we reached the top, we were essentially in a cloud. You couldn’t really see any scenery because of it… just fog and the other nearest peaks around you. My camera batteries decided to call it quits too so don’t worry about missing out on pictures. We had a quick snack and started our descent immediately. As we are trucking back down, the thunder storm starts rolling in. We were walking down steep, slippery rock in pouring rain… it was very scary. I had one of the most memorable moments of my life and got full use out of my Timberland boots, which now look like they have been used with the purpose for which they were made. After a long, uncomfortable hike back to camp, we ate a nice big lunch and I took a long well deserved nap. That was quite a day for several reasons.
After the second night in Andringitra, we had run out of rice and toilet paper which meant it was time to move on. The hike back down with all of our stuff was almost as difficult as the hike up with such slippery packed down mud on the paths. But we made it down for another 5 hour ride in the Tata bus to Fianaratsoa. We stopped for lunch on the way and part of the meal was rumored to be Zebu tongue? It seemed just like any other meat to me… definitely not the consistency you would think to be tongue so I think someone was lying. Anyway, Fianaratsoa is a city nothing like Fort Dauphin or Tulear or even Tana. It seems more populated and less developed but so far we’ve had good Chinese food and the people are very nice. The internet place is a tiny hole in the wall that you would never find without being directed to it, but it’s basically like sitting in this man’s office while he has three computers running next to each other. It reminds me of something my dad would be running at home if he could. We’re basically just here for a couple days to get back on track with communication and do some work for our research and preparation for ISP which is coming all too soon!! After this short stay in civilization, we’ll be moving on to the humid rainforest in Ranomafana for two nights and then a whole week in the big city to really prepare for ISP right before it starts.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Huitième Semaine
Flying in a plane to Tulear was very emotionally confusing. It felt so much like we were going home! And I was sitting next to a couple strangers away from the group so it really felt like I was just getting on a plane to come home but I knew that I wasn’t so even though I was excited about the upcoming experiences, I was a little sad that I wasn’t actually on my way back home. But it was an extremely short flight and within an hour we were on the other side of the island. That day we went straight from the airport to this man’s house who studies renewable energy! He showed us several little inventions he created that use solar energy to cook food at his house and he created a system where they put their waste into a cement hole which then creates methane gas that they use in the house to cook as well! It was like being back with energy fellows on a summer field trip, except it was all in French. Then the same man traveled with us to an algae farm, where they are growing spirulina. Spirulina is a very popular algae that has many great benefits from health and diet to carbon sequestration. It was pretty cool. And we got to eat some with lunch at the farm. (Obviously dried and packaged already, not straight out of the swamp) After that we set up camp in an area right outside the city, where our director’s retirement home is located right on the coast by the mangroves. It’s a beautiful spot but it’s very confusing. I had never learned anything about mangroves before. They are basically lines of trees that grow IN the water along the beach. The tides come up and go out really really far over the course of the day so sometimes we would have nice ocean water right there and sometimes we could walk for 20 minutes and the water wouldn’t go past our knees. It’s really difficult to explain so if you need to understand it more, that’s what google is for. And you can wait for my pictures on facebook. After settling in to out campsite, we went to hike up Table Mountain with an Ombiasy (a healer who communicates with spirits and studies medicinal plants). It was a nice slow and education hike, not at all like Peak St. Louis, and pretty short. Once we reached the top, the Ombiasy needed to “talk to the powerful people” so he climbed into this hole in the ground and was speaking Malagasy while we sat around it quietly and listened respectfully. Part of the ritual is also to indulge in consumption of things while speaking with the spirits so he passed us some rum, some cookies, and a cigarette for all of us to share. Not too many of us were into the cigarette but we still paid respects with the other options. It was a little bizarre. At the end he said each of our names and something to the spirits about us… after my name we heard the word “president”. Very interesting.
Monday was a day full of lectures in a classroom in HSM at the University of Tulear, which is the oceanic study center. It was quite a long day. HOWEVER…. It was Ellen’s birthday. And for lunch, we went to this restaurant called “Le Jardin” (the garden). This place was a diamond in the rough, a tiny shack that you walk into and suddenly there is an endless maze of tropical themed rooms of tables and the walls and ceilings were completely covered in beautiful Malagasy paintings. This restaurant is run by a guy from Italy and we were served pizza, which was SO exciting for us since it was real Italian pizza with gooey cheese and sauce… but then more food came. Some lasagna.. and more… some ravioli.. and some beef… and more lasagna… and some fish… and more pizza… and eggplant parmesan with pesto. I don’t even remember what happened, I just have images of delicious food flashing in my mind. Then all of a sudden we were eating delicious cake that had a little Tenrec on it! That’s a little hedgehog creature from Madagascar. The cake obviously didn’t have a real Tenrec, but a cute one made of cake. Then they brought out icecream. Allie and I were actually crying. It was just wonderful. THEN they brought out different flavors of rum. It was just a beautiful lunch. That night I felt the need to go for a run to the water and go swimming. The water was HOT like bath water, even though it was technically the ocean (well, the Mozambique channel). Those mangroves really confuse me.
At dinner, we had the pleasure of observing gecko mating. Yup. We watched lizards doing it on the wall next to where we were having our meal. It made me very uncomfortable but it was also hilarious and many great jokes came out of it. At first we thought they were going to fight, because I guess that’s how it starts... but before you knew it, there was love. Quite a Madagascar experience.
Tuesday we stayed in the restaurant by the campsite ALL day having lectures and discussions and another delicious lunch of duck, pork, AND crab… At the end of the day, we invited the speakers from lecture as well as the restaurant owner to a party at our director’s house. After lunch, we were in need of a pick-me-up to sit through another lecture so I successfully requested more coffee for everyone. If we were going to sit and have lectures in a restaurant all day, we should be served beverages right? They roasted another lamb and goat, which I was lucky enough to NOT observe, but ate it because it was great. The locals came after dinner and danced with us for a while. It was a pretty nice, relaxing day.
Wednesday was city day!! We got up and went to our hotel, Hotel Tropical. It’s really strangely hidden behind this shell of something that resembles a parking garage, but when you walk in, there is a wall of nice rooms WITH BATHROOMS THAT HAVE RUNNING WATER!!! I took a semi-real shower for the first time in months. We had our meetings with one of our teachers about our ISP plans and then had the whole day free to explore the city. Well, actually, we were supposed to be doing research but there really wasn’t much Allie, Anne, or I could do in terms of our topics, so we got to just go out shopping and being tourists. When we were in an artisanal market, these guys running stands asked Allie to teach them how to make the string bracelets that we had on. It was a precious moment. Then they asked us to go for drinks, but we still had some shopping to do. We were walking back towards the hotel and stopped in a store where I found Kinder Bueno and some cold juice. We were walking down the street and this woman, who may have had something wrong with her, was basically attacking me and asking for my juice. I was trying to just walk away from her but she successfully just grabbed it out of my hand… I was a little shaken up but I guess it’s not a total loss. She didn’t pick-pocket me or anything. She was just really really thirsty I guess. It’s because of this that we are not allowed to go out in this city at night at all.
In Tulear, they have fewer taxis and more “pousse-pousse”. A pousse-pousse is a little seat with a canopy on big wheels that are pulled by men holding the big sticks attached to the front. It’s very strange because they are essentially ox-carts pulled by men. You feel a little bad sitting in this seat while this pour man is running and sweating, pulling your weight around town but it’s the way they choose to make money. Allie asked one if she could try to pull it and they let her lift it and pose for a picture but not really pull it on the street. It was still pretty funny to them, we all had a good laugh. Wednesday was our language professor, N’aina’s birthday. He’s definitely one of the coolest, he’s really animated and fun so it was a good birthday. He chose a restaurant right next to our hotel and we had ANOTHER 25 course Italian meal for dinner followed by more cake!! Oh goodness. I’m going to come home fatter than I had originally thought.
Thursday we left the city and went into PK32 which is a new protected forest area and I got loads of information for my paper and observed some pretty interesting discussions. A giant hissing cockroach was on my shoulder, too. No big deal. We stayed at this little touristy bungalow place near the beach and it was adorable. We split up into little bungalows that had pretty canopy beds and a bathroom with running water. That night we had a dance party and it was so island except with our teachers! Good times.
Friday was SNORKLING DAY!! We went snorkeling in the coral reef called “Rose Garden” off the coast of an area north of Tulear. I saw so many fish like Finding Nemo but they weren’t in an aquarium, they were in their natural habitat! My favorite were definitely the Parrot fish. They were the biggest and most brightly colored and they pecked at the coral with their beaks and flapped their fins to swim like little birds. The coral wasn’t brightly colored, though. It was still extremely healthy, but healthy coral of that type is meant to be brown. But it just made it easier to see the fish. After snorkeling and eating lunch with the Reef Doctor, we had a tour of mangroves and came back to Hotel Tropical in Tulear. We’re here for such a short time but at least we can do a couple things before leaving. Tomorrow we head out for some more camping on our way to Fianaratsoa which is the next place I should hopefully have internet!!
Monday was a day full of lectures in a classroom in HSM at the University of Tulear, which is the oceanic study center. It was quite a long day. HOWEVER…. It was Ellen’s birthday. And for lunch, we went to this restaurant called “Le Jardin” (the garden). This place was a diamond in the rough, a tiny shack that you walk into and suddenly there is an endless maze of tropical themed rooms of tables and the walls and ceilings were completely covered in beautiful Malagasy paintings. This restaurant is run by a guy from Italy and we were served pizza, which was SO exciting for us since it was real Italian pizza with gooey cheese and sauce… but then more food came. Some lasagna.. and more… some ravioli.. and some beef… and more lasagna… and some fish… and more pizza… and eggplant parmesan with pesto. I don’t even remember what happened, I just have images of delicious food flashing in my mind. Then all of a sudden we were eating delicious cake that had a little Tenrec on it! That’s a little hedgehog creature from Madagascar. The cake obviously didn’t have a real Tenrec, but a cute one made of cake. Then they brought out icecream. Allie and I were actually crying. It was just wonderful. THEN they brought out different flavors of rum. It was just a beautiful lunch. That night I felt the need to go for a run to the water and go swimming. The water was HOT like bath water, even though it was technically the ocean (well, the Mozambique channel). Those mangroves really confuse me.
At dinner, we had the pleasure of observing gecko mating. Yup. We watched lizards doing it on the wall next to where we were having our meal. It made me very uncomfortable but it was also hilarious and many great jokes came out of it. At first we thought they were going to fight, because I guess that’s how it starts... but before you knew it, there was love. Quite a Madagascar experience.
Tuesday we stayed in the restaurant by the campsite ALL day having lectures and discussions and another delicious lunch of duck, pork, AND crab… At the end of the day, we invited the speakers from lecture as well as the restaurant owner to a party at our director’s house. After lunch, we were in need of a pick-me-up to sit through another lecture so I successfully requested more coffee for everyone. If we were going to sit and have lectures in a restaurant all day, we should be served beverages right? They roasted another lamb and goat, which I was lucky enough to NOT observe, but ate it because it was great. The locals came after dinner and danced with us for a while. It was a pretty nice, relaxing day.
Wednesday was city day!! We got up and went to our hotel, Hotel Tropical. It’s really strangely hidden behind this shell of something that resembles a parking garage, but when you walk in, there is a wall of nice rooms WITH BATHROOMS THAT HAVE RUNNING WATER!!! I took a semi-real shower for the first time in months. We had our meetings with one of our teachers about our ISP plans and then had the whole day free to explore the city. Well, actually, we were supposed to be doing research but there really wasn’t much Allie, Anne, or I could do in terms of our topics, so we got to just go out shopping and being tourists. When we were in an artisanal market, these guys running stands asked Allie to teach them how to make the string bracelets that we had on. It was a precious moment. Then they asked us to go for drinks, but we still had some shopping to do. We were walking back towards the hotel and stopped in a store where I found Kinder Bueno and some cold juice. We were walking down the street and this woman, who may have had something wrong with her, was basically attacking me and asking for my juice. I was trying to just walk away from her but she successfully just grabbed it out of my hand… I was a little shaken up but I guess it’s not a total loss. She didn’t pick-pocket me or anything. She was just really really thirsty I guess. It’s because of this that we are not allowed to go out in this city at night at all.
In Tulear, they have fewer taxis and more “pousse-pousse”. A pousse-pousse is a little seat with a canopy on big wheels that are pulled by men holding the big sticks attached to the front. It’s very strange because they are essentially ox-carts pulled by men. You feel a little bad sitting in this seat while this pour man is running and sweating, pulling your weight around town but it’s the way they choose to make money. Allie asked one if she could try to pull it and they let her lift it and pose for a picture but not really pull it on the street. It was still pretty funny to them, we all had a good laugh. Wednesday was our language professor, N’aina’s birthday. He’s definitely one of the coolest, he’s really animated and fun so it was a good birthday. He chose a restaurant right next to our hotel and we had ANOTHER 25 course Italian meal for dinner followed by more cake!! Oh goodness. I’m going to come home fatter than I had originally thought.
Thursday we left the city and went into PK32 which is a new protected forest area and I got loads of information for my paper and observed some pretty interesting discussions. A giant hissing cockroach was on my shoulder, too. No big deal. We stayed at this little touristy bungalow place near the beach and it was adorable. We split up into little bungalows that had pretty canopy beds and a bathroom with running water. That night we had a dance party and it was so island except with our teachers! Good times.
Friday was SNORKLING DAY!! We went snorkeling in the coral reef called “Rose Garden” off the coast of an area north of Tulear. I saw so many fish like Finding Nemo but they weren’t in an aquarium, they were in their natural habitat! My favorite were definitely the Parrot fish. They were the biggest and most brightly colored and they pecked at the coral with their beaks and flapped their fins to swim like little birds. The coral wasn’t brightly colored, though. It was still extremely healthy, but healthy coral of that type is meant to be brown. But it just made it easier to see the fish. After snorkeling and eating lunch with the Reef Doctor, we had a tour of mangroves and came back to Hotel Tropical in Tulear. We’re here for such a short time but at least we can do a couple things before leaving. Tomorrow we head out for some more camping on our way to Fianaratsoa which is the next place I should hopefully have internet!!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Septième Semaine
So this week is a little crazy. It’s our last week in Fort Dauphin, officially, and at the same time we are working hard to get our stuff together for one major paper as well as plan our Independent Study Projects (ISP) which will take place during all of April, once we get back from a lengthy traveling session. We are given more free time than usual to do so, mostly to get interviews and writing done for our big paper.
On Monday, we had a long day with debriefing of the village stay as well as briefing for the week and month ahead. On my way home, after stopping at the post office and the little store to buy some jam, I was walking on my street behind three men in gray and red uniforms. The emblem on their arms said “Omega” which my homestay aunt, Omega, explained to me is the security for QMM. I thought “Hmm, I feel pretty safe walking behind these guys”. One of them turned to me and asked “Ca va?” so I was feeling even better about the situation until out of nowhere he just blatantly asks me for my phone number. (Keep in mind everything is in French) So I laughed and said “No, I don’t think that’s necessary.” And he asked “why not?” so I replied “because I do not know you…” and he went on to say something about how I would know him if he had my number and we could talk. This guy was probably in his early 30s and I was not looking cute with my huge backpack and frumpy clothes. So it was pretty sketchy. I just kept saying “Non, merci” until he said okay and backed off. Oh, the troubles of being a vazaha in paradise.
Also, everyone in my neighborhood now knows my name. Since I am the only vazaha within the three blocks, I guess word spread from the children in my family and one day instead of “bonjour vazah!”, I was getting called “Caren!!” by all the children. It was a little bizarre. I feel slightly like a celebrity though. I wonder if they will still remember when I come back in April.
Tuesday was our “free” day to work on our Environmental Issue study and, for me, get some things together for ISP since I plan to come back to Fort Dauphin. I guess I should give some background on my ideas for the project(s) to clarify how I’m spending my time: the way the people cook here is on coal fires, and the charcoal is made from wood (certain types) and is one of three causes of deforestation in the country. For my upcoming paper on “environmental issues in Madagascar” I am researching the use of charcoal and its impact on the local forests in the three areas we are seeing (the village in Faux Cap, Fort Dauphin, and Toliar) In the Fort Dauphin area, there is a huge mining project going on for titanium dioxide run by Qit Madagascar Minerals (QMM) and their project, while it involves completely wiping clean three of the local forests, includes restoration of the forests as well as cooperation with the needs of local people. Part of this idea is to include in the restoration a more sustainable, fast-growing crop of charcoal-able tree species, like Eucalyptus. This isn’t preferred by the local people because those types of wood are not the best for charcoal, but it is a compromise. For my ISP, I plan to look at what impact QMM currently has on the local charcoal industry in Fort Dauphin (having bought out the forests) and the future of the charcoal industry because of it. I’d like to research what incentives would be most effective in increasing demand of sustainable charcoal sources as opposed to those that are currently preferred and not sustainable, that Fort Dauphin would have to get from other places.
So Tuesday was a crazy day for me. I had a meeting with our professor at 9 to briefly talk about my ISP so I walked the hour there to do that and it ended up just being a kick in the butt to get stuff done this week because we won’t be coming back until ISP! He gave me two contacts that I attempted to call but had no luck so I tanned on the beach for about an hour and then decided to head off and do some work. I emailed both contacts instead of calling. One of them only speaks French. I’m pretty used to contacting professionals from my Energy Fellows job but it was pretty exciting to do it in different languages! Also, in Madagascar, there are less time constraints. So it’s possible (and easier) to just show up somewhere to talk to someone than to try to schedule an appointment. So after I sent off those emails, I went to the local community center to talk to someone we had previously met who works with QMM named Philo. He speaks English and he invited me to go with him to Mandena, the current mining site, to meet a man who focuses on environmental issues at QMM. After lunch with my homestay family and interviewing my French speaking aunt about their use and views on charcoal, I went on a little trip with him there and had a good conversation with the other guy, who then got me in touch with someone who works with the Forest Ministry here and manages a charcoal plan (or local energy in general). I met him back at the community center and by the time he finished going on in French about the whole charcoal system in Fort Dauphin, it was already 6:00! But I was pretty proud of all my accomplishments that day. I got a ton of information and met a lot of important contacts for my ISP. Also, the man I was with most of the day who works for QMM told me that they have the Rhode Island Red here! They pronounce the “s” so now I know if someone asks me where I’m from and I say “Rhode Izland”, they will recognize it!
Wednesday we had a nice short school day and Becca and I went to the beach afterwards. Obviously we were eventually harassed by some local boys because that’s just what happens. I was presented with a live starfish and this boy (who must have been like 16) gives me a puppy dog look and says “Caren. I love you.” I literally just laughed. I couldn’t help it. I actually laughed in his face. Then proceeded to get up and leave. On the way out of there, another rasta guy started walking next to me and trying to talk but I was not in the mood. Finally I was walking alone and a car pulls up next to me and the guy’s hanging out the window asking me if I need a ride in Malagasy. In just one walk home after that I got two kissy noises, a whistle, and at least three “hello baby” or “belle vazah, vovo?” all from different men/boys. I don’t know if there was something in the water that day or if I was just not informed that it’s mating season, but I was a little agitated by the time I decided to grab a cap for the rest of my way home. I didn’t even look good that day!
Thursday was great because I had realized that I didn’t really have more work to do in Fort Dauphin for my paper and my French groups didn’t have to go into school because our teachers weren’t there to have one-on-one assessments. So we really were just invited to school for our free lunch and that’s it. Obviously I decided to spend the day at the beach. I woke up later than usual and had a nice slow breakfast while the whole household was bustling around getting my 20 year old aunt, Omega, ready to head to Tulear for school. It was just like watching any American student on their day of returning back to school; chaos and lots of suitcases. I said goodbye to her but I will likely be able to meet up with her when our group heads there next week! I was at the beach from about 9:30 to 12:30 and this guy started talking to me and Ally and I told him Austin was my fiancé and showed him the picture of him so he would lay off a little. He still didn’t leave but it may have prevented an uncomfortable situation. A little later, more of us SIT girls were there and another creepy Malagasy guy and a 14 year old kid joined in. They were just sitting around us being awkward as usual and then the 14 year old just stroked Larissa’s leg while she was laying out! She completely flipped out on them Jersey style and it was fantastic. We finally got them to leave shortly after that because it was obvious we were all pissed off. That day was also ironically “women’s appreciation day”. There was a big celebration in town with everyone selling street food in front of town hall and all women had the day off of work. It was pretty cool aside from the fact that it could be the reason for the men being all crazy the past couple days. I hope it went better in the US. I spent the afternoon at Kaleta doing some research from my readings and my ipod for my paper. I had lent my computer to my homestay aunt, Nadia, because she recently lost her job and needed to use the internet to look for another one and I technically didn’t need it. I think my ipod might actually have a better internet connection than my laptop, actually.
Friday was another slow and simple day. I took a bunch of stuff to put in storage at school that I won’t need for our voyages in the next three weeks before ISP. It’s really convenient that I’m going to be in Fort Dauphin for ISP. We had our two language assessments (basically, our language courses are over) which was just a five minute one-on-one conversation with a teacher in Malagasy and then in French. They were the most casual finals we’ve ever had. We had a half day so basically 2/3 of our group went to that French restaurant with the delicious pizza and followed it with some sweet snacks and internet time, of course. In a convenience store at the gas station nearby, I found the most delicious snack in the country. It’s not from Madagascar because the package is mostly in Portugese. The company is based in Brazil. They’re called TEENS and they are tiny chocolate cereal type squares that are filled with a little coconut. DAMN. I gotta eat the whole bag once I open them. They would be an absolutely amazing cereal, if cold regular milk was a thing here. Sorry, folks, but there’s gonna be no room in my suitcase for souvenirs. I’ll be filling it entirely with these snacks and they are ALL FOR ME. I’m actually going to research how to get them in the US. That’s closer to Brazil than here so it must be possible, right?
http://www.marilanteens.com.br/ - I’m still trying to put them down long enough to type this.
So today, Saturday, is Kaitlin Luciano’s birthday. My beautiful and wonderful roommate who is studying abroad in Italy right now, but is lucky enough to have spring break AND a visit from her mother there for her 21st birthday. I don’t know how we are doing this without each other. If we were at home, we would be stressfully planning a big birthday event where she would probably cry but everyone would be getting drunk and having a great time and it would feel like the semester was ending soon. This year, it’s not even the half way point and we are so far apart from each other and from the rest of our friends at URI. It makes the experience that much more exciting, I suppose, but it hits me hard today when I think about what it would be like under normal circumstances. Anyway, shout out to her: Happy Birthday!! Have the most fun ever because you are in FREAKING ITALY and you better not cry this year!! Also, I’m sorry for posting online that you always cry on your birthday. <3
Now it is time to officially depart from Fort Dauphin, some of us for the semester, and head out for a three week long adventure as we make our way west and then north back to Tana. We will be starting in Tulear and then progressively making our way up to Tana through various protected areas, forests, and villages. I will still have internet at least once a week so don’t worry about staying up to date. This might be one of the most interesting parts of the trip after the village stay and the initial week in the country. After that, it will be April already!! Which not only means it’s time for ISP and I will be stationary for a whole four weeks, working completely independently on my one area of study interest, but it also means that the program is almost over!! Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself but according to my calendar that I study all too closely, there are just two more hurdles before homecoming.
On Monday, we had a long day with debriefing of the village stay as well as briefing for the week and month ahead. On my way home, after stopping at the post office and the little store to buy some jam, I was walking on my street behind three men in gray and red uniforms. The emblem on their arms said “Omega” which my homestay aunt, Omega, explained to me is the security for QMM. I thought “Hmm, I feel pretty safe walking behind these guys”. One of them turned to me and asked “Ca va?” so I was feeling even better about the situation until out of nowhere he just blatantly asks me for my phone number. (Keep in mind everything is in French) So I laughed and said “No, I don’t think that’s necessary.” And he asked “why not?” so I replied “because I do not know you…” and he went on to say something about how I would know him if he had my number and we could talk. This guy was probably in his early 30s and I was not looking cute with my huge backpack and frumpy clothes. So it was pretty sketchy. I just kept saying “Non, merci” until he said okay and backed off. Oh, the troubles of being a vazaha in paradise.
Also, everyone in my neighborhood now knows my name. Since I am the only vazaha within the three blocks, I guess word spread from the children in my family and one day instead of “bonjour vazah!”, I was getting called “Caren!!” by all the children. It was a little bizarre. I feel slightly like a celebrity though. I wonder if they will still remember when I come back in April.
Tuesday was our “free” day to work on our Environmental Issue study and, for me, get some things together for ISP since I plan to come back to Fort Dauphin. I guess I should give some background on my ideas for the project(s) to clarify how I’m spending my time: the way the people cook here is on coal fires, and the charcoal is made from wood (certain types) and is one of three causes of deforestation in the country. For my upcoming paper on “environmental issues in Madagascar” I am researching the use of charcoal and its impact on the local forests in the three areas we are seeing (the village in Faux Cap, Fort Dauphin, and Toliar) In the Fort Dauphin area, there is a huge mining project going on for titanium dioxide run by Qit Madagascar Minerals (QMM) and their project, while it involves completely wiping clean three of the local forests, includes restoration of the forests as well as cooperation with the needs of local people. Part of this idea is to include in the restoration a more sustainable, fast-growing crop of charcoal-able tree species, like Eucalyptus. This isn’t preferred by the local people because those types of wood are not the best for charcoal, but it is a compromise. For my ISP, I plan to look at what impact QMM currently has on the local charcoal industry in Fort Dauphin (having bought out the forests) and the future of the charcoal industry because of it. I’d like to research what incentives would be most effective in increasing demand of sustainable charcoal sources as opposed to those that are currently preferred and not sustainable, that Fort Dauphin would have to get from other places.
So Tuesday was a crazy day for me. I had a meeting with our professor at 9 to briefly talk about my ISP so I walked the hour there to do that and it ended up just being a kick in the butt to get stuff done this week because we won’t be coming back until ISP! He gave me two contacts that I attempted to call but had no luck so I tanned on the beach for about an hour and then decided to head off and do some work. I emailed both contacts instead of calling. One of them only speaks French. I’m pretty used to contacting professionals from my Energy Fellows job but it was pretty exciting to do it in different languages! Also, in Madagascar, there are less time constraints. So it’s possible (and easier) to just show up somewhere to talk to someone than to try to schedule an appointment. So after I sent off those emails, I went to the local community center to talk to someone we had previously met who works with QMM named Philo. He speaks English and he invited me to go with him to Mandena, the current mining site, to meet a man who focuses on environmental issues at QMM. After lunch with my homestay family and interviewing my French speaking aunt about their use and views on charcoal, I went on a little trip with him there and had a good conversation with the other guy, who then got me in touch with someone who works with the Forest Ministry here and manages a charcoal plan (or local energy in general). I met him back at the community center and by the time he finished going on in French about the whole charcoal system in Fort Dauphin, it was already 6:00! But I was pretty proud of all my accomplishments that day. I got a ton of information and met a lot of important contacts for my ISP. Also, the man I was with most of the day who works for QMM told me that they have the Rhode Island Red here! They pronounce the “s” so now I know if someone asks me where I’m from and I say “Rhode Izland”, they will recognize it!
Wednesday we had a nice short school day and Becca and I went to the beach afterwards. Obviously we were eventually harassed by some local boys because that’s just what happens. I was presented with a live starfish and this boy (who must have been like 16) gives me a puppy dog look and says “Caren. I love you.” I literally just laughed. I couldn’t help it. I actually laughed in his face. Then proceeded to get up and leave. On the way out of there, another rasta guy started walking next to me and trying to talk but I was not in the mood. Finally I was walking alone and a car pulls up next to me and the guy’s hanging out the window asking me if I need a ride in Malagasy. In just one walk home after that I got two kissy noises, a whistle, and at least three “hello baby” or “belle vazah, vovo?” all from different men/boys. I don’t know if there was something in the water that day or if I was just not informed that it’s mating season, but I was a little agitated by the time I decided to grab a cap for the rest of my way home. I didn’t even look good that day!
Thursday was great because I had realized that I didn’t really have more work to do in Fort Dauphin for my paper and my French groups didn’t have to go into school because our teachers weren’t there to have one-on-one assessments. So we really were just invited to school for our free lunch and that’s it. Obviously I decided to spend the day at the beach. I woke up later than usual and had a nice slow breakfast while the whole household was bustling around getting my 20 year old aunt, Omega, ready to head to Tulear for school. It was just like watching any American student on their day of returning back to school; chaos and lots of suitcases. I said goodbye to her but I will likely be able to meet up with her when our group heads there next week! I was at the beach from about 9:30 to 12:30 and this guy started talking to me and Ally and I told him Austin was my fiancé and showed him the picture of him so he would lay off a little. He still didn’t leave but it may have prevented an uncomfortable situation. A little later, more of us SIT girls were there and another creepy Malagasy guy and a 14 year old kid joined in. They were just sitting around us being awkward as usual and then the 14 year old just stroked Larissa’s leg while she was laying out! She completely flipped out on them Jersey style and it was fantastic. We finally got them to leave shortly after that because it was obvious we were all pissed off. That day was also ironically “women’s appreciation day”. There was a big celebration in town with everyone selling street food in front of town hall and all women had the day off of work. It was pretty cool aside from the fact that it could be the reason for the men being all crazy the past couple days. I hope it went better in the US. I spent the afternoon at Kaleta doing some research from my readings and my ipod for my paper. I had lent my computer to my homestay aunt, Nadia, because she recently lost her job and needed to use the internet to look for another one and I technically didn’t need it. I think my ipod might actually have a better internet connection than my laptop, actually.
Friday was another slow and simple day. I took a bunch of stuff to put in storage at school that I won’t need for our voyages in the next three weeks before ISP. It’s really convenient that I’m going to be in Fort Dauphin for ISP. We had our two language assessments (basically, our language courses are over) which was just a five minute one-on-one conversation with a teacher in Malagasy and then in French. They were the most casual finals we’ve ever had. We had a half day so basically 2/3 of our group went to that French restaurant with the delicious pizza and followed it with some sweet snacks and internet time, of course. In a convenience store at the gas station nearby, I found the most delicious snack in the country. It’s not from Madagascar because the package is mostly in Portugese. The company is based in Brazil. They’re called TEENS and they are tiny chocolate cereal type squares that are filled with a little coconut. DAMN. I gotta eat the whole bag once I open them. They would be an absolutely amazing cereal, if cold regular milk was a thing here. Sorry, folks, but there’s gonna be no room in my suitcase for souvenirs. I’ll be filling it entirely with these snacks and they are ALL FOR ME. I’m actually going to research how to get them in the US. That’s closer to Brazil than here so it must be possible, right?
http://www.marilanteens.com.br/ - I’m still trying to put them down long enough to type this.
So today, Saturday, is Kaitlin Luciano’s birthday. My beautiful and wonderful roommate who is studying abroad in Italy right now, but is lucky enough to have spring break AND a visit from her mother there for her 21st birthday. I don’t know how we are doing this without each other. If we were at home, we would be stressfully planning a big birthday event where she would probably cry but everyone would be getting drunk and having a great time and it would feel like the semester was ending soon. This year, it’s not even the half way point and we are so far apart from each other and from the rest of our friends at URI. It makes the experience that much more exciting, I suppose, but it hits me hard today when I think about what it would be like under normal circumstances. Anyway, shout out to her: Happy Birthday!! Have the most fun ever because you are in FREAKING ITALY and you better not cry this year!! Also, I’m sorry for posting online that you always cry on your birthday. <3
Now it is time to officially depart from Fort Dauphin, some of us for the semester, and head out for a three week long adventure as we make our way west and then north back to Tana. We will be starting in Tulear and then progressively making our way up to Tana through various protected areas, forests, and villages. I will still have internet at least once a week so don’t worry about staying up to date. This might be one of the most interesting parts of the trip after the village stay and the initial week in the country. After that, it will be April already!! Which not only means it’s time for ISP and I will be stationary for a whole four weeks, working completely independently on my one area of study interest, but it also means that the program is almost over!! Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself but according to my calendar that I study all too closely, there are just two more hurdles before homecoming.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Sejours aux Villages – Sixième Semaine
Well, the day before we left and the day I last updated the blog, Molly and Ellen and I went out to lunch at this little restaurant that I pass by every day to and from school, right in the center of town. Big news: found out they serve delicious, fresh gourmet PIZZA!! It’s run by a white French couple who are super nice and along with many other dishes, they have a whole list of pizzas that they make fresh by hand. All of the toppings are delicious and piled on there, the crust is thin and perfect, and they use real cheese… It’s just wonderful. It’s almost like being in Italy with Kaitlin, except probably not nearly as good. But it’s as close as I will get over here! It’s definitely something you have to share though so I hope at least one other SIT student sticks around Fort Dauphin during Independent Study Project (ISP) time in April so I will have someone to enjoy it with. Otherwise, it will be just me buying a $7.50 pizza and gorging myself, which I’m not entirely opposed to.
Also, as I was walking down the street to my homestay that day, I was being friendly and saying “Salama” to everyone I made eye contact with, as usual. So I see an old lady and say “Salama” only to be immediately accosted in Malgache to some degree of “VAZAH! GIVE ME MONEY!” It was pretty strange but I was able to just keep walking without a problem…
Anyway, this blog is about the village stay. This was a major turning point in the program and definitely an irreplaceable experience for us. I left with flea bites, dreadlocks, several scratches/cactus splinters and a broken water bottle but it was probably my favorite part of this entire trip. We were paired up in teams of two based on our research interests for our final environmental issues paper, and then teamed up with one or two CEL students.
For background, I have previously mentioned the “local ecology students” who are and will from now on be referred to as the CEL students. (Centre Écologique de Libanona) They are students who live in Fort Dauphin and study ecology and the environment at the same place where we SIT students have class. So they often join us on certain trips/classes including this village stay. It was great because they of course speak Malagasy and could translate through French between us and the villagers (who did not speak French). Molly and I were paired up with Hantra (a really nice, down to earth girl who shared our challenges with village life) and Fidele. (a very extraverted bro guy who is also Tandroy – the tribe of our villages) We were the best team, clearly.
It took an entire day by bus to get to Faux Cap, the beach where the trip was based out of. On the way there we stopped for a beverage at this snack shack and they had aloe juice. It was also strawberry flavored and there were tiny chunks of aloe in it. It was pretty interesting but I liked it a lot. I hope we can find more of it somewhere. We also got these “chocolate cookies” which were so not chocolate. Ally described the taste as “the smell of a gym that has a pool” which was completely accurate. During a portion of the ride, the CEL students in the back started passing up little mixes of rum and pineapple fanta and the bus kept bumping around like crazy so it was an experience to say the least. They also started passing up various pieces of poultry… where that came from, we have no idea.
The first night we arrived in Faux Cap, we all set up camp around the hotel where our teachers were staying, right on the beach. Let me tell you that camping on the beach is not as nice as it sounds. The wind was UNREAL and putting up a tent was nearly impossible. Sleeping in said tent was even more impossible. I honestly thought we were going to be blown away all night, it was pretty terrible. The next day we presented ourselves by attending the village market that is only held on Mondays. We basically had to push the bus the entire way there because it kept getting stuck in the sand. We walked around in our teams and bought straw hats and coconuts and I was searching for a lamba but didn’t have much luck that day. On the bus back to the beach, Eeny Meeny Miney Moe Lover by Justin Beiber was playing and Fidele asked me what it meant. I had to explain eeny meeny miney moe in French! That afternoon we were picked up by our village fathers and rode with all our stuff in the back of our director’s truck to our individual villages. We had accidently left our tent in the truck but it quickly came back to get it to us before the sun set. When we arrived in the village, we were brought to a matt under a tree and given some watermelon. The watermelon there is green the whole way through, and the seeds are bright orange! It tastes much blander than American watermelon but it was still very watery and yummy. They also gave us cactus fruits, which we call prickly pears, which were really delicious. They all sat around us and watched us eat which was a little awkward. We quickly got used to them finding everything we do just fascinating. The whole week we couldn’t read or write in our journals or anything without the whole village hanging over our shoulders.
Anyway, I was sitting on a mat and baby chickens were walking around so I held my hand out to one of them in hopes it would come over and BAM! One of the guys just grabbed it out of nowhere and handed it to me! It was so cute to hold but chickens here are still not as cute as the chickens we’re used to. They look slightly more like dinosaurs. Later, Fidele was teaching the villagers French and what little English he knows by asking them all how to say “hair” or “eyes” or “shirt”. It was pretty entertaining. I was also surprised at how much English they knew. They must be learning some in school while they learn French. But in a village, what do they really do with that besides talk to us once a year? We were sitting outside waiting for dinner and talking to the village elder (who must have been in his early fifties) and spoke pretty decent French. He says to me: “le président aux Etats Unis… c’est Barack Obama! Oui. Il est noir!” I don’t know how but they know the president in America is black! Haha He was very excited about that.
Every morning they gave us some water to wash our faces and then we had the best coffee EVER before breakfast. The village mother made the best coffee, roasting it fresh every day and pounding it in a hallowed tree trunk. It was amazing. The first morning, breakfast was rice (obviously) but with eggs that she had spiced with a little curry! That is a recipe I will be taking back home with me. Every other day was really just rice though. The first day we went out into the fields with our parents and learned about how they cultivate and why they do certain things during certain times of year. They grow watermelon, corn, beans, etc. all mixed together in the same plots. They do this just because it saves space but they don’t realize that it’s actually better for the plants to grow that way. We picked some watermelon and ate it while we worked picking corn and learning about the different medicinal values of certain plants and finding roots that they use for soap, etcetera. It was really interesting and it got basically all of our studying done within the first few hours. We found a little chameleon crawling around in the plants and they said I could just pick it up… so I did! I finally held a chameleon! He was really tiny and really scared so I felt bad but we put him back soon enough. It was really exciting.
Every night we danced before sunset for over an hour. They were preparing us for the party that was planned for the end of the week and had turned it into a competition. Each village had to be the best, so they were basically training us to do it perfectly. It was hilarious because they would teach us something and then change it on us and argue amongst each other in Malagasy while we stood there looking confused. They’d often tell us “Mahay!” “Good job!” when we danced well or they would repeatedly tell us we were stomping wrong and just grab at us to show us the proper way. Definitely an experience. The last couple days, this all happened in the rain. I have lost my vulnerability to rain throughout this trip. Also, part of one of the songs/dances was for us to go up front and do an “American dance” so we decided to do the cotton eye joe. It worked out pretty perfectly. We wanted to teach it to them but they were really only interested in us learning their dances.
The second day we decided to go to the beach, which was about a mile and a half walk from our village. We arrived at this area with a bunch of wells where they get some drinkable water and also share it with the zebu in little trenches that they made on the beach. It was fascinating. Along the way to where the good swimming water was, I found so many shells and pieces of coral and sponge, and best of all: pieces of egg shells from the extinct elephant bird! They were everywhere. I know that’s what they are because our director showed them to me the first day. I was imagining a million giant ostrich like birds walking around the beach hundreds of years ago, laying giant eggs. We met up with two of the other teams there and tanned and swam until lunch time. It was a pretty great day.
The next day, it was very rainy so we all stayed cooped up in the little hut most of the day, napping or reading or talking. Our host father was a fisherman but he said the weather has not been good for catching any fish which I was really disappointed about. I insisted that we try to go out anyway. I really wanted to go out on the pirogue (their tiny wooden canoe-like fishing boat) so he finally agreed to take us. We were making the long walk to the beach again when a zebu driven “charette” came by and we were told to hop in! It was really scary and bumpy and painful but so much fun! The zebu would run so fast over the bumpy sand and then they’d swerve around cactuses and make us hold on for dear live. When we got to the beach, the pirogue wasn’t much different!! Five of us in this tiny wooden canoe thing in the ocean with huge waves and wind!! I sat right up at the front too. It was so exciting. The boat just rode right over the waves, even when you thought they would just knock it over. It was like an amusement park ride except it was actually the real thing. We were only out for about five minutes because “the weather was too bad” but I was so glad we got to do that.
On the walk back that day we found a tortoise just chillin around the farms. My camera had died so I have no pictures of either that, or the pirogue ride, but Molly was able to pick up the tortoise and he was so cute! I’m glad it’s fady (taboo) for the Tandroy culture to eat tortoise.
The villagers were all talking about wanting to go to the states and how much they will miss us when we leave. One guy even offered Molly a zebu in exchange for taking her place back to the US. We really grew to love our village even though they were a little pushy and invasive sometimes.
Throughout the trip we would run into some of the other groups. It was nice to speak a little English and share everyone’s different experiences in the different villages. Listening to some of the others it seems like we were having one of the better times. One girl had a broken toe, which made it very difficult to dance and the villagers did not seem to understand that so it was a little stressful. Others just didn’t really do anything most of the time. So I’m glad we had the opportunities and the people that we did.
The last day, after lunch, was the “grande fête”! They woke me up from a nap, threw some earrings in my ears (which was really sweet and unexpected. Although one of them broke the next day) and made us start dancing and charging our way to the hotel area where our teachers were. They had done our hair earlier in the day, real Tandroy style in braided buns all over our head. It was terribly ugly on us but really funny. We made our way, all excited with the whole village behind us, to the party where all the other villages were with their student teams. All the girls had their hair done. We each danced individually with our villages in front of the crowd and then we spend the rest of the afternoon dancing together, both Tandroy style and hip hop style. Before dinner, it was time to present our villages with a sheep and say our goodbyes. I was really sad to say goodbye, especially to our mother who, despite the language barriers, I had bonded with a lot the past week. Then we set up our tents, had dinner, and danced a little more with our teachers and the CEL students. Not too late, of course because we were all exhausted.
The ride home was another full day and involved more pushing of the bus and random Malagasy music but it was really not that bad. We had many hilarious conversations and even though we were all filthy, we were just having a blast on the bumpy uncomfortable bus, bonding and falling asleep on each other. Overall it was a pretty great week. I had to take two buckets to wash myself when I got home but it was all worth it.
Also, as I was walking down the street to my homestay that day, I was being friendly and saying “Salama” to everyone I made eye contact with, as usual. So I see an old lady and say “Salama” only to be immediately accosted in Malgache to some degree of “VAZAH! GIVE ME MONEY!” It was pretty strange but I was able to just keep walking without a problem…
Anyway, this blog is about the village stay. This was a major turning point in the program and definitely an irreplaceable experience for us. I left with flea bites, dreadlocks, several scratches/cactus splinters and a broken water bottle but it was probably my favorite part of this entire trip. We were paired up in teams of two based on our research interests for our final environmental issues paper, and then teamed up with one or two CEL students.
For background, I have previously mentioned the “local ecology students” who are and will from now on be referred to as the CEL students. (Centre Écologique de Libanona) They are students who live in Fort Dauphin and study ecology and the environment at the same place where we SIT students have class. So they often join us on certain trips/classes including this village stay. It was great because they of course speak Malagasy and could translate through French between us and the villagers (who did not speak French). Molly and I were paired up with Hantra (a really nice, down to earth girl who shared our challenges with village life) and Fidele. (a very extraverted bro guy who is also Tandroy – the tribe of our villages) We were the best team, clearly.
It took an entire day by bus to get to Faux Cap, the beach where the trip was based out of. On the way there we stopped for a beverage at this snack shack and they had aloe juice. It was also strawberry flavored and there were tiny chunks of aloe in it. It was pretty interesting but I liked it a lot. I hope we can find more of it somewhere. We also got these “chocolate cookies” which were so not chocolate. Ally described the taste as “the smell of a gym that has a pool” which was completely accurate. During a portion of the ride, the CEL students in the back started passing up little mixes of rum and pineapple fanta and the bus kept bumping around like crazy so it was an experience to say the least. They also started passing up various pieces of poultry… where that came from, we have no idea.
The first night we arrived in Faux Cap, we all set up camp around the hotel where our teachers were staying, right on the beach. Let me tell you that camping on the beach is not as nice as it sounds. The wind was UNREAL and putting up a tent was nearly impossible. Sleeping in said tent was even more impossible. I honestly thought we were going to be blown away all night, it was pretty terrible. The next day we presented ourselves by attending the village market that is only held on Mondays. We basically had to push the bus the entire way there because it kept getting stuck in the sand. We walked around in our teams and bought straw hats and coconuts and I was searching for a lamba but didn’t have much luck that day. On the bus back to the beach, Eeny Meeny Miney Moe Lover by Justin Beiber was playing and Fidele asked me what it meant. I had to explain eeny meeny miney moe in French! That afternoon we were picked up by our village fathers and rode with all our stuff in the back of our director’s truck to our individual villages. We had accidently left our tent in the truck but it quickly came back to get it to us before the sun set. When we arrived in the village, we were brought to a matt under a tree and given some watermelon. The watermelon there is green the whole way through, and the seeds are bright orange! It tastes much blander than American watermelon but it was still very watery and yummy. They also gave us cactus fruits, which we call prickly pears, which were really delicious. They all sat around us and watched us eat which was a little awkward. We quickly got used to them finding everything we do just fascinating. The whole week we couldn’t read or write in our journals or anything without the whole village hanging over our shoulders.
Anyway, I was sitting on a mat and baby chickens were walking around so I held my hand out to one of them in hopes it would come over and BAM! One of the guys just grabbed it out of nowhere and handed it to me! It was so cute to hold but chickens here are still not as cute as the chickens we’re used to. They look slightly more like dinosaurs. Later, Fidele was teaching the villagers French and what little English he knows by asking them all how to say “hair” or “eyes” or “shirt”. It was pretty entertaining. I was also surprised at how much English they knew. They must be learning some in school while they learn French. But in a village, what do they really do with that besides talk to us once a year? We were sitting outside waiting for dinner and talking to the village elder (who must have been in his early fifties) and spoke pretty decent French. He says to me: “le président aux Etats Unis… c’est Barack Obama! Oui. Il est noir!” I don’t know how but they know the president in America is black! Haha He was very excited about that.
Every morning they gave us some water to wash our faces and then we had the best coffee EVER before breakfast. The village mother made the best coffee, roasting it fresh every day and pounding it in a hallowed tree trunk. It was amazing. The first morning, breakfast was rice (obviously) but with eggs that she had spiced with a little curry! That is a recipe I will be taking back home with me. Every other day was really just rice though. The first day we went out into the fields with our parents and learned about how they cultivate and why they do certain things during certain times of year. They grow watermelon, corn, beans, etc. all mixed together in the same plots. They do this just because it saves space but they don’t realize that it’s actually better for the plants to grow that way. We picked some watermelon and ate it while we worked picking corn and learning about the different medicinal values of certain plants and finding roots that they use for soap, etcetera. It was really interesting and it got basically all of our studying done within the first few hours. We found a little chameleon crawling around in the plants and they said I could just pick it up… so I did! I finally held a chameleon! He was really tiny and really scared so I felt bad but we put him back soon enough. It was really exciting.
Every night we danced before sunset for over an hour. They were preparing us for the party that was planned for the end of the week and had turned it into a competition. Each village had to be the best, so they were basically training us to do it perfectly. It was hilarious because they would teach us something and then change it on us and argue amongst each other in Malagasy while we stood there looking confused. They’d often tell us “Mahay!” “Good job!” when we danced well or they would repeatedly tell us we were stomping wrong and just grab at us to show us the proper way. Definitely an experience. The last couple days, this all happened in the rain. I have lost my vulnerability to rain throughout this trip. Also, part of one of the songs/dances was for us to go up front and do an “American dance” so we decided to do the cotton eye joe. It worked out pretty perfectly. We wanted to teach it to them but they were really only interested in us learning their dances.
The second day we decided to go to the beach, which was about a mile and a half walk from our village. We arrived at this area with a bunch of wells where they get some drinkable water and also share it with the zebu in little trenches that they made on the beach. It was fascinating. Along the way to where the good swimming water was, I found so many shells and pieces of coral and sponge, and best of all: pieces of egg shells from the extinct elephant bird! They were everywhere. I know that’s what they are because our director showed them to me the first day. I was imagining a million giant ostrich like birds walking around the beach hundreds of years ago, laying giant eggs. We met up with two of the other teams there and tanned and swam until lunch time. It was a pretty great day.
The next day, it was very rainy so we all stayed cooped up in the little hut most of the day, napping or reading or talking. Our host father was a fisherman but he said the weather has not been good for catching any fish which I was really disappointed about. I insisted that we try to go out anyway. I really wanted to go out on the pirogue (their tiny wooden canoe-like fishing boat) so he finally agreed to take us. We were making the long walk to the beach again when a zebu driven “charette” came by and we were told to hop in! It was really scary and bumpy and painful but so much fun! The zebu would run so fast over the bumpy sand and then they’d swerve around cactuses and make us hold on for dear live. When we got to the beach, the pirogue wasn’t much different!! Five of us in this tiny wooden canoe thing in the ocean with huge waves and wind!! I sat right up at the front too. It was so exciting. The boat just rode right over the waves, even when you thought they would just knock it over. It was like an amusement park ride except it was actually the real thing. We were only out for about five minutes because “the weather was too bad” but I was so glad we got to do that.
On the walk back that day we found a tortoise just chillin around the farms. My camera had died so I have no pictures of either that, or the pirogue ride, but Molly was able to pick up the tortoise and he was so cute! I’m glad it’s fady (taboo) for the Tandroy culture to eat tortoise.
The villagers were all talking about wanting to go to the states and how much they will miss us when we leave. One guy even offered Molly a zebu in exchange for taking her place back to the US. We really grew to love our village even though they were a little pushy and invasive sometimes.
Throughout the trip we would run into some of the other groups. It was nice to speak a little English and share everyone’s different experiences in the different villages. Listening to some of the others it seems like we were having one of the better times. One girl had a broken toe, which made it very difficult to dance and the villagers did not seem to understand that so it was a little stressful. Others just didn’t really do anything most of the time. So I’m glad we had the opportunities and the people that we did.
The last day, after lunch, was the “grande fête”! They woke me up from a nap, threw some earrings in my ears (which was really sweet and unexpected. Although one of them broke the next day) and made us start dancing and charging our way to the hotel area where our teachers were. They had done our hair earlier in the day, real Tandroy style in braided buns all over our head. It was terribly ugly on us but really funny. We made our way, all excited with the whole village behind us, to the party where all the other villages were with their student teams. All the girls had their hair done. We each danced individually with our villages in front of the crowd and then we spend the rest of the afternoon dancing together, both Tandroy style and hip hop style. Before dinner, it was time to present our villages with a sheep and say our goodbyes. I was really sad to say goodbye, especially to our mother who, despite the language barriers, I had bonded with a lot the past week. Then we set up our tents, had dinner, and danced a little more with our teachers and the CEL students. Not too late, of course because we were all exhausted.
The ride home was another full day and involved more pushing of the bus and random Malagasy music but it was really not that bad. We had many hilarious conversations and even though we were all filthy, we were just having a blast on the bumpy uncomfortable bus, bonding and falling asleep on each other. Overall it was a pretty great week. I had to take two buckets to wash myself when I got home but it was all worth it.
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