I am writing to you from the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo. I am waiting here for the next week to finish my Peace Corps Service. As such, next month's post will be my final one for this blog, so I hope you join me to say farewell then, but for now, let's see what happened over the past month.
First up was a round of goodbyes. Here is a picture from my last day in Sadjoavato. It was a great time and I'm really going to miss some of the wonderful people that I connected with like Alex standing next to me. Thankfully, Alyssa and Joe are still around to keep the work moving along and to keep the residents of Sadjoavato up to their quota of foreign residents.
I also had to say goodbye to some of the four-legged friends I've made too. It was a little more of a one-sided goodbye as I'm pretty sure they had no idea what was happening, but man will I miss Socks here, and Momma dog, Poppa dog, the new kitten Mimette and many others.
With my adieus out of the way I headed to one of my favorite spots in all of Madagascar to get a little fishing in one last time. It was quite a windy trip, and it sure made casting hard, but I still managed to get a few bites. One was a grouper who took me under a rock, and when I told the guy poling the boat that the fish was under a rock, he did the most logical of things and jumped in and got it out!
Here is the result of my reeling and his diving. A nice Yellowfin Grouper. I had a fun time out on the water, but the winds were so strong that we couldn't stay out for very long.
When we got back to shore there were these two fish to show for the effort. The Yellowfin Grouper or Alovo Boom-boom in Malagasy, and an as yet unidentified fish that they told me was called a Katakata. Katakata translates to English as banana, so I'm pretty sure that no one knew the actual name so they just thought they'd have some fun and call it a banana. Not that Boom-boom grouper elicited any fewer laughs, but it did have a consensus behind the name at least!
One last walk through the mangroves before I headed out from there and I found this cow skull sitting on the beach enjoying the view. Cows are a very big part of the Malagasy culture and the skulls are often used to denote areas that are sacred or important culturally. I don't know if that's why this one was here waiting on the tide to come in, but either way it seemed a fitting symbol of life on this island.
With that break ended it was back to work. I got a chance to train the new group of volunteers that have just arrived in country. It was a very rewarding experience and I know they will do well with their service when they swear in at the end of September. I was in Mantasoa for their training and so I was able to say goodbye to this sweet girl too. Killer's a wonderful companion and she was stuck to my leg like glue the entire time I was there.
More people going home as Tori left a little early to head back to graduate school. Thankfully I was able to be there for her bell ringing ceremony. In Peace Corps Madagascar, the end of your service is marked by a bell ringing ceremony to signify that you are officially done, and I will be in Tori's shoes in just a few short days!
After I waved Tori off, I headed to my final vacation destination in Madagascar, Tamatave. The first night in town we decided to check out the aptly named New York, New York bar and night club. I was quite impressed by the Statue of Liberty knock offs carved by a Ray Charles impersonator.
The city itself was very open with wide streets and even a very long mall running from the beach where I took the picture above.
To the Hotel de Ville pictured behind the fountain. The mall was constantly full of families pic-nicking or playing sports, or just relaxing and enjoying a sunny afternoon. I myself spent quite a bit of time walking up and down the mall as it was a quite pleasant and serene way to get from one end of the city to the other.
But there is a little bit of a bat problem in Tamatave. This one even attacked me in my room! As I found out Tamatave was quite the place to catch pokemon, and I had a lot of fun running around to the pokestops all over the city too. In the lower right hand side of the picture you can see me name, PokeMpangalatra, which means Pokemon Thief in Malagasy.
I also took a nice long walk on the beach too. Tamatave is the largest port city in Madagascar and you can see it off in the distance in this photo. I spent a nice quiet afternoon at a beach bar drinking a coke and watching the container ships sail in to dock.
There's even a little carnival set up on the beach too. Also pictured in the foreground is a cycle-pousse, the predominant form of taxi in Tamatave. As many cities around the country switch to motorized forms of transport, it is nice to see a place like Tamatave where the muscle powered modes of transportation still dominate. It provides a very distinctive feeling to the city and makes it very inviting and calm.
With the end of that little jaunt in Tamatave I return to Antananarivo to finish what I started over two years ago. I have no idea exactly how I'm going to feel when I'm done, but right now I'm excited to get back home and see my family. I'm anxious for the trip I'm taking on my way back to the US too, but I'm sure it'll go fine. I really just can't wait to have a goal to work for, and hopefully achieve, when I get back, but for now, I'm going to savor my last few days in my home away from home.
