I know what you’re thinking. “Surely by now he’s run out of adventures. I mean, no-one, especially someone of his advanced years, could possibly handle that much excitement.”
Nonsense. But before we get back to my Indiana Jones exploits, something completely different. A travelogue, if you will.
As I may have mentioned to some of you, Madagascar is not only the world’s fourth largest island, it’s also the world’s fourth poorest country. Here’s a scary statistic: 93% of Malagasy live on under $2.00US a day. Jesus!
And are there, you may ask, any subtle signs to the savvy traveller? You bet.
Your proverbial ox cart. The pickup truck of Madagascar. And, yes, they’re on the highway.
No ox cart? Smaller load? The bicycle.
Did I say smaller load? My bad.
Your classic ubiquitous rickshaw.
There’s also another unique custom here relating to poverty that would be comical, if it wasn’t so sad. As I was driving along the “highway” the other day, I noticed a bunch of little kids ahead standing on either side of the road. As I approached, they would take a handful of dirt, throw it in a gigantic pothole and then hold out their hands for money. “Hey! I’ve solved YOUR problem, mister. Fair’s fair.” You don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I was thinking of adding photos of these barefoot kids, but that seemed like overkill and I was too scared to actually stop.
On a lighter note, Madagascar has some beautiful scenery AND the towns are nowhere near as hideous as Uganda’s. Not that they’re overly attractive, but they don’t make you turn away in disgust either.
I can only figure this style is a holdover from the French. Not complaining. It’s not concrete with a metal door and it’s not covered in garish adds. A welcome change as far as I’m concerned.
As near as I can figure, Madagascar is basically a giant rice paddy with some humps. It turns out the Malagasy are the World Champions at eating rice (135 kg. per person per year!) and why not? It’s cheap, it’s filling and they can grow it everywhere. I like the way it looks.
There. Now you’re official Malagasy experts, at least compared to John Q. Public.
My latest escapade can be quickly summarized. First, background: I neglected to mention that at a certain point in the fucking middle of nowhere on my Ride of Doom I stopped to heed the call of nature. When I finished & turned the key - nothing.
“”Holy fuck!” I thought. “Please God. Not here. Not now.”
After some frantic fiddling, the engine finally coughed to life and I drove on, sure it was just a glitch. Well, yesterday I stopped to take photo (luckily on a hill) and - same deal. Nada. This time I simply let the car roll backwards and popped the clutch. Needless to say, I didn’t turn it off again until I got to my lodge. So today I’m stuck here while a mechanic hopefully fixes my starter. Then I also have to wait while they send me a new fridge from Tana, since mine first went to -9, effectively freezing all my food, and then rose to +15. Having said that, I could be stranded in a much less desirable locale.
View from my cottage porch
Things could be worse.
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