Day 6 - Antsirabe - Nadine's Hometown (Dec 21)
Today was the day I would finally see where Nadine was born and spent her first 17 years. Tsiry rented an 18-passenger van and driver for 2 days, which would be our transportation. Antsirabe is a town about 180 km south of Antananarivo, and the road to get there is in pretty good shape.
As a bit of an aside, the current President of Madagascar has been working hard to improve the infrastructure. As a self-made businessman, he understands the importance of a good transportation infrastructure if the economy is to improve. Therefore, it has been a project of recent years to rebuild much of the failing road network.
The Drive to Antsirabe
The road to Antsirabe from Tana is full of twists and turns as it winds its way through the mountains and valleys of the interior of Madagascar. It is very scenic, and I took many photos along the way...
Moving a load of bricks
As another aside, you see people moving bricks like this everywhere. You also see piles of brick like this at the side of roads everywhere. Actually, many of the locals make this brick at the side of the roads near the rivers and rice fields. You see them forming the red clay into bricks and then baking them in fires at the side of the roads. All brick is pretty much made locally--almost on site.
Doing laundry in the river on the way out of Tana
One of the many red-coloured rivers
Stone route marker along the highway. RN7 (Route Nationale #7).
Stop we made along the way
We stopped at a marketplace of artists along the road (I didn't get a photo of the place, but it was quite nice). I purchased a nice canvas painting of a zebu cart being pulled along the Alée des Baobabs. We bargained and I got it for 150,000 FMG, which works out to about $12. Of course, it will probably cost me about $200 to have it framed when I get home. I'm told that prices in stores are largely firm. However, when purchasing from shops like this, the rule of thumb is to offer 1/3 of the asking price.
Zebus resting at the side of the road
Our mini-bus transportation
Railroad underpass. Note it's only 1-metre gauge in Madagascar.
Nice valley along the road
Red cliffs
Another river picture
A bridge I don't think I would want to cross!
Another river picture
Large area of rice fields and other crops
As we got closer to Antsirabe, the crops moved from being lots of rice fields to more and more vegetables. Apparently, Antsirabe is known as the best place in Madagascar for vegetables.
Arrival in Antsirabe
We arrived in Antsirabe around lunchtime, checked into the hotel and had some lunch before exploring the town.
Our hotel in Antsirabe. Nothing fancy, but it was comfortable.
House Nadine lived in during her high school years
Route d'Ambositra--A street on the way to school
Shortcut to school along the railway tracks
Nadine's primary school
Train station in Antsirabe
Hotel des Thermes--Nice hotel we didn't stay at
Visy Gasy--source of thermal water
A road on the way to Nadine's mother's farmland
The road in front of Nadine's mother's farmland
Nadine's mother's farmland
On the way to the family plot
Site of the house Nadine was born in
In the foreground, we see the remains of the original family house. In the background is the family tomb where Nadine's mother, her grandparents, and other generations of her mother's family entombed. Ancestral traditions are very important among Malagasy families. Ancestors are often celebrated through exhumations. The Malagasy and some other Australian tribes are the only people who practice exhumation.
Nadine's mother's family tomb
Debris of the other family house, which we did not expect to see destroyed
After visiting some family sites in Antsirabe, we went to a local store for a few things.
Even out here, you can still buy Mentos!
Local currency I purchased
I changed some Euros for some local currency. The stack of bills you see are all 10,000 MGA (50,000 MGF), the largest denomination they have. This large stack is what you need to carry around in place of only 500 Euros. This is 1,310,000 Malagasy Ariary (6,550,000 Malagasy Francs). I didn't convert all my Euros at once, because of the thickness of the local currency I would need to carry around.
Instead of converting money at a bank, Tsiry recommended a jeweler that would offer a better rate. The jeweler needs Euros to purchase gold and silver abroad, and I needed Ariary for my stay, so this worked out well. We traded for 2,620 MGA = 1 EUR, and the bank was only offering 2,500.
After a stop back at the hotel to freshen up, we took rickshaws down to a local restaurant for dinner.
Dinner at a local restaurant