Journey to the South

After IST many PCVs decide to take a post-IST trip since we were not allowed to travel during the first three months. My friend Michele and I decided to go south of Tana. We took a 10 hour taxi-brousse ride (I plan to write an entire blog post just about taxi-brousses) to Fianarantsoa which is another large city. We spent one evening and morning trying to figure out the train schedule to the east coast (it only runs certain days, sometimes it only takes stuff not people, sometimes it leaves from a different town-what?) before deciding to just brousse it.

We headed east to Ranomafana which is a touristy town with a large national park conserving the tropical rainforest. Much of the plants and animals are only found in this park. We hiked for about four hours one morning and viewed several species of lemurs, many birds and plants, and one chameleon. In the afternoon we shopped and played pool in the hotels. We met an elderly Swiss man who invited us to dinner with his family. This man lived in Madagascar when he was young and was back to show his family his where he grew up. We enjoyed a lovely dinner with them talking about what we do as Peace Corps volunteers. The evening ended with an invitation to stay with them in Switzerland if we are ever passing through the area.

The next day, we continued east out of the highlands and to the coast to a town called Manakara. Michele and I spent the day on the beach drinking wine and eating delicious food (crab with coconut sauce anyone?). We also fripped like crazy which is like thrifting but from stands on the street. I'm in the process of phasing out the safari clothes I brought to country to a more normal attire. While walking to the beach we came across a bridge that had collapsed. The bridge was no longer accessible to cars but wooden stairs were built to get across. It was still very much used by the Malagasy either doing laundry and selling goods. Nothing goes to waste here!

We ended our vacation back in Fianarantsoa where we hung out at the meva which is a house only for Peace Corps volunteers. We fripped again and also enjoyed awesome pizza that was better than some pizza in the States. We had a great vacation but are looking forward to returning to site!

You know you're a PCV when:
-You hate the Fianar taxi-brousse station
-You've made the mistake of taking a pousse-pousse with luggage (A pousse-pousse is a cart pulled by a man sometimes on a bicycle and other times just on foot. Michele and I thought the pousse-pousse had a bicycle when it didn't when we accepted to ride with both of our huge hiking backpacks. That poor man!)