Thursday, April 17
Today was the day we left Antsirabe. It was kind of bittersweet. We so desperately missed our children and couldn't wait to see them again but we had had such a great trip we were going to miss everybody. The Pritchards have become very good friends of ours. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think of them.
Ja and Rachel Pritchard
The Pritchard children
Oldest to youngest - Jonathon, Joel, Jeremiah, Jason, Charity, Elizabeth
Madame Suhundra
One of their housekeepers
Madame Fara (pronounced Fada)
The other housekeeper
As a side note - this woman can clean laundry! She scrubs and scrubs everything white! Our socks and undergarments looked brand new! I told Walter we need to get this woman a visa and bring her to the states to live with us and do our laundry! *smile*
L to R - Walter, Kristoff, Rado, Ja
L to R - Walter, Kristoff, Rado, Ja
We stopped in one of the cities so Ja could order a pool table for the teenagers in his church. While we were there we noticed a giant market overflowing with people. So I got out my handy dandy camera and took lots of pictures. I am awestruck at the colors the Malagasy choose to paint their buildings. We saw bright orange, pink, blue, and mint green among others.
Not sure what this guy is selling but we think it's sausage.
Someone pulling a heavy load of 'something.'
He's cutting up sausage (which was only grissle and fat - no meat).
Not sure but we think this guy was homeless. This was the only true "black man" that we saw there. He looked so pathetic just sitting there watching everybody walk or drive past him. He seemingly had not a care in the world (though we all know differently).
The busy market and the colorful buildings
Another picture of the market
The guy is carrying a bag of charcoal on his head - the hay obviously keeps the charcoal from falling out of the bag.
Notice the man in the background. He's got live chickens on his back. He's also got them on his front but I couldn't get the camera to get a picture before he left.
Look closely at the cart in this picture. Notice the steering wheel on it. All the other carts are steered with ropes. This guy was ingenious! He took an old steering wheel and attached it to his cart so it was easier to steer for him! Hilarious! No one else had a cart like that.
A tent meeting of some kind
Public transportation - it's ok if you have to but I wouldn't ride on it otherwise. They are typically crammed with as many people as they can get on there. We saw people carrying live chickens on there as well.
A tent meeting of some kind
Waterfall
The waterfall again - beautiful
I can definitely say that one of the things I don't miss about Madagascar is all the diesel fumes. My lungs hurt at different times because of the fumes.
We got into Tana and stopped at the grocery store. About once a month the missionaries get together and make out shopping lists and head into Tana to do some shopping. There are things in Tana that you can't get in Antsirabe like oatmeal and diaper wipes (there were quite a few other things but I can't remember - all I remember is that Rachel's cart was full of stuff).
From there we went to a hotel. We stayed at a place called Le Cactus Vert. It was a very nice little hotel. We actually had towels and toilet paper in the room! We didn't have to ask for them! What a concept! The only complaint was no shower curtain but I shouldn't have been surprised by that. They did have a nice big bath tub and the bed was actually long enough for the both of us and it wasn't a box spring (the hotel in Antsirabe had a box spring instead of a mattress - needless to say our backs were screaming for our bed by the time we left!).
We got settled, ate lunch and then did a little sightseeing. There are NO stoplights in Tana! I was scared to death. People everywhere! Cars everywhere! I don't know how we navigated our way through the city but Ja has figured it out! We commented about no stoplights and he said they used to have them and it was a nightmare with them! He said it's so much better without stoplights. Go figure!
We went to the "Wal Mart" of Madagascar. It's called "Jumbo Store." It looks a lot like Wal Mart and sells most things like you would find in a super Wal Mart. One of the major differences though is no air conditioning. We were sweating a lot! And it wasn't even a hot day. We were in Madagascar during their "fall" season. I can't imagine what it's like during their summer! We walked throughout the whole store and found some interesting items like HEAD cheese (that was just plain NASTY - I have a hard time believing that people actually eat it but...you could tell that some of it was missing on the plate). Another interesting tidbit is that the store was huge with no bathroom. We had to go across the parking lot into a little mall to get to the bathroom.
From there we (Rachel and I) went to a furniture store and the guys went to the hardware store. The living room furniture was low quality and HIGH priced. If we would have moved there we would definitely bring furniture from America. You can find good quality wood pieces like dressers, bed frames, entertainment centers, etc. for a decent price, though. I'm not too sure on the quality of appliances. They looked cheaply made.
From there we got back in the car and drove to an area where there is a huge market during the morning and early afternoon. It was pretty empty by the time we got there. We went to a place where Ja needed to buy converters. There are men that will show you parking spots. We parked very close to the store. No bathrooms, again! Because of that people (I'm guessing mostly men) use the sidewalk as their bathroom. The smell of urine was so bad my nostrils were burning! We put the windows up on the car just to get some relief. The guys got back in the car and that's when Walter and I learned we had to "tip" the parking lot guy (you have to "tip" seemingly everybody over there for every little thing - it's only 10 or 20 cents but still it got really old really fast).
We went back to the hotel, parked the car and headed for dinner. It was easier to walk to the restaurant than to drive and try to find a parking spot. We ate at a place called "Saka Manga" - or Cat Blue (really blue cat - but translated it's cat blue). The food was excellent! We had a good time.
Just before we left the restaurant Ja informed us that we were walking through the redlight district and that most likely he and Walter would be propositioned (WHAT???!!!!!!!) I think my eyeballs popped out of my head when he said that! We left and headed back to the hotel. Sure enough, the guys were propositioned at least 2 times that I know of (even though Rachel and I were right next to them with our arms through the guys' arms those women didn't care). That was very unnerving (sp?) to say the least. We got back to the hotel and settled in for the night hoping to get a good night's sleep as we had a very long flight ahead of us the next night.
We got into Tana and stopped at the grocery store. About once a month the missionaries get together and make out shopping lists and head into Tana to do some shopping. There are things in Tana that you can't get in Antsirabe like oatmeal and diaper wipes (there were quite a few other things but I can't remember - all I remember is that Rachel's cart was full of stuff).
From there we went to a hotel. We stayed at a place called Le Cactus Vert. It was a very nice little hotel. We actually had towels and toilet paper in the room! We didn't have to ask for them! What a concept! The only complaint was no shower curtain but I shouldn't have been surprised by that. They did have a nice big bath tub and the bed was actually long enough for the both of us and it wasn't a box spring (the hotel in Antsirabe had a box spring instead of a mattress - needless to say our backs were screaming for our bed by the time we left!).
We got settled, ate lunch and then did a little sightseeing. There are NO stoplights in Tana! I was scared to death. People everywhere! Cars everywhere! I don't know how we navigated our way through the city but Ja has figured it out! We commented about no stoplights and he said they used to have them and it was a nightmare with them! He said it's so much better without stoplights. Go figure!
We went to the "Wal Mart" of Madagascar. It's called "Jumbo Store." It looks a lot like Wal Mart and sells most things like you would find in a super Wal Mart. One of the major differences though is no air conditioning. We were sweating a lot! And it wasn't even a hot day. We were in Madagascar during their "fall" season. I can't imagine what it's like during their summer! We walked throughout the whole store and found some interesting items like HEAD cheese (that was just plain NASTY - I have a hard time believing that people actually eat it but...you could tell that some of it was missing on the plate). Another interesting tidbit is that the store was huge with no bathroom. We had to go across the parking lot into a little mall to get to the bathroom.
From there we (Rachel and I) went to a furniture store and the guys went to the hardware store. The living room furniture was low quality and HIGH priced. If we would have moved there we would definitely bring furniture from America. You can find good quality wood pieces like dressers, bed frames, entertainment centers, etc. for a decent price, though. I'm not too sure on the quality of appliances. They looked cheaply made.
From there we got back in the car and drove to an area where there is a huge market during the morning and early afternoon. It was pretty empty by the time we got there. We went to a place where Ja needed to buy converters. There are men that will show you parking spots. We parked very close to the store. No bathrooms, again! Because of that people (I'm guessing mostly men) use the sidewalk as their bathroom. The smell of urine was so bad my nostrils were burning! We put the windows up on the car just to get some relief. The guys got back in the car and that's when Walter and I learned we had to "tip" the parking lot guy (you have to "tip" seemingly everybody over there for every little thing - it's only 10 or 20 cents but still it got really old really fast).
We went back to the hotel, parked the car and headed for dinner. It was easier to walk to the restaurant than to drive and try to find a parking spot. We ate at a place called "Saka Manga" - or Cat Blue (really blue cat - but translated it's cat blue). The food was excellent! We had a good time.
Just before we left the restaurant Ja informed us that we were walking through the redlight district and that most likely he and Walter would be propositioned (WHAT???!!!!!!!) I think my eyeballs popped out of my head when he said that! We left and headed back to the hotel. Sure enough, the guys were propositioned at least 2 times that I know of (even though Rachel and I were right next to them with our arms through the guys' arms those women didn't care). That was very unnerving (sp?) to say the least. We got back to the hotel and settled in for the night hoping to get a good night's sleep as we had a very long flight ahead of us the next night.
