Amazing things about Madagascar

There are many things about Madagascar I've wanted to share....many of the things you just don't see in America.

--The Malagasy people are friendly and mostly very hard working. They are amazingly resourceful and use every part of a thing without wasting. Every part of the cow is used, including the horns, out of which they make beautiful things. We have visited a place that makes jewelry, salt and pepper shakers, spoons, games, etc. out of the horns. Their process is very interesting: they boil them and use wax and molds. Then, when they polish it, they use an old washing machine motor and put cut up jeans on it as a polisher. Also, there are people who use cut up cans to make toy bicycles and pousse pousses. They use out of date IV tubing for the tires.


--Many of the men pull pousse-pousses (rickshaw type things that may be used to carry people, furniture, motorcycles, or even dead pigs) all day with bare feet running on hot concrete, rocks, and through mud holes. They must have built in leather on their feet from years of doing this.

--It is more common to see multiple people on bikes than singles, I think. Many times one person steers and sits on the middle bar behind the handle bars and the other one pedals. Adam and I tried riding together (once) and gained even more respect for them as it is super difficult...and painful...and hilariously funny. We have seen three people on a bike before and Emma spotted 5 people on a motorcycle the other day (3 kids and 2 adults). How do they do it? It's not very safe, but in most cases, they are doing what they have to to get by and get where they need to go. It is amazing that we have only seen one accident with a motorcycle.

--Many people live in the mountains and come down to the city to work, which is miles away.

The ladies carry large loads of clothes, sticks, baskets of food on their heads...while climbing up or down a mountain! Amazing! We have even seen kids carrying pretty large loads balanced on their heads.

--Sometimes we even see kids run through the neighborhood playing without supervision many times, even little 3-year-olds with their brothers and sisters. I hate to see this, but they usually seem to manage quite well.

--Did you know that it is perfectly normal to have a whole herd of omby (the cows here that usually have humps on their backs) going down a main street in the middle of traffic?

--The bathrooms here at some places are outhouses with a hole in the ground...usually with no toilet paper. We carry tissues and try to go before we leave the house. This is quite an adjustment. Yes, we do have a regular toilet and so many other places do as well.

--Most Malagasy people eat rice 3 meals a day (if they are able to afford 3 meals)

--We do see chameleons pretty frequently here. We have had 3 different ones in our yard. The first was a small, colorful guy. The girls and I put him in a box, then I read that they can eat 18-20 bugs a day and knew he would be better off in the yard; he disappeared that day, never to be seen again. We had another one that hung around awhile and we watched him a lot. The girls named him Paschal. He was a slow mover, always easy to find. He died. We are sure he died peacefully. We currently have another one, but haven't seen him in about a week. They blend in so well. They are so cute and their eyes can go two different ways at the same time. One will look up and one will look down. Their little feet have only two little parts like pinchers. We love to watch them climb and walk.. Sometimes they have meat and vegetables in sauce to go with it called loaka.

--There are places everywhere that sell meat. Chickens, cows (again, every part of it), pigs (also, every part) either hanging on hooks or laid out on the counter in the open air all day long. We go buy it in the morning usually and haven't gotten sick, praise the Lord.

--Adam just got to ride in his first taxi-be here...a small station wagon. There was a middle seat built for three and they insisted that it was a five person seat. There were 4 adults already crammed together, but those running the show asked them to make room for one more. Adam and the other men said there was no room, but they made them get out and showed them how to stagger by a few sitting toward the back of the seat and a couple on the front edge of the seat. So, yes, five adults in a middle seat is possible, but terribly painful.