Tonga soa à Madagasikara!

I’m happy to say I’m arrived and more or less settled, and mostly recovered after the day and a half of plane travel, followed by a 17 hour taxi-brousse (“or bush taxi”) ride. It’s been interesting adjusting, since I first arrived there has been both the feeling that I’d never been to Madagascar before and at the same time, the feeling as though I had never left.

 Exiting the airplane at Antananarivo (or Tana), I was hit by the smell in the air, which seems so distinctly of Madagascar for me. I’m not quite sure how to describe it, something of smoke, cooking meat, spices, sweat, and something else I don’t quite know. I quickly got back into the swing of things with a bucket shower at 2 am, and Malagasy mofo (baguettes) for breakfast the next morning.

The taxi-brousse, took us across half the country, from Tana in the central highlands, town to Tulear (or Toliary) in the southwest. Despite being long, wedged between two people on either side, and still tired from my plane voyage, the taxi-brousse ride wasn’t all-together too unbearable, with a chance to see some of the countryside, and stops for meals and to stretch our legs.

Right now, I’m enjoying a bit of vacation for a few weeks in Tulear, attempting to brush up on my Malagasy bit by bit, before we go out to the region in the Southeast where we’ll be working in villages with Hope for Madagascar. So far, after recovering from travel this has meant meeting family and friends, mitsangatsangana (walking around and exploring), as well as plenty of occasions to sleep and eat.

I’ve already had the occasion to experience multiple forms of Malagasy transportation, including a taxi-be in Tana (basically a van, in which as many people who could wedged into seats, to get to different parts of the town), the taxi-brousse ride from Tana to Tulear, as well as two versions of pousse-pousse, man powered carts (either by foot or bicycle) found all over Tulear. I’ve also explored a number of Malagasy foods, from fried fish, to goat, to fruits that are growing in the courtyard here, to cassava, to homemade yogurt, to avocado eaten with sugar as a dessert (so far all of it good). Not to mention the rice, which I’m re-habituating to: a heaping plateful accompanying most meals.

So not much to report in terms of work I’ve been doing yet, but it is definitely been a nice chance to relax. I haven’t had too much opportunity to take photos of Tulear, I’ve been too busy taking it all in, but hopefully there will be more photos to share next time! Ok, à la prochain!