When I originally proposed this trip to my family back when we were living in California, I offered that each Haley Boy would be picking a country that no one else could veto. We handed the globe to Corbin and told him he could pick any country in the world and we would live there for a month. Several days later, Corbin told us his choice: Madagascar.
At first I was a bit apprehensive about this choice but grew to appreciate what a great choice it was. Having lived in Malawi for two years with the Peace Corps, I could do Africa. No problem. I just wasn't sure Terry and Corbin would be able to deal with the poverty, malaria and different way of life.
As the trip planning continued, it turned out to be one of the countries that I became most excited about. Very few Americans make it here. It is literally the other side of the world. If you dig straight down from Los Angeles, you don't end up in China; you'd not be far from Madagascar somewhere in the Indian Ocean.
We landed at the airport in the capital city, Antananarivo yesterday afternoon. Because it is such a mouthful, the locals just call it "Tana". Much easier! Immediately we were faced with "developing country" living. The customs official processing our tourist visas asked me ten times for a "gift". I played dumb but was extremely uncomfortable. He only asked once his supervisor stepped away. Do I pay him something and risk being seen bribing an official? Or do I just do nothing and risk having more problems?
In the end, I chose to play dumb and nothing bad happened. But it was a wake up call on how much of the world works. After collecting our bags, we were greeted by a man from our hotel holding a sign with our name. It was a welcome sight in a foreign land.
None of our ATM cards worked so we left the airport with no money. Our driver said there was a bank on the way. He stopped about 15 minutes later, parked off the main road and we ran down to try our luck with another bank. Unfortunately, neither card worked there and so far we haven't been able to get any money in Madagascar. It's a bit of a pain but "TIA": This is Africa.
When we got back to the car on the main road, it was surround by police with large guns and rifles. We stayed back to not get involved. We assumed that he wasn’t supposed to park off the road. Well, it turned out that he was parked directly across the street from US Embassy! The police were called by the embassy. After the bombing of the embassy in Kenya, I think they are on high alert all around the world. He didn’t get a ticket or anything but he was visibly shaken by the whole thing.
Tana is a modern African city set on some rolling hills. The streets are vibrant and everyone is well dressed and everyone there was wearing shoes. I remember arriving in Johannesburg for the first time on a flight from Malawi. I couldn’t believe how well dress the black people were. They all had shoes!
We stayed in the Hotel Sakamanga, a 32 room funky little place half full of French tourists and the other half mostly Europeans and some Asians. We have encountered very few Americans here. Our room had a fun loft for Corbin.
After dropping off our bags, we set out to try to get some money. The hotel didn’t have any money to swap for our dollars/euros. As soon as we set foot on the street, several men offered us “change money” in soft, hushed tones. Having just arrived we weren’t quite ready to go black market. We tried our ATM cards in several more banks but didn’t have any luck. Finally we found a bank open and was able to change 100 euros. Interestingly, they would not except US bills $100 or greater. Some other place only want $100 bills newer than 2008. It will make me get new bills in the future before I leave.
Once we had some local Aviary in our pocket, we continued to explore the local markets and streets. Fresh produce was abundant: tomatoes, onions, garlic, pineapples, mangos, oranges, avos,.. It was going to be easy to eat local in this country.
We found out about our hotel from the Madagascar Lonely Planet guide which also recommended their restaurant. We had booked a table but were the only customers when we arrived at 6:30pm. I was beginning to rethink this decision. Ron and Marian taught me that you should be wary of an empty restaurant. But by the time we left, every single table was full. This Saturday night crowd just ate later.
The meal was incredible. Terry and I both had crayfish and avo starters and then swordfish and a local beef/chicken curry. Corbin had an amazing crab au gratin. With beers and drinks, the bill was just over $20. I love dining in the developing world.
The next day we woke up early and set out for a patisserie that was recommended. The French have left a legacy of wonderful baguettes and croissants in this country. We walked for about 10 minutes before finding the Patisserie Colbert. It offered wonderful French bread products and pastries. With our chocolate au lait and café, it was a great start to the day.
We spent a few hours doing a walking tour outlined in Lonely Planet. It began at the highest point in Tana, the Rovo royal place. It was closed for renovation but was interesting to see. We visited a museum that housed relics of previous kings and queens which was basic but interesting. Madagascar had a crazy queen in the mid 19th century that kicked out all the Christians or threw them off cliffs. We stood on the famous cliffs and thought about flying off.
We stopped at a public park for over an hour where Corbin built a mini fort and then began playing with some local kids. They invented a game of using plastic bottles and plastic bags to slide down a banister.
By this point we were all a bit tired so we made our way back to the hotel where they had a nice Sunday lunch buffet on offer that was hard to turn down. Everything was incredibly fresh and delicious. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the blog while Terry and Corbin went out to the crazy, big market.
Unfortunately, Terry had his wallet taken amongst the crowd. Luckily it just had about $30 worth of local money. The big loss was his German driver’s license. We’ll figure out how to get another.
That evening we ate at the hotel restaurant again because it was so good the night before. Once again, we loved everything we ate: bouillabaisse, grilled calamari, and a Zebu steak (an animal similar to a cow). It’s sad when you don’t have room for dessert. They are famous for their dark chocolate fondue dessert. We just couldn’t.
Although our stay in Tana was brief, we walked around and got a good sense of the city. We look forward to another two night stay there on our departure from Madagascar.
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