I had an
incredible last week with my family (although it wasn’t the last week forever,
I will be back in Tana in a few weeks time); I am finally starting to feel
better the amoeba has finally cleared up! Whoohoo!!!! I also had a breakthrough
with Tana as well; I am starting to feel way more comfortable in the city
although Mahajunga (where I am right
now) is pretty much amazing.
Saturday I
had a wonderful last day with my Tana host family shopping for dresses and tank
tops for Majunga. I also bought an adorable blue straw hat for my tropical
adventure. We went out to ice cream
later, which was delicious and resulted in jokes between me and my host sister
(somehow whipped cream ended up all over her face… I wonder who did that? Haha)
My family is also the sweetest as I say over and over… they bought me a
beautiful sarong to wear for my trip also! I cannot wait to wear it at the beach!
Sunday and Monday, February 19 &20
First of
all: I know this will be posted late but a shout out to Hannah my little sis-
Happy 18th birthday on February 19th!!!!! Go be an adult
and vote! I love you!
Sunday
morning was an early one- we began our journey to Ankarafantsika national park
at 7:00 am. It was an eight-hour drive to the national park but what a beautiful
drive it was!!! I do not think I need to say anymore. The only thing there is
to say is that these pictures below do not do it justice.
Ankarafantsika was a land unto itself as well. Within two
minutes of our arrival, lemurs jumping and swinging from tree to tree in the
campsite greeted us. The first night we set up camp, and then I got to go for
my first run in like forever! It was wonderful! I was unable to run in Tana
because of safety issues but it was so nice to finally be outside the city. We
had dinner and some THBs at the campsite (Malagasy beer which is huge here-)
and then went to bed. Unfortunately, the cold, hard ground and the heat weren’t
the most conducive to sleeping but hey- I was in a National Park in Madagascar
so I cannot complain!!! The next morning we went into the park with guides and
got to see some more lemurs, a variety of lizards including chameleons and some
crazy spiders as well. Fun fact about Ankarafantsika: this national park has
some species of plants that are not only endemic to Madagascar but can be found
nowhere else on the island except for this park. After the hike, we went to a
turtle refuge right next to the park, which housed and breed rare species of
turtles. Have you ever seen a turtle eat? It’s pretty hilarious.
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| Cutie little lemurs in the WILD!!!! |
Well after that sejour, we visited a little village nearby which was home to a women’s co-op. This co-op produced beautiful art and bags made of raphia (the leaves of a tree that grows in the region) which they would dye with natural means such as fruits, I ended up buying a few items as gifts- they were so beautiful! After some more exercise (I could get used to this!) we went on another walk in the park with the guides. This was special in that it was already dark out by the time we started walking so we got to see many of the nocturnal species of lemurs and lizards. It was SO COOL! I felt like I was on Animal Planet!!! Anyways, that soon came to an end and dinner and s’mores ended the day!
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| Some children at the women's co-op that were fascinated with my camera- I took their picture and showed it to them and they thought that it was the funniest thing |
Tuesday, February 21st – Thursday February 23rd
The next
day was another day of adventure and travel. This time we were headed to the
wonderful coastal city of Mahajanga (you might also see it spelled as: Majunga
which is the French spelling). Everyone
in my program (myself included) were so excited to see the ocean- the
Mozambique channel to be exact.
Let me tell you, compared to Tana, Majunga
is paradise with a capital “P.” First of all, we are renting a villa for our
program center. When I hear the word “villa” I picture beach, well, I was
correct in thinking that our villa was going to be overlooking the ocean
because it is. Oh but I think I might have failed to mention the minor drawback
about Majunga is that it is 90 degrees + every day. Now when you are sitting in
a classroom for most of the morning that s slightly miserable but, when your
school day involves “siesta time” from 12-3 then the walks on the breezy
boardwalk are just what the doctor ordered.
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| Another panoramic (can you tell that I love panoramics???) This is of the route from Ankarafantsika to Majunga |
Now, as I
am writing this I have already been settled into Majunga for a few days so I
apologize for leaving out some details of my stay so far but I am just going to
summarize as best I can- it is very hard to keep up with this kind of stuff
when I am so busy… and when the boardwalk and ocean is right out my front door.
I am lucky enough that my house is a
2-minute walk from the program center and that I get to share the beautiful
view of the ocean! But starting off… I have a new host family in Mahajanga.
They are wonderful! My host father is an architect so he actually designed the
house that I am living in and it is beautiful! It is a one-minute walk from the
boardwalk, which is one of the things that Majunga is famous for. There is
about a half-mile long oceanfront boardwalk that is line with palm trees and
benches. In the morning you will see people out catching the early rays of
sunshine and taking advantage of the early morning breeze by getting their
exercise in (which is what I do every morning- I go jogging on the boardwalk). At night, everyone takes advantage of the
cooler temperatures too by going on an after dinner walk. I have done this
quite a few times with my family and it is wonderful- there are so many people
out it is crazy! It is also nice to be able to go out at night- in Tana that is
not feasible because it is way too dangerous.
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| The view from right outside my house. Do I have to say any more? :-P |
As far as other aspects here
go, the food has been wonderful. Of course rice is served with every meal as
always but I have learned to work around that. If there is another starch
served at a meal aside from rice then I will do a substitution because I am not
a huge fan of rice as it is and having to eat it everyday for three and a half
months is slightly torturous for m, no offense Malagasy, that’s just how it is.
The seafood here though is DELISH! I have had incredible fish and shrimp- and I
don’t even like shrimp! (well I guess I do now…) Also, as I have mentioned many
times before in my blogging…. The theme of ice cream! I love ice cream and am
so happy to find it everywhere in Madagascar… especially in a hot place like
Majunga! I have literally gone out for ice cream every day during siesta. I
think by the end of my trip I should go on some sort of travel channel show,
which specializes, in the best ice cream in the Indian Ocean.
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| GIANT BAOBAB!!! |
I feel like the people and general population and attitude here are different than Antananarivo as well. People here have more of a laid-back coastal attitude, which is a nice change from the hustle and bustle and fear that one feels while in Tana (don’t get me wrong- there are some things I like about Tana- in fact I do like Tana as a city, I would just prefer to be on the coast!). When we had the host family reception at the program villa”, all the families seemed to know each other, they were making jokes; and at the end they all gave us straw hats to wear in the sun! My host mom also gave be another sarong thing to wear- I am well prepared for the beach!!!!! As for the details of my family, I have a mother, father and sister who is 12, I also have another sister but she goes to university in Tana and she lives there. The house that I am staying in is beautiful. As I said, my host dad who is an architect designed it. I will try to post some pics of it because I don’t thing my written descriptions will do it much justice. I will just say this one thing: I have my own room with a couch, bed desk, shelves and armoire, all decorated in beautiful Malagasy fabric. The floors of the house are of gorgeous red clay tile (clay that one will find in the highlands of Madagascar). I guess the theme of Mahajanga is just gorgeous.
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| The boardwalk right outside my house :-) or "bord du mer" as they call it here |
Saturday February 25th
So after five days here I can safety
say that my opinion has not changed much. I have spent the last few days in
class, walking and running on the boardwalk, taking field trips with my class
around Majunga and working real heard at the pool and the beach.
Yesterday we spent the morning touring the office of M3
which is a radio and TV station for the region. It was pretty cool to hear a
journalists perspectives and troubles in regards to the political crisis.
During siesta, some friends and I went to the pool down the street, you have to
pay to get in but it was soooo worth it considering it has been 90 degrees here
everyday and we have been sweating our tails off in the classroom. In the
afternoon, after our lovely pool time we went to visit a huge catholic
cathedral. It was interesting to see the comparison of this cathedral and the
others I have seen throughout my travels. Unlike the others I have seen, this
one was not very ornate, but that could have been due to the materials
available to the builders? Also, there were relics around the cathedral but
once again they were not as old and ornate and had kind of a cheesy look to
them I thought.
I love it here in that I can go for a run on the
boardwalk and walk around the town and explore by myself without having to
worry about the issue of security. Yesterday I was able to run to the grocery
store, buy some snacks and walk back the twenty-minute walk without any issues.
I love it. I also love how in the morning and at night, there are bunches of
people who hang out on the boardwalk. I always end up seeing one of my friends
out there with their families after dinner. Its like the thing to do here- eat
and then go for a walk on the ocean front when it gets cooler. Have I talked
about the huge baobab yet? Well if I haven’t, there is a huge baobab about a
two-minute walk outside my house in the middle of a roundabout. It is
apparently the largest baobab (circumference wide) in Madagascar! Those of you
that do not know what a baobab is, I suggest you go read Le Petit Prince- it’s
a wonderful book.
Anyways, my activities today included #1…. GOING TO THE
BEACH!!!! I was so excited because that opportunity presents itself only a few
months out of the year to New Englanders, and when it does, you know that the
water will be unbearable cold. Well, right now I am significantly tanned and
sunburned so I guess you could say that I had a good time. Unfortunately
though, it was low tide which made the water especially difficult to swim in,
it was very silty and seaweedy and after I saw a water snake swimming by my
feetsies, that was the end of that for me. I still had a wonderful time though-
I spent most of my time walking on the soft sand and actually ended up running
into a fellow SIT student who lived nearby so we hung out and chatted for a
bit. After the beach and some silly pictures, my family made a surprise stop
for me in front of a coconut stand. If you have never drank the water from a
straw out of a fresh coconut, you are missing out! It was delicious and fresh
and then after you were done with the coconut water, they would crack the
coconut open for you all the way and you would scoop out the rest of the fruit!
YUM!
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| Me and my host mother and father on the beach! |
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| Coconut eating and drinking!!!!
Sunday, February 26th
So we have finally gotten to the day that I am posting
this. I apologize again for it being almost two weeks since I last posted! Oh
I’m so bad!!! I don’t have much to report for today; just the usual run on the
boardwalk and walk to the supermarket for water. I go through so much water
here its crazy!!!! It’s so hot and because I’m exercising I go through like
three liters a day. I will try to update more often! Expect a funny more
interesting post next time- I know these journal style blogs can be boring but
I fell like its necessary in these cases when I have done so much and have been
unable to report it.
Oh
on second thought I actually do have some news for today. So this afternoon,
after lunch I decided to go for a walk. I am the type of person that cannot sit
still. Especially when I am in the center of a really cool city next to the
ocean. It is impossible for me to stay inside. So my family was sleeping and
watching TV in Malagasy and I decided to go for a walk. I told my sister and
then went out in search for coffee. I didn’t realize that literally everything
was going to be closed because it is Sunday, but it was still ice to get out.
Unfortunately, at 1:00 on Sunday, not only is everything closed but also there
is nobody else on the streets expect for young men. So you can only imagine the
amount of attention I got, this little white blonde girl walking down the
street on a Sunday afternoon in a pink dress. Eventually I had enough of the catcalls, “Mademoiselles”,
hissing and kissy noises. I decided to call my walk quits. It was pretty ridiculous though, I don’t know
if they had never seen a blonde before or, just because there was nobody else
on the streets but I have never gotten that much male attention in a 30 minute
period in my life. So after that slightly traumatic experience was over I went
back to the comfort of my family’s home to sit in front of the fan.
Anyways, I know that was a lot to handle for one blog post but now that I know where the internet is in Majunga I will update more ofter I promise! I also hope that you were all able to follow all that- sorry if it was confusing!
Anyways, Love you all and I will be thinking of all of you that are stuck in snowy, cold weather while I am walking the boardwalk and getting tan :-)
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