Thrill seekers go explore Antananarivo

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Geo: -18.9427, 48.4085

Wake up and head down for breakfast before venturing out into the city. One of the attractions of Madagascar Underground was they advertised Mexican food and margaritas. Had the Huevos Rancheros for breakfast and they did not do a bad job at all. Over easy egg are not a universal we have discovered! My only complaint with breakfast is they charge by the cup which is not good for a coffee addict like me! It is made in an expresso machine so quite nice.

We had been given directions on where to change money. Just walk 50 meters and climb stairs and walk down the street to the place to change money. The first part was easy but once on the busy street the street vendors were trying to convince you how much you needed what they were selling.
hi
Found the place to change money and was the perfect place. we were the only ones in the place and had a couch for us to have a discussion about how much to change. Alas, we discover I have only one money belt and they reject two of my $50 bills because they do not have the red wavy lines! Now also figure the ariary is 3140 ariary to the dollar. So $700 US is 2,198,000 ariary. They hand you the money in stacks of 100,000 at a time. The largest bill is the 10,000 note so now you have 219 10,000 ariary notes! Quite a stack! To further complicate matters, we ask for some small bills for the market in the village of Andisabe. So even bigger stack. Hide the money in various places and take it back to the room to regroup. As we are heading back to the room, see a place that looks like it might sell data bundles for our dongle for wifi time. They do not but tell us a place just down the street. Yes, they do sell data bundles and even nicer speak great English. When doing research before coming here, the information we got was most people speak French or Malagasy but little English. We have found English speakers in all places we have gone so far and this has really helped. The girl was quite helpful and so we had that off our list of things to get done!

We had also been given instructions on how to get to the Shoprite near the train station. Once again set out except go down the stairs instead of up! It was just like the ride from the airport, traffic of all kinds flowing here and there so you had to be very careful when you were crossing the street, pedestrians were just an obstacle! Tried the trick of getting behind a local but after a few close calls got beside them when crossing the street.

Made it to the Shoprite but they did not have the camping gas we were looking for but did have a lot of the other supplies we needed. Decided to get a taxi to the other store we had read about Jumbo Score. It was in a modern mall but not within walking distance. Decided to take one of the old Pugeot taxis that must have been around since the sixties! Very small with an interesting gear shift. The driver did not really speak English but we managed to get Jumbo Score. It was the lunch hour or so when we set off and it is quite something to be in a small car as the big bus comes within inches of the front end or side of the car. My theory is that no one wants to totally wreck their vehicle but if they do not make a move, they will never get anywhere! Motorcycles and pedestrians once again flowed around us.

Got to the shopping mall and he indicated he would wait for us. Since there are hundreds of these taxis around the train station area guess this was smart move for him because he was guaranteed another fare for our trip back to the hostel. 10,000 ariary for a taxi most places in central Tana is what we were told and this what we paid!

There was a store next door to Jumbo Score that sold all manner of household goods, and camping goods as well. They had the bluet canisters as well as another brand with a very cool stovetop. Bluet canisters are the old school gas that is rarely to be found in the US anymore but shows up in strange places we travel to.

Went next door to Jumbo Score and found all and more that was on our list except peanut butter. Could not find peanut butter in Tana but did find it in a store in Moramonga which is near the village of Andisabe where we spent our time on the outskirt camping and in hotel.

Got our supplies and the taxi driver was waiting for us. Took our supplies back to room and then back to Shoprite to look for a few more supplies and things for dinner. Fixed a veggie stir fry with the red curry rice we had bought. Very delicious.

Spent the evening drinking wine and playing some of the board games with the creator, Bill. The first
game was similar to chess and I did fairly well but the second lost fairly rapidly!

Our last day there was spent packing and napping. Joe, the waiter, cut both of our hair. In another life he had been a hairdresser. Also tried our luck with the ATM machines. They do not allow you to withdraw a large sum but was able to withdraw money from both our cards!

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Photos

trying board games
Laura's opponent is creator of the game, Bill

Alice and Joe
Alice the manager and Joe one of the waitstaff and kind hair cutter

picture
thi,s picture is of owner Ryan, a diver, who discovered an ancient lemur

street scenes
Laura in front of Madagascar Underground

street scenes
notice the cobblestones

street scenes
our ride in 60's era Pugeot to Jumbo Score