How to Pass 7 Hours in a bus to Vatomandry

Backseat of the Vahsa Van

7 hours in the Vahsa Van. (This is the name we have given to our 20 passenger van which carries our group around Madagascar) 7 hours in a van in a place where AC is like a fairy tale, something spoken of but never found, and roads are littered with potholes (can they be potholes if the roads are dirt? I suppose not…) and guards often stop our large vehicle to check our papers. In between playing EVERY single car game & orientation game and telling every riddle that I know, which to be fair is a lot and passed several hours (thanks NSOP!) I took some pictures out the window.

And on that note, I’ve unofficially been dubbed the “game person” since I have so many of them. Maybe my life’s purpose is to become a camp counselor… But since we do have a 17 hour drive to Majunga coming up in March and my repertoire is almost exhausted, if you have any car games or riddles, please send them my way.

Side note for anyone this is relevant for…  – We recently played a game called “Panier des fruits” which was basically “The Wind Blows for Those…” but spoken in French. This was quite possibly the highlight of my week.

Once we got to Vatomandry we pulled up to a beach-side hotel. Staying in bungalows, living on the beach and not having to be in a constant state of paranoia was ideal. Being out of Tana was fantastic for several reasons.

Things we complain about in Tana…

                …pollution. It’s difficult to breathe.

                …thieves. Everyone wears backpacks on their stomachs.

                …cars. They honk to tell you they’re coming and have no intention of not hitting you.

                …vendors. Being vasha we have giant arrows pointing over us that attract every street vendor       within the block

                …child beggars. “You’re not supposed to give money to child beggars because it reinforces the system and usually they do not even keep the money.” This seems totally logical and rational until you’re looking at four dirty, barefoot children holding their coughing baby siblings and asking you for money. It just sucks.

                … and a whole bunch of other things like needing to wear a money belt, not being able to take your camera anywhere, perpetual catcalling, etc, that I don’t need to get into.

So, to say the least, getting out of the Vahsa Van and seeing this was like a dream.

Another pleasant change of pace was our living quarters which are better explained through pictures.

I was much happier than I’ve been in a while in Vatomandry, but then again that was before my sun poisoning, whip lash and stomach illness. But that’s a rant that’s better left on my computer than on blogspot.com.