Today I'm gonna start on a slightly negative note. Not only I was kept awake during the night because of the cockroaches but after the agitated night and very little sleep, I found out that I was rudely eaten by bed lice. Or at least I hope it wasn't anything else that could get me into trouble health wise. Why do they never eat what is not essential to you though?! They could munch on the extra fat and cellulite but no, they choose the better parts, tender and smooth! I've got bites all over me. And believe me when I say, I'm in one hell of an itch!
Last night, we decided to modify our schedule for today just a bit. The guide wanted to take us to visit water falls but he said we couldn't "shower" in them and that we would be seeing it from the top instead of from the bottom and that the walk was gonna be super difficult and that it was organized for the tourists. Now. Don't get me wrong. I love water falls and I am not afraid of the difficult walk either. But that seemed like 4h of hard work for not much and even though we are tourists, there is nothing that is sadder than natural sights that are turned into a tourist trap. And so we prefered to visit yet another village but in the other direction.
After a good hour of walking we arrived on the top of a hill from which we had an overview of the whole village. With only few houses and little under 100 habitants, very quickly we knew we made the right decision. And our encounter with Mr. Antoine, 84 years old confirmed it even quicker. He is and has been the village chief for a very long time. He lives in a house made out of stone - the only one in the village and the only one I've seen here so far. He built the house himself, along with the help of other villagers and his family. It took him about a year to do so because he needed to find the right material. And how did he know how to build one? Well, everybody here builds their own houses - only they are wooden houses. It goes as far as the 1947 invasion. In the 1947 French and Senegalese soldiers invaded the country. I am not going to into details of this even as war does not attract me much. Mr. Antoine was only 18 years old then but he was intelligent and well educated, well spoken. And that saved him from a certain death. He was lucky, very lucky. He was "only" thrown into a prison, where the soldiers kept him alive so that way he could help them with the attack and defense strategies. He became friends with a French soldier called Leroy, who (after the peace has been "restored") stayed in the village and participated in building church and a school for them. Mr. Antoine has been responsible for his village for many years, with his wife they had 9 children and he now has 18 grand children. He shared his cold and Oh-So-Delicious coffee with us and every time we asked a new question, his eyes sparkled and his whole body (and mind) became fully awake and alive with his past life souvenirs. It was mesmerizing to watch and I was almost sad when it was the time to leave.
We went back to Sakaivo to have a quick lunch, to pick our backpacks up and off we went to affront the last part of our return journey. And what a killer walk it was!!! Imagine half meter tall stair steps and imagine 1h of them. Nothing to hold on to, stairs ahead of you, stairs under you. Add the heat from the sun and you now have the full picture. At the end of the stairs, a huge cross. Was that supposed to say something to us? Other than the cross, a strong wind was waiting for us up there. But since we still had 2 hours of walk ahead of us, we didn't stop and carried on. It was a smooth and refreshing walk, full of questions and answers about my gymnastic past. It was fun.
As we approached the village from which we departed 3 days ago, I was joined by a dozen of children. Between them - Albert. After he desperately tried to sell me his wooden objects (without success), I told him we should talk about his dreams and plans in the future. And so the question and answer games began again. Albert is 10 years old and he wants to become a teacher. Preferably of the French language. And I must say, that his french is not bad at all for such a small guy. Oh, talk about the "size" - he has a theory why Malagasy people are so short. And obviously, I was all ears to hear it!!! He, with the deepest conviction, believes that they are short because they eat sweet potatoes. In his theory, the people from a city are taller because they eat cheese, fish and meat and sandwiches. And because they don't have access to those, that's why people in villages are short. All of his friends laughed at him, I smiled and asked if it was his teacher who told him. I think I offended him right there. He pumped up his small chest and declared at the top of his lungs: "no, I have a mind on my own and this is entirely my own thinking!" And so we talked about the impact of various food elements on our body parts. It is amazing to see a kid curious and hungry for more information.
Now, as soon as we came back to Ambositra, I hit the bathroom. I haven't washed, I haven't combed my hair, I have been walking in dust and sweating like crazy for 3 days. And I am NOT ashamed to say, that I filled the bathtub with warm water and took a long bath. The tub was blue when I went in, and rusty muddy when I got out of it. When I took my socks off - I could have lit a match next to them and eradicate the whole village.
And as a result of being in the wild for 3 days, I got a very full lips out of it! I say, who needs Botox?!?!?! Just go out, get the sun and wind in your face and that will do da trick fo' ya!
We went back to Sakaivo to have a quick lunch, to pick our backpacks up and off we went to affront the last part of our return journey. And what a killer walk it was!!! Imagine half meter tall stair steps and imagine 1h of them. Nothing to hold on to, stairs ahead of you, stairs under you. Add the heat from the sun and you now have the full picture. At the end of the stairs, a huge cross. Was that supposed to say something to us? Other than the cross, a strong wind was waiting for us up there. But since we still had 2 hours of walk ahead of us, we didn't stop and carried on. It was a smooth and refreshing walk, full of questions and answers about my gymnastic past. It was fun.
As we approached the village from which we departed 3 days ago, I was joined by a dozen of children. Between them - Albert. After he desperately tried to sell me his wooden objects (without success), I told him we should talk about his dreams and plans in the future. And so the question and answer games began again. Albert is 10 years old and he wants to become a teacher. Preferably of the French language. And I must say, that his french is not bad at all for such a small guy. Oh, talk about the "size" - he has a theory why Malagasy people are so short. And obviously, I was all ears to hear it!!! He, with the deepest conviction, believes that they are short because they eat sweet potatoes. In his theory, the people from a city are taller because they eat cheese, fish and meat and sandwiches. And because they don't have access to those, that's why people in villages are short. All of his friends laughed at him, I smiled and asked if it was his teacher who told him. I think I offended him right there. He pumped up his small chest and declared at the top of his lungs: "no, I have a mind on my own and this is entirely my own thinking!" And so we talked about the impact of various food elements on our body parts. It is amazing to see a kid curious and hungry for more information.
Now, as soon as we came back to Ambositra, I hit the bathroom. I haven't washed, I haven't combed my hair, I have been walking in dust and sweating like crazy for 3 days. And I am NOT ashamed to say, that I filled the bathtub with warm water and took a long bath. The tub was blue when I went in, and rusty muddy when I got out of it. When I took my socks off - I could have lit a match next to them and eradicate the whole village.
And as a result of being in the wild for 3 days, I got a very full lips out of it! I say, who needs Botox?!?!?! Just go out, get the sun and wind in your face and that will do da trick fo' ya!
The smell of the day would be a mixture of grass, plants, flowers and burned earth. There is something very male about it. Somebody should put it into a bottle and sell it as a perfume! I would be the number one buyer. Promise!
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