(Forced) stay in Antsirabe

We are in the very nice town of Anstirabe. It is a mountain city at about 3h south of the capital Antananarivo. Here it’s summer, but the temperature is a lot lower than in Toliara. We arrived here on our attempt to go to Tana to receive our long awaited guests. As most of you know, they had to postpone their trip, and we stopped in Antsirabe (also to get some medical controls). We got welcomed by rain (it is the season now) and chilli temperature…especially for us, used to the torrid south. Against us, the fact that we came not well equipped for this fresh welcome, and could only go around with sandals and shorts. But the sun shines in most of the mornings, and with no interruption for the last two days, showing all the beauty of this city, founded by Norwegians (!).
Yes, because Antsirabe has very little of the dusty south, with low buildings. Here the houses remind the British cottages; they are built in red bricks with dark wooden floors, and have balconies and flourishing gardens. We often walk around with wide open eyes, dreaming of living in one of those. Here it is also possible to find a lot of vegetables and fruits, fresh and tasty, not to mention all the different home made cheeses, garnished with flowered spices…

But (there is a but), lately living in Antsirabe seems a bit harder. Tourists are lacking, due to the current political instability, and vendors are getting desperate. Some of them spot you from distance and offers 10 even 20 necklaces for 2 or 3 euro. We can see they need cash, and they are afraid things will get worst… we buy from some, but we can’t buy from all of them. When we go for a walk, we feel obliged to take street with fewer vendors not to get surrounded. It is sad to see, and as them we fear it might get worst.
We hope people will soon be able to enjoy again this beautiful town of Madagascar.

The conflict escalates in Antananarivo

As many of you probably have seen in the news, things have not at all calmed down in Madagascar. Saturday, after a big rally in the capital, the crouds decidided to storm the President's palace, with the result that the police started to fire shots into the croud...

Read more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7876543.stm

We were in fact on our way to the capital to meet our friends that were suppose to come to visit us from Europe, but after the dramatic event, they were forced to cancel/postpone.

We had a rather strange journey north from Tulear. Having a real malagasy experience with a Taxi Brousse that went "en panne" after 1 1/2 hours drive, leaving us on the side of the road for several hours until we were able to hitch a ride with a car that passed. We stopped in Antsirabe, which is 3 hours south of Tana. We are staying at my old school. It will be very interesting to see what happends the next days... The conflict will surely continue in Tana, and we fear that it will spread to other cities as well.

We'll keep you updated on the situation.

Antsirabe!

I am writing this blog entry from a little bungalow in a familiar garden. In 1986 we lived in the house that this garden belongs to for a month or so. Strange to be back. The cactus that ruined my nice new football is still here...

Cool to be back in Antsirabe. Just went down Rue Stavanger to have a look at my old school. Tried to publish a photo, but I guess it have to wait for tomorrow. 

The little warrior was on our side all day. Let's hope it's keeping up the good work. It's a long journey, and speed isn't our Samurai's biggest asset.