Hi guys!
We managed to have a little bit of internet
in Anivorano, so, time for a new blog!
This week, we have been screening in the
deep country side villages. A normal working day for us looks like this: at
5.45h, the first alarm goes off. After (only one time!) snoozing, we get up
(with or without ‘ochtendhumeur’) get dressed and eat oatmeal with cold water.
We have upgraded from our pro-ana sandwich to oatmeal with some chocolate musli
wohoow. At 6.30h, we start loading the truck with loads of people and stuff.
Every morning, we play a tetris game to get it all in. To get you guys an
image: we had a 4x4 Ford pickup ranger, On the front seat sat Presley, in the
back Felix and Sylvie the translators and 2 volunteers on 3 backseats and then
we had the outside backspace we’re we managed to fit in 6 people and all the
material. This would have been already really uncomfortable on European roads,
but nothing compares to Malagasy countryside roads. There are only sand roads,
which contain more holes than Dutch cheese, and are extremely bumpy and muddy.
They managed to build some bridges, but somehow, the water just runs over and
under it. So, every morning we sit for 1-1,5h in the car, creating bruises and
muscle ache on places you could never imagine. For us, Europeans, the ride was
sometimes pretty scary, but we got used to it quickly. Thursday, after riding
over some by nature created stairs and stones and scratching the bottom of the
car, we finally got stuck in the mud. Thanks to all the guys, who pushed us
out, while the girls were taking pictures alongside the road, we got out in 15
minutes. Yesterday, the car started to make extremely weird noises and weird
smells, it still drove us to the last village. Unfortunately the car had more
trouble on the way back and it stopped regularly. Luckily, we made it home.
Besides the bruises it was an awesome adventure, and we had the nicest views of
Madagascar ever. The nature is astonishing. We also saw our first baobabs.
Today, we (Alex and Renée), Krushi and
Alethea went to the Lac Sacré where a zebu (a cow with a bump on the back like
a camel) was being traditionally sacrificed to the crocodiles. The ritual
started with traditional singing and dancing. There were some women and a men,
who seemed to be possessed. Really interesting to see. The zebu was killed
after some rituals like throwing rum in the air. Then they had to divide the
body into pieces with an axe while the crocodiles were already waiting for
their breakfast. Half of the body goes to the crocodiles, and the other half
goes to the attending people. We were fine with not having a part. After that,
we spent the day washing some clothes. It took us 1,5h! We’re so grateful now
to have washing machines at home.
Tomorrow, we will go to Ankaranana, the
national Park. Where we will hopefully see some lemurs. The rest of the
volunteers are spending their weekend in Diego.
We all miss you very much, and especially
the washing machines, our own mattresses,
enough seats for people in the car, Belgium fries, hagelslag, Doritos Chili, a
warm shower, Facebook every day, asphalt roads, electricity 24h a day, .. But
don’t worry, we’ll easily survive. At this moment, Alethea is cooking her
famous Italian spaghetti sauce on our little BBQ, which we’re now able to get
started in 10 minutes (we’re already BBQ pro’s) and we’ll have Dutch stroopwafels
for dessert.
Have a good evening and you’ll hear from
us!
Alex and Renée
(Sorry but no pictures, we’re using the NGO’s
internet and we don’t want to use all credit!)
