Hitting the Road

With the workshop over, my vacation time had begun…almost. I went into the office a whole hour later, allowing me time to pack and check out. That being said, the driver was once again early so I scrambled to reduce his wait time.

At the office we had a quick debrief with the program head before he had to leave to receive a new airplane. When Hery told me that Leon was the new head of Air Madagascar, I thought he was being sarcastic. But sure enough, in addition to running this field office he’s now trying to help out this airline—I’m not sure which is more demanding. During the week I had decided that I wanted to spend my vacation going west to see the baobabs, and I had hoped to fly Air Madagascar despite the steep price (a one-hour flight here was as expensive as a flight from DC to CA) to avoid the long drive. That hope was dashed when I heard that the flights there were cancelled both that day and the day before. Given that reliability, it was too risky to depend on them to get back to Tana for my flight to the US. Thankfully, Leon’s assistant jumped in to help and within an hour, had arranged my trip. The only public transportation option are taxi brouses (bush taxis), which I had seen before and knew to be too crowded for me to attempt. Plus, given my lack of Malagasy and French language skills, I was sure to end up stranded in the wrong place. Instead, I rented a car which came with the mandatory driver who thankfully spoke English. I’d go part of the way the first day, and the rest of the way the second.

Within a few hours I was off. The first portion of the trip would be familiar, as it was the route we took to go to the national park last year. The difference was time of day, as we’d left early in the morning that time and this time, it was late afternoon. The driver was helpful in explaining some of the things I’d observed before but had either forgotten or had never learned. I found out that the brick making I was seeing everywhere in the highlands was only during the dry season (makes sense) before returning to rice growing in the same fields, and I imagined those fields getting gradually lower over time.

We stopped for the night in Antsirabe, a major economic town with several factories including the country’s sole bottling plant and a semi-precious stone industry. As we drove into town, we passed a major dairy factory that was now abandoned. It had been run by the previous president, who was a self-made business success in the dairy industry and had done a lot of good things during his term, but was ousted in a coup when he attempted to lease a ton of land to a Korean firm to grow corn. His overthrow resulted in foreign aid being cut off, creating an even tougher economic situation here. They’re starting to recover and tourists are starting to come back, but there’s so much to be done. Back to Antsirabe, which had some lovely colonial architecture, but by the time we arrived I was so tired from the previous late night and long drive that I just wanted to call it a night. This night’s accommodation was at a budget place that appeared to cater to Malagasy businessmen and families. At $12, it was a fraction of the price of the hotel in Tana or where I’d stay on the coast, but after being spoiled for a few days it was a rough adjustment. The bed sheets were old with holes, the mattress was tilted, the towels were as rough as sandpaper, the bathroom light over the sink was missing—let’s just say it was “budget.” I had told my colleague that as long as it was safe I’d be happy with anything, but now I wasn’t so sure. I waited until their restaurant served dinner for a quick chicken curry before calling it a night. The hotel was at a busy intersection so I employed some sleeping meds and ear plugs to get an early bedtime.

Antsirabe is known for its bicycle rickshaws