Hello all! I am sorry it has been so long, but unfortunately I was not only without internet for quite a while, but without running water and electricity as well. But you will hear all about that later- In my last post, I gave a little snapshot about what the rest of my time in Madagascar was looking like, where I have been, where I am going to go and what I am going to do. As many of you know, I spent that last week south of Tana in and around the second largest city in Madagascar called Antsirabe. First off, the road to Anstirabe was absolutely stunning. The highlands of Madagascar (basically the center of the country) are made up of landscapes of mountains, valleys and beautiful farmland. The region south of Tana, the Antsirabe region is actually volcanic, which makes it very fertile it is also pretty temperate which allows for a wide variety of crops to grow. Needless to say, I ate pretty well down there.
So to just summarize our itinerary, we left for Antsirabe last Thursday morning (3/15). Our plan was to stay in the city for two nights (Thursday and Friday) and then on Saturday morning head out to Betafo, a town south of the city which was the contact point for our village homestays. Saturday was the start of the homestay and it lasted until last Thursday morning (3/22) when we were picked up.
To start off with- our academic director surprised us upon our arrival to Antsirabe with a tour of the Star brewery! If I have not mentioned Star before, it is a company that basically manufactures coke products for all of madagascar, spite, fanta etc. Also- all those water bottles labelled "Eau Vive" that you have seen in various photos- the vazaha water of choice- that is manufactured here too. And finally, THB (the horses beer) is the backbone of the star company. You literally cannot go anywhere in Madagascar without seeing THB signs or ads or the beer itself. its everywhere. (unfortunately, for it being so popular, its really not that good- I prefer the other beer that star manufactures called Gold.)
So, to make a long story short, we got a tour of the brewery. It was pretty cool. Everything seemed pretty sophisticated too. Everything was automated- they even manufactured their own yellow crates here as well. Just to note, in Madagascar glass bottles like beer bottles and drink bottles are reused, so one returns the bottles after use, and they are shipped back to this factory to be sanitized and reused. Interesting huh? Anyways, the factory tour was cool. I got to see a lot of beer being made. They whip out 500,000 bottles of beer a day (and the bottles are the equivalent to the double sized bottles in the US). Unfortunately for us there was no free beer at the end of the tour...(just to note- the drinking age here is 18-)
So, for the remainder of the day and the next that we were in Antsirabe, we paid some visits to some local contacts ], prepped for the village stay, and explored. I wanted to post this picture of the produce that I saw at one of the markets here one- because it is a beautiful array or fruits and veggies and two- to give you an idea of what they grow in this area and how fertile the land is here.
Anyways, our stay in Antsirabe had to come to a close at some point and on Saturday morning we were all packed back in the sprinter and off to Betafo to face the unknown....
After paying a few viits to local authorities, we packed into private taxi brousses which dropped us off at our respectie homestays. Here is an example, and a beatiful view, of what we had to get across in order to even access some of our houses.
Unfortunately some weren't that accessible. After almost kareening down that dirt hill in the former picture- we had to resort to this: (with the help if many Malagasy men and to the amusement of many children)
Finally, after many unforseen adventures in the taxi brousse I was home sweet home. My family were farmers. I had one sister aged 13 and two brothers aged 10 and 4. They were all super sweet and hospitable and really excited to host me. This area of Betafo is the first time that the SIT program has done village stays in this region so all of the families were super enthusiastic to host us and find out more about us. My family were farmers. They owned many plots of land in the area and grew crops such as corn, beans, potatoes, cassava,and of course, rice. We also had quite a family of animals as well- seven baby pigs, two big pigs, two baby cows, one big cow (I had fresh cows milk everyday- probably one of the best things in the world.), two dogs, a bunch of chickens and a rooster.
Above is a picture of my house that I lived in. The bottom level is accessible by ground and is used as a kitchen and storage space. The second and third levels were living space- with a kitchen table and my parents bed and a sofa on the second level and me and my sister's room on the third level with the incredible terrace. And thats my four year old brother on the terrace- he was adorable- but a handful to say the least.
My family owned a little epicerie that was outside the house and catered to all the villagers, cigarette needs, rum needs, soap needs and of course, my favorite, mofo gasy and beignets. If you do not know what mofo gasy and beignets are, which you probably don't, then it is time you come to Madagascar. Mofo gasy ("mofo" means bread in Malagasy and is pronounced "moofoo" and gasy is an abbreviation for anything MalaGASY) anyways, mofo gasy are these little english muffin type breakfast treats made out out rice flour- they are delicious! And I got them fresh every morning! Beignets are a Malagasy version of doughtnuts (beignet means doughnut in French) and they're basically these friend bread sugar things that are a heart attack on a plate but also totally delicious.
I shared a room with my thirteen year old sister and spent most of my days helping with the farm work- milking the cow, fixing meals, picking corn... you know, the works. I was lucky enough to have a huge terrace outside my room where I could watch the beautiful sunsets, sunrises and enjoy the beautiful mountains and valleys of Betafo.
Here's a picture of my sweet mother preparing dinner. The Malagsy use mainly charcoal for cooking (which unfortunately is destroying the environment and leaving urban centers like Tana, very much polluted). What is most likely cooking in this picture is rice. We had rice at every meal- breakfast lunch and dinner. To note as well- rice for the Malagasy is not the small side portion we are used to, it is a giant plate of rice with a little bit of loaka (the food that accompanies rice- usually meat, beans or veggies) on the side. For someone that is not a huge fan of rice, such as me, it made eating in the village especially difficult.
Since I did not eat all of my portion of rice that I was given- A huge plate of it at all meals- My family very much alarmed and were convinced I was hungry all the time. This resulted in my mother making me a giant bowl of homemade soup for snack (yes, snack) and sat and watched me to make sure I ate it and liked it. It wasn't as if I wasnt eating though- It was just at mealtimes I would eat five times the amount of loaka (the side dish served with rice- usually beans, veggie or meat) than the rice. And the malagasy eat ten time the amount of rice as loaka- so since they saw me not eating a lot of rice they assumed I was starving. Also- I forgot to mention that the Malsgasy are very very hospitable people, especially when it comes to food and especially in rural areas, where harvest is a sign of wealth, having hungry children (or guests in my case) is very much looked down upon. Needless to say, my initial though of maybe starving in the village was proven to be false- I'm pretty sure I gained five pounds. By the way, this photo above was taken from my terrace one morning- I was constantly amazed at how beautiful the landscape was.
Sunday, my first full day in the village, brought a three hour long Catholic church service in Malagasy, in addition to a bake sale in the middle of the service- I guess to raise money for the church? I have learned not really to question things here much. Monday was the market day in Betafo. Everyone in the area went to the market on market day. some people had to walk miles to get to the market- this picture was taken on our (my mother and me) four kilometer walk to the market. More beautiful mountains.
Do any of you know how rice is grown and harvested and eventually prepared to be eaten?? Well, below is a picture of a rice paddy, where rice is planted almost in a swampy environment. Then it is cut, harvested and dried to look like this picture above. (I don't claim to be an expert on rice growing by any means, I don't even like rice- so I apologize for any vagueness in my rice explanations. Anyways, on our way to the market, my mother and I stopped by her fathers house to introduce me- while I was there I also got to see a machine that shucks/ cuts? I don't quite know- but it does something to prepare rice. The little grains on the ground are rice grains in their shells that have just been cut off the stalks with this machine.
After my little rice tour detour we continued on to the market. There, I encountered several other students from my program who were spending their days doing the same as me. We also met up with my brothers and sisters who go to school in the town of Betafo. But, when we first arrived at the market, my mother and I went into a hotely (Malagasy dive restaurant) for a snack- the diary in the area is ridiculously delish so we both got homemade yogurt and it was probably the most delicious yogurt I've ever eaten! After, we did a bit of shopping- she bought me a hat and bag as gifts in addition to a bracelet with pictures of Jesus all over it- I think she was trying to convert me because she was astounded that I did not practice any sort of religion. Before we met up with my siblings she took me to a beautiful lake in the town of Betafo- before I get into it though, I would just like to note that not only does this above picture have beautiful rice paddys but, that woman in the foreground is tying a basket full of live geese to the back of her bycicle. Like I said before, I tend to not ask- and just accept these things for the way they are.
So we took a walk around the stunning lake surrounded by mountains- I ended up running into one of the girls from my program on my walk so I was lucky enough to have her take a photo for me-
After walking around the lake we met up with my siblings at their school, had lunch, bought some fruit at the market and then me and my host mother took a taxi brousse back home. It was a day well spent! Anyways, rather than boring you all with the crazy details of village life, I have selected a few photos that illustrate the rest of my stay. I developed a bit of a routine there after five days, and when I wasn't helping with cooking, cleaning or doing farm work, most of my time was spent lounging around, playing with children, reading and writing.
Tuesday morning my mother took me to see a river just a short walk away from our house. It was like a little mother-daughter date- it was adorable. We walked along the banks of the river, I took some photos, she pointed out crops to me and then we sat on the grass and had snacks of mofo gasy and beignets. Oh- and I almost forgot to mention! My host mother spoke pretty good French so I was able to communicate with her using French. My father and sister spoke a little and my brothers only spoke Malagasy- so I was relieved that someone in the family spoke French well because it made the communication piece a whole lot easier!
Crossing the river Malagasy style-
As you can see by the photo above, I was well accustomed to Malagasy rural life. In this photo I am grinding grain to feed to the pigs and cows. Too badd my arms got tired after two minutes and my mother and father had to take over...
My cutie little brother and sister checking on the rice being cooked over the charcoal cooker. This was how we cooked meals every night.
My last night with the fam! My youngest brother Aro is in the front and Gael the ten-year old in the back. Unfortunately, my sister was not with us the last night because she had to take care of the children of a family member. Luckily I got to stop by her school the next day to say goodbye.
My goodbye pic! My parents are on the left side of me and the man on my right is a program parter who picked me up and decided that he wanted to be in the picture too- haha.
Anyways, to wrap things up, I had a wonderful stay in the village with a fun, nice, and welcoming family! It was the experience of a lifetime- I learned so much about myself and malagasy life. The only setbacks were the constant food being shoved down my throat and the major flea infestation (my body is literally covered in nasty flea bites). Oh and I almost forgot to mention that most of the food and utensils served to me were not clean and washed in dirty water and I just decided that "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" I decided to screw it and eat everything anyway. It worked out for me until the last day- luckily I was back in the care of SIT then but, we had a very windy ride back to our hotel. After some horrible nausea and one emergency bathroom stop on the side of the road- we arrived at the hotel where I took cipro, took a nap and then woke up to be magically better. It was the most mysterious illness but whatever it was its gone now-
I wish I could add more to my descriptions and stories of my village stay but I would be here forever and I have a busy week ahead of me and lots of things to do! It's my last week in Tana and I have a fifteen page paper to write in addition to prep for my ISP. I cannot believe how time has flown! At this time next week, I will be en-route to Diego Suarez in Northern Madagascar to start my ISP. I couldn't be more excited!!!!
Until next time-
~Love You All~
