There’s Nothing Holding Me Back

There’s a common joke that Peace Corps is where electronics go to die.  My phone, which has gotten me through 5 countries before coming to Madagascar, has finally died.  Luckily, I haven’t had the need for a phone, nor have I bothered replacing it.  The hippy in me is saying live in the moment, but the rational side of me is really just waiting for VICA (our monthly allowance) to kick in so I can afford a new phone.  This past month I’ve spent in Mantasoa, a few hours outside the capital, with other PCVs helping to train the new batch of future volunteers.  Prior to our month of hard work, and pre-death of my phone, I took a quick, enjoyable R&R weekend trip around the Deep South with some friends from site.  I live in the Anosy region, but decided to venture a little bit more down south to the Androy region, even more atsimo (south).

Normally, to get further down south, you would take a camion, the same word in Spainsh.  It’s like a bus-truck, sometimes with a canvas covering, sometimes not, it depends on which camion you get.  To go to the places we really wanted to go, you really need to rent a 4×4- pricey for a PCV ‘income’, affordable for a Westerner, worth it on all fronts.  In the 4×4 it took about 8.5 hours, normally anywhere from a 12 hour to sometimes 24 hour camion ride.  Note that only 11% of all roads in Madagascar are actually paved.  These roads are not part of the 11%.  I’ve been on better roads, but I’ve also been on much worse roads.  Riding in a 4×4 is also a luxury compared to other modes of transportation, but actually.

For a night, we stayed at these cute little bungalows before going onto our next trip.

Moving on from that throughly exciting segway about roads, by about mid-day, I was at this place called Faux Cap, a windy, cute little area, popular to many who live in the Androy region.  To elaborate a little more, the Androy region is known for the “spiny forest,” which are full of cacti, their droughts, and salty water.  Most drinking water has to be dug for, and because of the scarcity, water here tends to have a little bit of a salty bite.  On the drive, it was very eye opening to see holes around, primarily because people were digging for water.  This was the beginning of another humbling experience and a further love and appreciation for this country.  The ocean had this beautiful ripple effect which literally made me go “wow.”  There are these absolutely beautiful ocean stairs which are rocks which have eroded over the years.  The calm currents and barely there waves, made for the most relaxing mini therapeutic session.

After a night in adorable little bungalows, eating some of the freshest fish, and drinking coffee from the most apologetically sweetest owner of these bungalows who kept worrying our coffee was too salty (she made due with what she had, and the fact she worried so much about the salty water, which she couldn’t even help, made this experience that much more humbling), off we went again in the 4×4 to another part of the Deep South.

Only a 2 hour drive in the 4×4 and maybe a little less than a 2 hour hike, I ended up in Cap. Ste. Marie, which is the most south you can go before you fall off the island.  Like, actually, it was so windy, I legit thought I was going to be swept off the island.  Backtracking before the hike, on our way, we kept having to stop and move turtles out of the dirt, rocky road.  No, I’m not exaggerating, nor am I making this up.  One of the main attractions, or one of the many things which make Cap. Ste. Marie so popular are theses beautifully rare, endemic turtles.  I didn’t, but our guide, who was hanging off the trunk of 4×4, kept hopping off to move these nuggets out of the way so they wouldn’t be roadkill.  Once the 4×4 came to a stop, I started my hike to these gorgeous cave like sculptures, which have been sculpted just so from the most dangerous, harshest waves I’ve ever seen in my entire life.  Although it is the very beginning of whale season, I wasn’t able to see any- they must’ve been in hiding.

The pictures don’t do this place justice.  Also, the rocky reef blocks just how scary the waves were.  I swear they were giant!  Legit huffing and puffing later (I promise Mom, I exercise, I do Insanity), and maybe a 10 minute drive later, stopping multiple times of course to move the not so little rare turtles, we came up to a lighthouse, and the literal end of the Southern tip of the country.  This wind though.  Scary, beautiful, scary, amazing, breathtaking, did I mention scary, views.

This lighthouse is legit

Any further and I would’ve been swept off, so I kept a safe distance.

It doesn’t look like a cliff, but I promise you it was.  This was all only a day and a half of activities we did, which now looking back on it is hard to believe, but such is life.  Another few hours later, about 30 kilometers, and my friends and I had made it to Lavanono, which, fun fact, literally translates to “long boobs.”  Lavanono is this cute little fishing village in the SouthWest end of Madagascar’s coast.  I just recently found out it’s called Lavanono, not because of the literal translation, but it refers to the sugar loaf which served as a type of lighthouse landmark a super long time ago.

Anyways, these bungalows were super cute, laying out on a different beach was fun, and talking with strangers and seeing how wonderful their lives are in another region was one of the highlights of my trip.  Each region in Madagascar, more or less has their own dialect and I was pretty nervous communicating especially because the Androy and Anosy dialects are so different.  To my surprise, I was easily understood, and I got to strengthen my language, which is always a win- integration is always the ultimate goal.

Laying on the beach, listening to music, and relaxing was such a nice mini vacation.  While sitting, it’s completely common for locals to come up and just chat, also it’s not everyday a vazaha (foreigner) speaks Malagasy and not French.  I got into this lovely conversation with a woman my age, and her two children about the drought in Madagascar and how there’s no work for her because she is still responsible for raising her children.  With what I thought was my limited Malagasy, turned into a wonderful conversation where we shared different cultures, lives, experiences, and joy.  I talked to her for hours, and the conversation I had with her will stay with me forever.  I took a picture with her and her children, but sadly, it left with the death of my phone along with a few other pictures I stupidly forgot to upload.  I was, however, able to save the cutest picture of her kids, which I hope to one day, get the photos back to her somehow.

The road to Lavanono looked a lot less scarier than it actually was

The children of the woman I had the most humbling conversation with

I don’t know if it was cause we had an exhaustive and activity packed weekend, or we weren’t ready to fully go back to Fort Dauphin and back to real life, but I swear the ride home is always faster than the ride there.

A week of being at site later and I was off for Practicum training along with 6 other Education Volunteers to help train the new stage.  For the next month, we led sessions, helped the trainees with teaching, worked our little butts off, and had the most fun time hanging out with each other.  We, as Trainers, got to spend so much time together working, and also, of course used some of that time to goof off with each other.  One day, we dressed up as some of the Peace Corps Malagasy staff members, borrowed their clothes and impersonated them- literally one of the funniest and most fun part of this month, maybe my service.  It was legit almost impossible to contain our laughter, it takes a special set of people to appreciate our humor.  

A more normal picture of us looking normal will follow.  These 3.5-4 weeks have flown by, and it’s hard to believe I’ll be back at site in a few days, then again back in Mantasoa in a few weeks for my Mid Service Conference.  This is actually super exciting, besides the fact I get to see all my stage mates, but I also get a dental appointment and physical-even better, it’s free (thanks Peace Corps!).

The other day marked my 14th month in service and all the circumstances and joys and challenges I’ve been through have made me a better volunteer.  I’m really grateful for this grand vacance and even more excited for school to start again so I can get back to my primary project, and hopefully start a few more projects.

Also, I’ll get a new phone soon so I can take more pictures to update my blog, maybe.  But until then, enjoy these random posts and I hope to write at least 10 more before my end of service.  Until then, veloma.