madagascarrific
i'm so sad i didn't get to write this entry from madagascar. nwo we're in south africa and we're with tammy and kelly and madagascar seems aeons ago. but it was so real and vibrant when we were there. i wanted so badly to write, but as is often the case, time just ran out and there were errands and shoppings to be done and blogging fell to the bottom of the list because it can be done "later." sad.
anyway, the bottom line is that the three weeks in madagascar were outstanding. nabia and i are both considering moving there. sorry moms. it's fabulous. people are great, language is fascinating (most verbs start with m and to put them in the future you change it to an h and to put them in the past you change it to an n and to make it into the person doing the action, you add amp after the first letter... really cool), food's good (rice and greens and beef from cows with big horns and fatty wobbly humps), scenery is unbelievable (rolling patchwork-ricefield-covered hills, red dirt, beautiful deserted beaches, dry deciduous forest, lush rain forest...), animals fascinating (and nowhere else in the world...). it's nice.
the rest of our trip was spent mostly getting to, returning from, and being at the
famadihana ("turning of the bones") we attended along with 7 Peace Corps members from all over the States.
FAQ:
Who in the what now?
ok. so nabia's friend had a friend finishing up her peace corps service in madagascar and passed along the contact info. said friend is named Fran. we emailed back and forth and got invited to this famadihana thing. To get there, we went from the decently sized town of Ambositra on the main highway to the smaller town of Fandriana and then to the much smaller village of Tsarazaza, Fran's site. it was red brick classic betsileo streets - red dirt getting kicked up behind the open-backed truck we rode there in, bumping up and down and side to side.
What the heck is a famadihana?
It's a custom observed in parts of southern Madagascar - people go to this "tomb exhumation" to pay respects to the bones of their ancestors or ancestral kings - it's a form of ancestor worship/family reunion. People ask for help or luck and it's a strange combination of joy and sorrow as they press their foreheads to honey and candy they've placed on the the bones - wrapped in red shrouds for kings and white for everyone else - and pray while the band accompaniesthe dancers in the corner.
Whose bones are turned? Doesn't that hurt?
It's the bones of the ancestors. long gone, so no pain. but each year, the bones get unwrapped and put in a new shroud before they're doused in honey and orange soda and candy by the supplicants. did i use that word correctly?
What were the Peace Corps people like? Were they all hippies?
They were fantastic. every one of 'em strong, confident, interesting people. i asked if they were like that before and they told me that they've each made fools of themselves enough times here that they've just come to accept it and go with the flow. we were on top of each other (just about literally) for 4 days or so, between meeting up in Fran's village site and hiking up the mountain to the tomb and sleeping like sardines inside the little structure Fran's gasy friends built for us and eating every meal together, crosslegged, in a circle, passing the rice and loaka (side dish) around and using the poo hole (read two sticks propped up on a rock with a piece of plastic thrown over it) and card playing (i can play eucher now!) and hiking back down and the waterfall bath and dance party (all night at the famadihana - pounding malagasy pop) and laughing and story telling... it was great. they were great. i hope they all read and comment. in a strange coincidence, many of them left the US the same weekend we did last november to go to madagascar and begin their service. for the past 11 months, they've been in training to learn the language and culture of madagascar and begin their projects, each in her own site (there was only 1 guy), the lone vazaha face (whitey), bucket showers and long drop toilets... and during the same time they were each getting accustomed to their lives as they'll be for 27 months, we were travelling through the pacific and southeast asia. and they've accomplished so much. and so have we. it's interesting.
and so that was really cool. to spend so long with a group of Americans, but Americans who have chosen to give over 2 years of their lives to the peace corps, coming up with and implementing projects in a foreign country and learning the language and becoming part of the community... so all the 6 girls and 1 guy were fun and funny and loved to laugh and shared stories and taught us a little malagasy (it was cool to see how the malagasy people reacted when they tried to speak french to the vazaha and got an earful of malagasy in return). Fran, Andrea, Emily, Emmy, Mary Louise, Wendy, and Rod. Thank you for a wonderful few days, if you read this. I much admire your courage.
so that's what i'm gonna write about the famadihana. i would've had much more to say about it - i know i've been somewhat vague, but it's already beginning to get that blurry memory feel to it inside my brain. sad. after we returned to the main road, we made our way directly to Tana, happened to meet up with Boaz there who was leaving the next day back to Johannesburg and then shorty back to Israel at the end of his 4 month africa trip, then proceeded east to Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, more commonly referred to as Perinet, to see some last cool wildlife before our departure.
It was a late, long bus ride to get there, though we played with some aDORable malagasy kids seated next to us - the boy looked strangely like my brother when he was little. only this kid was malagasy. still, though. nabia saw it too. so we disembarked from the bus at the T-junction of the main road and the one leading to the hotel we'd booked. it was dark and beginning to rain as we pointed our bags out to the driver, who'd clambered up on top of the bus where the luggage is always stored. He lowered our packs down, we strapped 'em on, i turned on my little blue light, and we set off into the darkness. it was only 400 meters away from the junction, according to the guidebook. we reached it safe and sound, feeling rugged and adventurous, only to enter the restaurant and be greeted by a roomful of white faces and an air of touristness. overwhelming for sure after the famadihana and being the star attraction, somewhat like a 24 hour reality show for the malagasy people - seriously - they just stood outside our little tent, watching us all the time. so here we were certainly nothing special. we put our stuff down in our too expensive but nice room and went to have dinner. it was later than we'd hoped and i'd all but given up on the idea of taking a night walk in the nearby park to see chameleons. but a malagasy man walked by, chatting with people at the huge table of tour group next to ours, wearing a guide t-shirt, so we called him over and after a few moments, he offered to take us on a night walk. for the very acceptable price of nothing, he took us out down the road to look for chameleons. the tour guide leader joined us. she'd only been in the country 1 1/2 weeks at that point. already leading a tour... so we saw chameleons. tiny ones and medium sized ones. they're really cool. we didn't see their full color changing abilities cuz it was dark and they really only do it in the day, but it being night was really the only way we were able to find 'em anyway. i mean, camoflage is kinda their specialty.
so we flopped to sleep, satisfied. up early early in the morning and out to the park again, this time to see the largest primate in the lemur family: the indri. these things are large, maybe 7 year-old sized, and look kinda like pandas - black and white, big round ears, no tails (just 3 inch stubs). their call is eerie and high pitched - like the sound a balloon makes when you stretch the mouth and let the air out really slowly. we found 3 of them and they jumped right over our heads - huge distances - as though it was nothing. cool cool.
back to Tana, getting a ride with a malagasy entomologist, Koko, who was headed that way.
back to the home of the Servas fam we stayed with on arrival. coming back to their house was a bit of a shock after seeing the poverty in the rest of madagascar. running water, full time electricity, nice huge clean kitchen, several laptop computers - it could be a nice house in a western country - a striking contrast to the reality of the countryside. still, it was nice to see them again and we did some good shopping and strolling around the city.
return flight to Johannesburg, arriving at 5:30. now here's the situation: it's tuesday and we're flying to south africa. we had booked a flight for wednesday morning to go to Capetown and meet Tammy and Kelly who were flying in from canada to drive namibia with us. we would've done it that night, but air madagascar flights are notoriously late and there was no flight leaving after 6:45. we thought it was cutting it too close. on the plane to jo'burg, i signed across the empty seats and aisle and empty seats to na - i want to try to get there tonight. let's just see. if it doesn't work out, we have the flight tomorrow, but i think it'd be worth it to get all the flying finished and meet them at the airport. even willing to forfeit the $75 it cost for wednesday's flight. ok. we'll try. we speedwalk to baggage claim then push our little cart up several floors to get to the domestic departures hall. the 6:30 flights are blinking "boarding" but there's a 6:45. our only hope. we rush to the counter. gotta visit the sales desk. rush to the sales desk. flight was closed 5 minutes ago. offer chocolate if it'll mean we get to go on the plane. a phone call gets made. chocolate is handed over. she says "run, girls." we run. the guys at the check-in desk are mad. we give them more chocolate. then they smile. they tell us to run to the gate. we run. we get on the plane. we hope our bags made it too. na has an asthma attack from too much running, not to mention a cold and the pollution of madagascar (dust plus exhaust from lead-fuel and diesel run cars). we fly 2 hours, occupying ourselves with inflight magazines, yet another airplane meal, and travel scrabble. we arrive at about 8:50, planning our mad dash to the international arrivals hall, at the other end of the airport, but we don't even know where they're coming from or their flight info or anything, just that they're arriving around 8:50 or 9:00. we get our luggage and prepare to book it. screams. they're in the same hall. they flew from jo'burg too - on a connecting flight. not the same plane, that would've been too weird, but there they were. a happy reunion. we found them. success. AND, don't forget, we didn't have to pay extra to move the flight up - same company. even though they are a budget airline, they moved it for us. excellent.
we stayed up talking and eating (again?) and beginning to catch up last night, much later than any of us should've. they're exhausted from 31 hours of travel, and we from change-of-scene from madagascar. it's all quite overwhelming. that's my new favorite word, it seems. i feel it a lot these days. it's gonna get worse before it gets better.
anyway, we're in the midst of nailing down our namibia drive plans and it's shaping up well. i can't wait.
oh, and i booked my final ticket home. brussels to new york, november 2. less than a month. four weeks from today, in fact. absolutely crazy. but i'm trying to stay in the now, or else this time is truly going to fly. i'm here, in cape town, and i like it here. i'm with new/close friends, and we're about to set off on an adventure.
i'm excited. i'm also tired.
but when i wake up tomorrow, i'll just be excited.
hugs,
amy
email me
anyway, the bottom line is that the three weeks in madagascar were outstanding. nabia and i are both considering moving there. sorry moms. it's fabulous. people are great, language is fascinating (most verbs start with m and to put them in the future you change it to an h and to put them in the past you change it to an n and to make it into the person doing the action, you add amp after the first letter... really cool), food's good (rice and greens and beef from cows with big horns and fatty wobbly humps), scenery is unbelievable (rolling patchwork-ricefield-covered hills, red dirt, beautiful deserted beaches, dry deciduous forest, lush rain forest...), animals fascinating (and nowhere else in the world...). it's nice.
the rest of our trip was spent mostly getting to, returning from, and being at the
famadihana ("turning of the bones") we attended along with 7 Peace Corps members from all over the States.
FAQ:
Who in the what now?
ok. so nabia's friend had a friend finishing up her peace corps service in madagascar and passed along the contact info. said friend is named Fran. we emailed back and forth and got invited to this famadihana thing. To get there, we went from the decently sized town of Ambositra on the main highway to the smaller town of Fandriana and then to the much smaller village of Tsarazaza, Fran's site. it was red brick classic betsileo streets - red dirt getting kicked up behind the open-backed truck we rode there in, bumping up and down and side to side.
What the heck is a famadihana?
It's a custom observed in parts of southern Madagascar - people go to this "tomb exhumation" to pay respects to the bones of their ancestors or ancestral kings - it's a form of ancestor worship/family reunion. People ask for help or luck and it's a strange combination of joy and sorrow as they press their foreheads to honey and candy they've placed on the the bones - wrapped in red shrouds for kings and white for everyone else - and pray while the band accompaniesthe dancers in the corner.
Whose bones are turned? Doesn't that hurt?
It's the bones of the ancestors. long gone, so no pain. but each year, the bones get unwrapped and put in a new shroud before they're doused in honey and orange soda and candy by the supplicants. did i use that word correctly?
What were the Peace Corps people like? Were they all hippies?
They were fantastic. every one of 'em strong, confident, interesting people. i asked if they were like that before and they told me that they've each made fools of themselves enough times here that they've just come to accept it and go with the flow. we were on top of each other (just about literally) for 4 days or so, between meeting up in Fran's village site and hiking up the mountain to the tomb and sleeping like sardines inside the little structure Fran's gasy friends built for us and eating every meal together, crosslegged, in a circle, passing the rice and loaka (side dish) around and using the poo hole (read two sticks propped up on a rock with a piece of plastic thrown over it) and card playing (i can play eucher now!) and hiking back down and the waterfall bath and dance party (all night at the famadihana - pounding malagasy pop) and laughing and story telling... it was great. they were great. i hope they all read and comment. in a strange coincidence, many of them left the US the same weekend we did last november to go to madagascar and begin their service. for the past 11 months, they've been in training to learn the language and culture of madagascar and begin their projects, each in her own site (there was only 1 guy), the lone vazaha face (whitey), bucket showers and long drop toilets... and during the same time they were each getting accustomed to their lives as they'll be for 27 months, we were travelling through the pacific and southeast asia. and they've accomplished so much. and so have we. it's interesting.
and so that was really cool. to spend so long with a group of Americans, but Americans who have chosen to give over 2 years of their lives to the peace corps, coming up with and implementing projects in a foreign country and learning the language and becoming part of the community... so all the 6 girls and 1 guy were fun and funny and loved to laugh and shared stories and taught us a little malagasy (it was cool to see how the malagasy people reacted when they tried to speak french to the vazaha and got an earful of malagasy in return). Fran, Andrea, Emily, Emmy, Mary Louise, Wendy, and Rod. Thank you for a wonderful few days, if you read this. I much admire your courage.
so that's what i'm gonna write about the famadihana. i would've had much more to say about it - i know i've been somewhat vague, but it's already beginning to get that blurry memory feel to it inside my brain. sad. after we returned to the main road, we made our way directly to Tana, happened to meet up with Boaz there who was leaving the next day back to Johannesburg and then shorty back to Israel at the end of his 4 month africa trip, then proceeded east to Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, more commonly referred to as Perinet, to see some last cool wildlife before our departure.
It was a late, long bus ride to get there, though we played with some aDORable malagasy kids seated next to us - the boy looked strangely like my brother when he was little. only this kid was malagasy. still, though. nabia saw it too. so we disembarked from the bus at the T-junction of the main road and the one leading to the hotel we'd booked. it was dark and beginning to rain as we pointed our bags out to the driver, who'd clambered up on top of the bus where the luggage is always stored. He lowered our packs down, we strapped 'em on, i turned on my little blue light, and we set off into the darkness. it was only 400 meters away from the junction, according to the guidebook. we reached it safe and sound, feeling rugged and adventurous, only to enter the restaurant and be greeted by a roomful of white faces and an air of touristness. overwhelming for sure after the famadihana and being the star attraction, somewhat like a 24 hour reality show for the malagasy people - seriously - they just stood outside our little tent, watching us all the time. so here we were certainly nothing special. we put our stuff down in our too expensive but nice room and went to have dinner. it was later than we'd hoped and i'd all but given up on the idea of taking a night walk in the nearby park to see chameleons. but a malagasy man walked by, chatting with people at the huge table of tour group next to ours, wearing a guide t-shirt, so we called him over and after a few moments, he offered to take us on a night walk. for the very acceptable price of nothing, he took us out down the road to look for chameleons. the tour guide leader joined us. she'd only been in the country 1 1/2 weeks at that point. already leading a tour... so we saw chameleons. tiny ones and medium sized ones. they're really cool. we didn't see their full color changing abilities cuz it was dark and they really only do it in the day, but it being night was really the only way we were able to find 'em anyway. i mean, camoflage is kinda their specialty.
so we flopped to sleep, satisfied. up early early in the morning and out to the park again, this time to see the largest primate in the lemur family: the indri. these things are large, maybe 7 year-old sized, and look kinda like pandas - black and white, big round ears, no tails (just 3 inch stubs). their call is eerie and high pitched - like the sound a balloon makes when you stretch the mouth and let the air out really slowly. we found 3 of them and they jumped right over our heads - huge distances - as though it was nothing. cool cool.
back to Tana, getting a ride with a malagasy entomologist, Koko, who was headed that way.
back to the home of the Servas fam we stayed with on arrival. coming back to their house was a bit of a shock after seeing the poverty in the rest of madagascar. running water, full time electricity, nice huge clean kitchen, several laptop computers - it could be a nice house in a western country - a striking contrast to the reality of the countryside. still, it was nice to see them again and we did some good shopping and strolling around the city.
return flight to Johannesburg, arriving at 5:30. now here's the situation: it's tuesday and we're flying to south africa. we had booked a flight for wednesday morning to go to Capetown and meet Tammy and Kelly who were flying in from canada to drive namibia with us. we would've done it that night, but air madagascar flights are notoriously late and there was no flight leaving after 6:45. we thought it was cutting it too close. on the plane to jo'burg, i signed across the empty seats and aisle and empty seats to na - i want to try to get there tonight. let's just see. if it doesn't work out, we have the flight tomorrow, but i think it'd be worth it to get all the flying finished and meet them at the airport. even willing to forfeit the $75 it cost for wednesday's flight. ok. we'll try. we speedwalk to baggage claim then push our little cart up several floors to get to the domestic departures hall. the 6:30 flights are blinking "boarding" but there's a 6:45. our only hope. we rush to the counter. gotta visit the sales desk. rush to the sales desk. flight was closed 5 minutes ago. offer chocolate if it'll mean we get to go on the plane. a phone call gets made. chocolate is handed over. she says "run, girls." we run. the guys at the check-in desk are mad. we give them more chocolate. then they smile. they tell us to run to the gate. we run. we get on the plane. we hope our bags made it too. na has an asthma attack from too much running, not to mention a cold and the pollution of madagascar (dust plus exhaust from lead-fuel and diesel run cars). we fly 2 hours, occupying ourselves with inflight magazines, yet another airplane meal, and travel scrabble. we arrive at about 8:50, planning our mad dash to the international arrivals hall, at the other end of the airport, but we don't even know where they're coming from or their flight info or anything, just that they're arriving around 8:50 or 9:00. we get our luggage and prepare to book it. screams. they're in the same hall. they flew from jo'burg too - on a connecting flight. not the same plane, that would've been too weird, but there they were. a happy reunion. we found them. success. AND, don't forget, we didn't have to pay extra to move the flight up - same company. even though they are a budget airline, they moved it for us. excellent.
we stayed up talking and eating (again?) and beginning to catch up last night, much later than any of us should've. they're exhausted from 31 hours of travel, and we from change-of-scene from madagascar. it's all quite overwhelming. that's my new favorite word, it seems. i feel it a lot these days. it's gonna get worse before it gets better.
anyway, we're in the midst of nailing down our namibia drive plans and it's shaping up well. i can't wait.
oh, and i booked my final ticket home. brussels to new york, november 2. less than a month. four weeks from today, in fact. absolutely crazy. but i'm trying to stay in the now, or else this time is truly going to fly. i'm here, in cape town, and i like it here. i'm with new/close friends, and we're about to set off on an adventure.
i'm excited. i'm also tired.
but when i wake up tomorrow, i'll just be excited.
hugs,
amy
email me
posted by theonetheycallamy at 10/05/2005 04:32:00 PM
2 Comments:
So nice to read about your adventures once again....it just all sounds so unbelievable. How could you be doing all these things with all these new cool people! Your chocolate bribing experience was especially amusing. Dad and I were just surprised that you were willing to part with it!!!
Much love, and here's to MORE good times in Namibia.
Mom
Hi Amy,
I can't believe you're almost home! It will be awesome to see you, and we all miss you in the Big Apple. Have a safe end to your trip, and I will see you soon. :)
--Nicole Schreier, almost Esquire
Post a Comment
<< Home