Modes of Travel around Madagascar

These boats are very common around Madagascar.  Most of them are carved wood from a tree.  No aluminum here!  They are used for fishing in the ocean and rivers, water taxis and transporting goods from one area to another.  

 My friend Bette Lou took this picture.  It's half truck and half van.  The writing on the truck says "Monofol".  I'm not sure what it is used for, probably delivery of goods.   Not too many of these around.

 Bikes and water.  This is typical of the street after a good rain.  The problem is there are soo many holes in the road, you just don't know when your going to hit one.  The holes can be several feet wide and several feet deep.  If your riding a bike, your best to walk it in these conditions.  I feel for the Pousse Pousse drivers.

 This is called a "pousse pousse".  It's a cart that is pulled by a Malagasy.  This is a very common mode of transportation.  The locals use it as a taxi, haul materials or pretty much transport anything that needs to be moved, but can't do by walking.  As you can see in the picture, the driver doesn't have a very dry road to travel on.  The cost to ride these are about 2000 airery airery, which is equal to around $1.00 cdn.  Of course it depends on how far you are going.

 This is another boat that is used for fishing.  These boats are made out of wood.  This particular boat is painted, with a balance float.  It makes it a little easier out in the ocean.  The ocean looks flat in the picture, but is usually quite rough.

 This is called a cycle-pousse.  It's basically a pousse pousse with a bicycle attached.  They are used for the same purpose of a pousse pousse.  To haul goods and supplies and people.  This particular model has a cover in case it rains to keep his customers dry.  The ladies have a tour booked to see how pousse pousses's are made.  I'll post pictures when we go.

 Scooters/Motorbikes.  There are many, but not as many as you would expect.  The cost of a scooter/motorbike and gas can be quite high, so not that many have them.  In this photo, Dad, Mom and the little girl (being held by Mom).  It seems so natural to them to ride side saddle, backwards, etc.

 This particular pousse pousse has his top down, so he could haul his customer and her supplies.  It won't fit under the tarp.  They are very accommodating people.

 This driver is hauling a roll of tin sheeting.  Just about anything can be hauled.

 Again, a mattress on top and 2 people inside.

 They also have carts.  A flatbed that is pushed by anywhere from 1 to 4 people.  Depending on the load.  This is dried banana leaves, so it's fairly light.  There are lots of hills and turns here, so steering these carts is an art, not to mention that you can't see in front of you.  This road has a slight incline which you can't see in the picture.  They are very skilled at manoeuvring these carts.  We have seen cement blocks as high as this load being pushed.  You can imagine the strength needed to move a cart that loaded!  (especially uphill)

 Of course there's walking.  Lots and lots of walking.  Most people walk here.

 The local bus.  Travels from one village to another.  For a few thousand airiary  airary, (=$1.00 cdn) you can hop on the bus,  and they'll take you to your destination.  Of course your products get to ride on top of the bus, and sometimes you'll ride on top as well, to hold onto the goods.  These buses get pretty full.  We passed one the other day, and there had to be 20 people inside, and they were singing at the top of their lungs.  Generally quite happy people!

 On the back of a truck if you happen to know the owner!  Even load your motorbike, saves on gas!

 This guy thought it was easier to hitch a ride on the scooter and hold onto his 2 wheeler instead of riding.

 What I want to know is "How did they get the motorbike on top of the van?"  Or maybe I don't want to know...

 Had to take a picture of this one.  This load looked like it was going to fall over.  Each time the van hit a bump, the chair at the very top separated from the rest of the pile.  We followed it for several miles, but everything stayed on top!

 This bridge was built for one vehicle., which most are.  Upon approaching the bridge, if you see a vehicle, you either wait for it to pass through, or you proceed, depending on who's closest to the bridge.  Only once, did a vehicle have to back up (and no it wasn't Rick).

 Another bridge.  This is on the way to the golf course.  These boys were once handed some money from someone in Rick's vehicle, (thanks alot Les) so now every Sunday they stand IN FRONT of the bridge and play chicken, to see if you'll slow down and give them money.  They even have kids at the other end.  They catch on pretty fast!

 Someone needs an engine change.  It's hot, humid, and then you have the wonderful diesel and burnt oil smell.

 And of course chickens to market.  Rick figures a Malagasy chicken spends half it's life upside down.  The locals usually are selling live chickens to you, and hold them by their feet.  You can see a couple of chickens in the left hand of the guy in the red shirt.

Transport goods to market via foot.  The people are very talented at transporting on top of their head.  You try holding a book on your head and walk across the room.  Bet you can't do it!  These people turn their heads, hands are full, have to walk up hills, it's amazing.  We've even seen a lady balancing a basket with 2 live ducks on her head, a basket in one arm carrying live chickens and talking on a cell phone.

We're not sure how this happened, but what a mess.  The back end of his truck is on a large embankment.  Any time there is an accident or break down up ahead, they cut down some branches and place them on the side of the road.  This indicates upcoming drivers to be aware.

At least he didn't end up like this guy.

Tuk Tuk, a new way of travel in Madagascar.  Although they have been around in the eastern Countires for years, they are new to Madagascar.  I've been told there are 15-30 in Tamatave.  This model is a convertable top.

Slightly different style of Tuk Tuk.  Only yellow colored models in Mada.  this one is a hard top model.  They run on petrol and very inexpensive to operate.

Our Home and Yard at the Village

Some pictures of our home and yard that the Ambatovy project built for it's residents within the village.

 A view of our living room, taken from the kitchen.  The houses came fully furnished.  All we had to bring was our clothing, and buy our food.  I HAD to go shopping to personalize the house.  I'm almost done, but there's always a "few" items that someone is selling.

The covered deck outside.  We purchased the bamboo patio set for $100 cdn at the local market, called Bazar Bay (not quite sure of the spelling, but that's how you pronounce it).  On the other side is an open deck with a table and 6 chairs that was supplied with the house.  We're continually getting more plants and we want to plant some shrubs, trees, flowers that we can't plant at home. (just want to see how they grow)

 Our kitchen.  It's quite a large kitchen.  Beautiful wood table and chairs.  The table runner I picked up in Johannesburg, South Africa.  (I really like it).

 Our front entrance.  Flowers that were purchased on the roadside coming home from golf, and some at the local market.  These flowers open during the day and close at night, but look like a portchalaca.

We purchased granite rocks and made a border around the garden. (grey ones at the back)  Each rock cost 20 cents and they weigh between 25-30 lb.  Of course we did this when the temp was almost 40.  It was hot, humid and boy did we get a work out, we carried and placed 60 rocks.  We had to bring them from the front of the house to the back.  Are we crazy?

I planted a garden at the back.  Watermelon, onions, carrots, lettuce and hot peppers.  I couldn't find any other seeds.  I dried out the watermelon seeds, so we'll see if they grow.   I'm keeping my eye out for more seeds.  I may try drying out cucumber seeds, hmm, wonder who I can ask about cucumber seeds?

Notice the solar lights?  Brought them from Canada.  4 out of 5 broke, but still work not to bad.  There's only myself and Aggie who brought solar lights!  Too funny.  

Zacka and myself loaded these stepping stones from across the village.  They were brought in from somewhere else, but we can use as many as we like.  Wanted a path from our patio to the garden.  I have more ideas, and will keep you posted on the progress.

 Here's my garden.  You can barely see where things are planted.  I will take another picture shortly.  I've been told, that the seeds should sprout in about 5 days.  We'll see.  I'll keep you posted.

 This is on the side of the front of the house.   They just got them in, so Joan, myself and Joan's driver, MaHarry loaded them up and placed them.  A big thank you to Joan and MaHarry.

More blocks.  We placed a ring around all the trees in the front yard.  I have some ideas for the back, but that will have to be done next week.

We are treated very well here.

Blog #4 Sherry from Tamatave

I'm trying a new kind of blogging.  Mainly pictures with comments explaining the pictures.  Please let me know what you think.  You can post comments at the bottom of the blogs.  All comments are welcome!

 Went golfing to Foul Pointe Golf Course, about 1 1/2 hours each way.  The roads are apparently better than they were, but still need some help.  Me golfing (and of course everyone watching me miss!)

 My caddy, Christian.  My first caddy was Emmanuelle, but the next week he wasn't there, so Christian caddied.  The third week they were both there, and Christian won over Emmanuelle.  They were arguing who was going to be my caddy (been awhile since someone fought over me, heehee), both probably not realizing that they each had a turn once.  It seems that once you have a caddy, their with you for life. (and he even wears orange-my favourite colour) Joan had a caddy, but when his regular golfer came, he just left Joan on the 2nd hole to go to his regular guy.  Another caddy was more than willing to replace him.  The standard for caddy's and beer cooler carriers is 10,000 aireryairery, which is equal to $5.00 cdn.  The average income per month is 30,000 aireryairery, so this is pretty good for them.

 On the beach down from the golf course where we have lunch afterwards.  Pretty nice place.

 Us having lunch.  They have the best garlic shrimp here.  A nice place to stay for the weekend.  Go golfing, then lunch, a swim in the pool, a walk on the beach.  They will take you out snorkelling and for a boat ride.  Beautiful area.

A road in town.   When it rains here, it rains.  The poor pousse pousse drivers can loose their pousses's in the holes in the road.  Within a couple of hours, the water's gone.  Of course the humidity is high, but it's great for the skin!

 Infrastructure here is poor.  This is a hole in road on the way to the golf course.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  It's about 3 feet by 4 feet wide and about 3 feet deep.  Apparently a lady hit the hole with her vehicle.  It wasn't pretty.

This is Joan and Clint behind us.  You can see one of the holes with water.  You need to avoid these, as these holes can be a couple of feet deep.

Blog #3 Sherry from Tamatave

Well, it's been a long week and a half.  So much going on, it's hard to take in and remember.  I'm trying to write down some highlights so I can remember what to say, but...

The wedding 2 Saturdays ago was nice and a wonderful experience.  Zacka, our driver was getting married and invited us to the wedding.  He said the ceremony started at 11:00 am in a small village about 30 minutes from here.  So, being the "on time" kind of people we are, we arrived at 10:30 am (need to get that front row), ha...  We drive to the village (or what we think is the village) and or course no one is around.  The locals are looking at us, probably wondering what the vazas (what the locals call us) are doing here.  We're not sure if this is even the right place.  We wait, as the villagers are staring at us and smirking -we felt like we were in a fishbowl.  After about 10-15 minutes, we decide to travel back towards Melville, and wait there.  Melville is a place where the French hand planted 26 kilometres of palm trees many years ago.  The are planted all in a row and have vines and ferns growing up the bark.  It is absolutely beautiful.  This is a park like area, and not sure what the French had in mind for this.  We thought that we would wait there, and see if we could see Zacka and his bride driving down the road.  We pulled into a tiny roadway and park facing the main road.  There was a local walking down the road, yelling at the top of his lungs and waving his hands.  There's no one around, and we're not sure if he's drunk, mad, or what the problem is.  He doesn't see us, but we can see him. We decided get out anyways, take a few pictures, then I'm feeling a little uncomfortable with this guy.  Course I want to get into the vehicle and leave, but Rick doesn't.  He says, relax, don't worry.  So, I get in anyways (I can always lock the door), then suddenly he gets in, starts the vehicle and drives out.  I'm thinking this is odd, but don't say anything.  Once we're on the road, he informs me that there were 2 uniformed locals with clubs coming down the path towards us.  Apparently we were on private property and they DON'T LIKE THAT.  We ended up seeing Zacka, and followed him to the ceremony.  (we were in the right village).  The ceremony was in the village's town hall, which consisted of an open air cement building with a tin roof. (picture below) We had to wait almost an hour before the Mayor of the village (which is the one who performs the ceremony) came.  In Madagascar, you need to perform your ceremony at a town hall first, then you may have a church ceremony if you wish.  Did I mention is was over 40 degrees & 100% humidity?  Oh my God!  I thought we were going to die.  Once the ceremony was over, we came to our air conditioned home for about an hour, then left for the hall.  Once arriving at the hall,  Zacka comes out to greet us, and brings us to the front of the hall -we're sitting up front with them, unbeknownst to us, we were the Guests of Honor (because Rick is Zacka's boss)!   The meal was very good and the desert was a third of a pineapple cut. (picture below) They cut it very fancy, and looked very nice, and was very tasty.  In a Malagasy wedding the Groom, his brothers, Father, uncles, and men closse to the groom are most important, unlike North American weddings, where usually the Bride and Mother of the Bride are the 2 most important people.   The bride had a lovely short white dress, no veil, and there were no bridesmaid or groomsmen.  At the hall, everyone drank, ate, and later on danced.  We had to leave, as we had another function that night.  All in all the wedding was very nice and similar to our weddings.

 Rick at the 26 kilos of planted palms.

 The wedding cars.

 More palms

 Bride and Groom

 Zacka (Groom) giving a speech.  He even gave a little speech in English for us, which is good, as he is learning English!  We felt quite special for that.

 The pineapple dessert.  It's as good as it looks.

 The village Town hall, us waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Rick, Zacka, Vhanney, Sherry - The happy couple!

That's all for today, as we have a function to go to.  Later...

Blog #2 from Sherry of Tamatave

Well, my last blog let you in on our flight travels to Madagascar.   Our experiences change everyday here.  I had originally intended to write a blog a day...ha!  I'm having trouble writing a blog every 2 weeks.
I've met some really nice ladies (and guys) here.  We've been golfing, swimming, morning walks on the beach (great for the feet) coffees, lunches, shopping, weddings, suppers and having just plain fun.  Haven't even started bridge playing, going to the gym, aerobics, yoga or half the other things I had planned.

Last Saturday, they had a Blessing ceremony for all the ex-pats that are living in the village.  It was 2 houses down from ours, and was quite interesting.  Everyone was handed a glass of rum, to celebrate.  They had a Malagasy priest come and give a blessing to the zebu (cow with a hump on its back) that was laying down and tied up.  It was all in Malagas, so I didn't understand what he was saying, but you could kind of understand the jest of the blessing.  It went on for almost 30-45 minutes, then they sacrificed the zebu.  We were allowed to take pictures, so I video taped it.  It's kind of hard to watch, as its not very humane.  (I have to learn how to insert videos in this blog.)  Afterwards they dug a hole, put rocks around it and boiled the cut up zebu in a large pot.  I left (as did all the other ex-pats), but the locals stayed and had a bite to eat.  No hanging of the meat here, as the zebus aren't vaccinated so they would get full of worms and parasites if they were hung, so they have to eat it right away. - this is not for me.

Later on that evening we had Denis, Joyce and Shane over for supper.  Thought we would cook sweet and sour pork.  Sounds simple enough, so went to the store (actually 3 stores) to find brown sugar.  Apparently brown sugar isn't popular here, and when we did find it they wanted $9.00 cdn for a little tiny box.  I told Rick we'll go home and google how to make brown sugar.  (thinking that white sugar with vanilla or something)...well, you need maple syrup.  They don't have maple syrup here, so we ended up back at the store and paid $9.00 for a little, tiny, weeny box of brown sugar.  (hope everybody enjoyed the sweet and sour pork!)  I have discovered that most things here just isn't that easy to do and takes a looooong time....
Supper was good, company was good, and all went well.

Sunday we ended up golfing at Foul Pointe.  only +36 with 100% humidity.  About 1 1/2 hours drive.  Roads are unbelievable.  You could loose a vehicle in the holes.  It was a bit overcast, but everyone kept telling me I was lucky, cause otherwise I would die from the heat.  (which I did anyways)  It ended up raining a bit and at one point I didn't know if I was wet from the rain or the humidity or both.  We did 9 holes, and you hire a caddy and a kid to carry your beer cooler.  The cooler is bigger than the kids.  They each get paid 10,000 aireyairey, which is equal to $5.00 cdn.  A good caddy wipes your golf club after every hit, moves your ball onto a piece of grass (the course is like a farmers field), tells you where to stand (to me anyways) and locates every ball for you.  Apparently there is no ball they can't find.  Last year there was more water, and if your ball landed in water, they took off their shirts and dove in the water to get your ball.  Now that's a caddy!  All in all, golfing was fun and Glen, Cynthia and Shane came back to our house afterwards and had left overs.   It was a great day!

The following week had coffee with BetteLou, who just arrived a couple of days after me.  We're part of the "new blood", and  the other girls are fantastic with helping us know where to shop, get certain items, etc.  Went to the local market and bought a "few" items for the house.  Had coffee at Elizabeth's home in town with Deb, Patricia, Bette Lou, and Suzanna.  Very nice place with local culture all around.  One night had Joan and Clint over in the evening.  Joan just arrived as well.  We're all in this together, which is great!  Each time one learns something, we share with each other.  9 of us had lunch at a quaint little restaurant called Piment Banana.  Lovely decor and wonderful atmosphere.  Good food, good company, lovely day.  Went swimming in the pool, to cool off, as most of this week has been late +30's up to +40 degrees, not to mention 100% humidity.  It's nice living 100 metres from the ocean though, cause at least you have a bit of a breeze sometimes.

The people here are very friendly, although it's sad to see some of the poverty.  There's a local orphanage just outside of the village that I'd like to visit and hopefully do some volunteer work there.

This week has been so busy, just meeting new people, going for walks, visiting the Tiki bar, the village bar, going out for lunch, having coffee with the girls, walking on the beach, shopping at the market and 3 local grocery stores.  You usually need to hit all 3 stores, as each one will have limited amount of product, and not necessarily stocked with what you need.  This takes time, as the posse-posse and cycle-posse drivers are everywhere and traffic sometimes comes to a halt.  You have to be able to deal with Malagasy time and I'm learning. (yes, folks, I'm learning to be patient!!!!!)  I haven't even started the other activities yet.  Not quite sure how to fit them all in.

There is so much more to tell, about the hospitals, jails, robberies, etc., but that will be next time.  I'll also let you know how the Malagasy wedding was.

P.S.  I found peanut butter that's not too bad.

Sherry

Starting my blog...#1

Not sure how to do the titles, so I thought that I'd number them, to show some sort of order (must be that Dow training thing), so...

By now, I thought I'd have lots of time to create, post, and publish my blog.  Have lots of pictures, etc., but guess what!  I can't believe how fast time has gone and I haven't done anything with it yet.  I'm forcing myself to start this, so I can continue daily.  I already have lots to share, and want to organize my thoughts (now that's a first), so I'm just going to start.

Our flight over to Antananarivo, Madagascar (which is east of South Africa, 4 hour plane ride) from Auckland, New Zealand was an experience in it self.  We left Auckland to fly to Perth (8 hour plane ride).  Landed there to catch a Saturday night 23:45 flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, only to be told 3 hours later that the plane needed a part which had to come from South Africa on Monday.  Thank God for Business Class lounges.  They put us up in a lovely hotel for 2 nights with buffet meals.  Very nice.  Had a chance to visit the city of Perth.  Some folks did not see it that way.  Quite irritable.  I say, jump on the plane then, and don't complain when it crashes into the Indian Ocean.  We toured the city on a tram and double decker bus in +37 degrees.  Of course we sat on the top, as I told Rick we could see more, and we did that day, but that night we couldn't see anything cause our eyes were swollen shut from being sun burnt.  Just kidding,  pretty damn close though.  Got back to the hotel, thinking we would have a little lay down (bagged from the heat), then have supper.  As it worked out, we woke up at 6:00 in the morning.  Breakfast was lovely!  Hopped on the bus at 11:00 to the airport, caught the next flight out to Johannesburg (11 hour flight).  Spent the night in Johannesburg, as we missed our connecting flight.  South African airlines also put us up in a very nice hotel with meals for one night, then caught the flight out the next afternoon.  I LOVE JOHANNESBURG!  I didn't see much, but what I saw, I like.  I'm definitely going back there for a visit.  Landed in Antananarivo on Tuesday, and it was hot and humid.  It hits you like a brick.  Zacka, our driver picked us up and went to the hotel, (cause you know, we just can't seem to fly and drive, oh no, we need to spend the night).  Got up the next morning to go shop at "Super Score" (like a Superstore, Madagascar style) to purchase some items that I didn't bring (yes, folks, there were some things, I didn't bring), then head home to Tamatave.  This is a 300 kl drive that takes 7-8 hours.  The roads are sooo windy, lots of deep cliffs, hills, valleys and or course no railings (safety first you know), and villages that are attached to the road.  Absolutely, zero space between the shoulder of the road and the hut.  I'm surprised that we didn't hit anybody when we drove through the villages.  The car trip was pretty nauseating.  It's so windy, at one point Rick said it was a good thing he didn't eat, cause he probably would of lost it.  Finally made it after 6 1/2 hours, Zacka was travelling pretty fast.  Got home, unpacked and put things away.  Rick went to sleep, as he had to work in the morning, but I don't and was pumped to get things in order.

Did I mention we were over in luggage and it only cost $1275.00 for one extra bag from New Zealand to South Africa, and another $1150.00 for 2 extra bags from South Africa to Madagascar!

This is all for today.  More tomorrow.

Sherry

Madagascar rejects Ravalomanana’s claim about return

Madagascar rejects Ravalomanana’s claim about return

ANTANANARIVO — The transitional regime in Madagascar dismissed as bluff an announcement by ousted president Marc Ravalomanana that he would defy the threat of arrest and return from exile on Saturday. "I don't think he'll come," Alain Ramaroson, a senior official who heads the transition's defence and security committee in parliament's upper chamber, told AFP Friday.

"If he comes back, he has to abide by the laws of the republic, will therefore be arrested at the airport and face justice," he said. "It's nothing but a major bluff but we're not taking any chances." Ravalomanana was ousted by the Indian Ocean island's new strongman Andry Rajoelina with the army's backing on March 17, 2009.

The 61-year-old self-made millionaire was last year sentenced in absentia to life in prison and hard labour for the death of 30 opposition protesters killed by presidential guards as they attempted to march on the presidential palace in February 2009. The sentencing was Ravalomanana's third since his ouster. He was previously handed a four- year jail term and a fine for a case of conflict of interest in the purchase of a 60-million-dollar presidential jet and five years' hard labour over a land purchase.

Ravalomanana has spent the past two years in exile, mainly in South Africa, where he announced Thursday that he would return to his homeland on Saturday, insisting he was still the island's rightful leader. "I return to my country humbly, so that we can return to democracy, and together create a bright future for Madagascar," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

On Friday Madagascar's foreign affairs ministry summoned the South African ambassador over Ravalomanana's plan to return home. Ravalomanana said Thursday the rule of Rajoelina, the army-backed opposition leader who ousted him in a March 2009 coup, was illegal and it was time for him to return home.

"I know the risks facing my return, but cannot allow them to get in the way of us restoring democracy. I have nothing to fear. I have done nothing wrong," he said. The former president appeared confident as spoke at a lectern bearing Madagascar's national seal, saying his decision to return had been influenced by the recent protests in Tunisia and Egypt.

While the autocratic Ravalomanana was criticised during his seven-year graft-tainted tenure, Rajoelina has failed to secure international recognition. The deadlock has left the island in a political and economic limbo that foreign mediations and home-grown dialogue alike have been unable to break.As rumours of Ravalomanana's return intensified this week, the island's transition authorities said they were taking a number of security measures "in order to maintain security and public order." Supporters of the former president accused the authorities of trying to intimdate them. Thousands were expected to turn out to meet him, they said.

"We're expecting at least 250,000 people," Ravalomanana supporter Constant Raveloson told AFP. "People have been gearing up for this for months." Antonio, 32, who works in a restaurant in the capital, made no attempt to hide his enthusiasm about welcoming his hero at the airport.

"They can't arrest him. He's still Madagascar's elected president," he told AFP. "I'm not afraid. There won't be trouble. We won't cause trouble at any rate." David, a taxi driver in his early forties, echoed that enthusiasm. "For the past two years there has been no work and lots of security problems and the price of rice has gone up. Marc Ravalomanana will solve these problems," he said.