I realise now that it was never the fact
that I was a nightowl, but rather that I lived in the wrong time zone. This
morning I was up at the crack of dawn, 6am before my alarm and once again to
the sound of cock crows. I ventured out by myself under the lure of the tropical
fruits the market had to offer. $2.50 AUD bought me more than enough of custard
apple, persimmons and bananas; all ripe, fragrant and freshly picked. The
locals all greeted me with wide smiles and were always happy to stop what they
were doing to describe (through many gestures) what this or that was when I
asked.
At 11am we left for the main taxi brousse
station in Tana, a densely packed block of cars, station wagons and vans.
Before we’d reached the place, a crowd of men had rushed the taxi with offers
of taxi brousse to Antsirabe. If it weren’t for how calm Arno looked (he’d
experienced this several times by now) I would have been completely alarmed by
the keenness, bordering aggression with which the men reached into the cab (one
opened the door and hopped into the driver passenger window). The men had
promised us 80000Ar to Antsirabe but then once we were in the van, charged an
extra 20000Ar for the luggage (normally free); once again demonstrating what I
now like to call tourist tax.
One of the taxi men offered to pose for a
photo when he saw my camera but 10mins later retuned asking for a
souvenir/money in return. How lovely.
The van made for 11 ended up seating at
least 14. It is quite common for people to bring animals on the bus and in the
seat behind me a young man had a very chirpy chicken he told us was purebred
and special.
After half an hour of waiting for the van
to be full, we headed out from Tana. The countryside is full of rice fields,
green hills and sparsely spotted dwellings and little villages.
We arrived in Antsirabe about 3-4hours
later and were transported to the centre by one of the famous pousse pousse of
the city. Our driver, a very friendly middle aged man pulled Arno, I, and our
two backpacks 3km into the city centre... barefoot in the hot and humid
afternoon and without breaking a sweat. It must be something in the rice.
For those of you into odd cuisine, I must
recommend my night’s order. The main ingredient being a local Malagasy
herb/medicine that turns your mouth numb and tingly! Will get back to you when
I find out the name... the dish is called le romazava.
We are currently staying at Chez Billy (and
yes there is an actual Billy, he has a lovely French wife and two children).
Nice, cheap, clean and friendly, the only drawback is there are no toilet seats
in the building.
