Blogs from Antananarivo, Madagascar, Africa - page 5

What a weekend! Friday night was a great time at Mojo (the popular ex-pat bar). I've started making friends beyond the couple people I knew before coming. I had a great conversation with two guys, Patrick and Warwick (both are 6'6), and people in the bar thought it was the funniest thing they'd seen in a while. Most Malagasys are quite a bit shorter than the three of us. Everyone I've met here has an incredibly interesting story. Many work for AccessBank (a micro finance company), and many others are involved in projects just like mine. It's pretty interesting coming from college where my group of friends is very homogeneous when it comes to age. I've found myself hanging out with kids my age, and married couples in their late 30s. Everyone seems to connect because ... read more

Yesterday was quite the day. I decided that the one thing I wanted to do was to visit the school I attended when I was here. I only went to K-3rd grade, but my memories of the school are as strong as if I had just been there. I walked the two blocks from the house to the American School of Antananarivo, and was immediately overwhelmed. The place had changed so much! Many new buildings had been added (but the place still seemed smaller for some reason), and it wasn't a little five year old me running around, there were new kids...and many new teachers. I found out that only four staff members remained from the old days. The reason for this is that the American teachers spend a few years in Madagascar and then move ... read more

Day 28, Monday, May 26, 2008 The original plan today was for me to go to the university to visit the veterinary school and then for all of us to go to a Rotary meeting in the evening. We waited around until 11:30 before we finally found out that everything was cancelled and again we had nothing to do today. Kris wasn't feeling well so she stayed at Rontu's, Josh went to visit a local Rotarian who propagates plants and Stu and I took a cab downtown. Stu went to lunch with Rontu and I just wandered. I was told that there was a nicer version of the artisan's market than the one we visited the first week. I went there first and it turned out to be the same stuff that was in the first ... read more

Day 22, Tuesday, May 20, 2008 During our first three weeks in Madagascar we have suffered a series of illnesses including traveler's gastrointestinal upset, a severe allergic reaction to bug spray and Liliane has had problems with anemia and low blood pressure. So this morning we had an appointment to see an English speaking doctor that was recommended by the embassy. The appointment was at 11AM and Phillipe picked us up at 10:30, but due to traffic, we were late. Liliane is staying in Tana with her parents so she was able to make the appointment and then returned home. The rest of us had lunch with Phillipe and Claire and then went to the doctor at 2PM. He prescribed some medications for Kris and Josh and then we left. Kris went back to Rontu's house ... read more

Road to Toamasina We left the capital city Antanarivo (Tana) fairly early in a nine passenger van and headed out to gather the troops for the District Rotary Conference in Tomasina (called Tamatave by the French but Tomasina by the Malagasy). No exaggeration, it took an hour and a half just to pick up the four Rotarians we were traveling with and get to the outskirts of Tana. Tana is located in the highlands plateau of Madagascar at about 4000 feet elevation and Tomasina is Madagascar’s major port located on the East coast. The first few hours drive away from Tana led us through similar small hills and expansive rice patty lowlands that makes up Tana itself. This topography of highland hills and lowland rice fields is accentuated by a particular style of home construction in ... read more