Apologies for failure to update until now. The only time in Madagascar when there was fair connectivity, I was laid low with food poisoning… again. My second excuse is that now that we are home, I’ve become distracted by other priorities.
My third excuse…. and a dilemma that still confounds me….. is pure stupefaction over how to approach a report on our Madagascar experience.
The first reaction upon arriving in the capital city of Antananarivo was excitement – Oh my gosh, are those acres of rice paddies at the entrance to the airport?
Look at all the laundry spread on the ground to dry in the sun!
Ox carts in the roads!
Humanity milling thickly along every thoroughfare! Heaps of trash burning!
Heaps of trash not burning!
So many colors and textures!
What are they cooking over there?
The senses are assaulted by so many impressions that you can’t quite sort them all out.
Then with additional exposure traveling from the city through the suburbs and in to the countryside some clear observations ….. Foremost, this is a very poor country. Most of the lives of its people are lived outdoors on the streets, as the shacks/lean-tos/huts in which they sleep are extremely small and primitive, often with no indoor plumbing, power or cooking facilities.
In many places, drinking water has to be physically transported.
Emaciated zebu (cow) with a shepherd not much better off..
Obviously, animal welfare is not a big issue here. Dogs are pests, not pets.
A young mother, proving her worth by making fire.
No telling what this guy is ready for….
Very few old people…. we think these two are probably our age….
Jillions of children. The birth rate is shockingly high.
Along with the lack of resources goes a lack of infrastructure. The roads, especially outside the several cities, are appalling, with potholes several feet deep and frequent breakdowns in the road ways.
What appears on the map to be a straightforward drive of 45 miles can take 6 hours or more to traverse. On first blush – kind of fun, especially since a skilled local driver is behind the wheel. But soon it becomes tedious, and then quite apparent that the difficulties in moving from one spot to another cripple local commerce, severely limit developmental opportunities for the people, and damage the potential for a robust tourist economy.
All that said, we had fun with some of the locals.
This guy saved our lives…. cables and chargers were stolen on one of our Air Madagascar flights; he had workable solutions.
A boy and his goose.
One of our guides has ambition to be a future president of his country (getting some pointers here from a seasoned senior….)
A friendly group of brick makers.
A final posting tomorrow with flora and fauna….. much more uplifting!
Emerald Isle to the Norse Lands 
Striking photos as always. Rather than a riff on ineffective, corrupt governments not in service to their people, I’ll just say that the human spirit seems to survive even in such adversity. Welcome home!
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