The next morning started out cloudy, and almost chilly. This was a far cry from the 38 degree heat on the first day (but not necessarily terrible given the fact we were going to be walking for 6 hours today). We had to drive a couple of hours in the bus to get to Anroetra, the place we would be walking. This involved moving on to another "motorway", which was bereft of Tarmac. An interesting couple of hours ensued: I'm glad I don't get travel sick! And this is supposedly "in comparatively good condition". I look forward to seeing what a motorway in bad condition is like, though such a road would probably not be any good for actually getting anywhere.
Anna told a funny story on the bus. She had been to Goa, India, and someone had come up to her and said "I love your chicken skin, I want your chicken skin!", referring to her white skin of course. Well my chicken skin was safe today! For about 10 minutes it looked like the sun would burn off the clouds, but the clouds rallied, and it soon began spitting with rain.
We stopped in a smallish village, picked up a local guide who was to go with us, and started to walk. Whilst walking through the village, children came up to talk to us. Claude came to talk to me. His English was surprisingly good, and he asked where I was from. I said Manchester, the foreign children never understand Sheffield, and he asked "United or City?". They always know Manchester United. He told me to remember his name for later.
The walk was about 6km each way, and on the way it was drizzling all the way. That fine rain that wets you, to quote a certain famous comedian. It was actually more that we were in a cloud I think than proper rain, but it all soaks you the same. It was fairly cold too, and I'm glad I wore my trousers, as those of us in shorts looked a bit miserable. It was cold too, 10 degrees ish I would say, and with the Peak District countryside I was starting to question whether I left home at all!
On the way we saw a lot of clouds, along with a stele with stones representing each member of our local guide's family who had died, with their bodies being buried elsewhere. Also, we found some overturned soil, which the guide explained was where people had been searching for grubs to eat. You have to catch them before they grow wings, otherwise they will escape with their succulent flesh! None were available for trying though. Sorry mum.
We reached our eventual destination, a small Zafimaniry village, about midday. I am glad this happened early in the tour, because walking amongst the poor really isn't my thing. The kids promptly swarmed us, begging for sweets in French. It definitely doesn't melt my heart in the way it does some of the women; I find it hard enough conversing with kids when we both speak the same language! They are nice when they are just waving from the side of the road, but when they fall upon you in a horde, and pester you it becomes less nice.
The Zafimaniry are famous for their woodcraft (in fact my hotel room is a copy of a Zafimaniry house), and we got talked through the main motifs of their woodcarvings, as modelled by a wooden house that was over 100 years old! Then we got inside a house, and had the features explained to us be a 77 year old man (seems good going to me, for rural Africa). For example, all houses are built with walls facing the cardinal directions, and the door in the west wall. The kitchen area is always on the south wall, and guests are always received north of the cooking pot. I found all this quite interesting, and the kids were all locked outside, so that was good. Then there were some local handicrafts to buy, in the form of wood carvings. They had masks, and many of you will know that I collect masks, so I got a decent sized one, and it was only 20,000 ariary (£6ish)!
The star shapes (and fan shapes in the corners) represent the sun, and equality, as the sun shines the same on everyone. The squares represent solidarity, intended to look like a beehive because bees are hardworking, and,
the spirals represent togetherness, like a spiderweb sticks together (they are the much finer decorations)
Then we set off back, our departure just coinciding with the sun coming out in patches! My chicken skin was in danger. The sun wasn't a constant, but visibility had lifted drastically, which allowed us to see some very nice views we had previously missed out on. We stopped for lunch partway back, to eat our sandwiches, which we had bought from the hotel. I got 2 since they were only 5,000 ariary (£1.50), and I thought that if they were small I might need both to fill me up. They were not small, a full baguette around a foot long, so I only ate 1 and a half.
Lunch was quite the nature spotting experience; there was a bird as orange as a high vis jacket (which was unfortunately quite far away, close enough to see, but fat enough for my wimpy iPhone zoom to have a hard time with), and a great centipede. We saw a few more birds on the way back too, along with the revealed landscape, and heard a tree frog.
Back in the larger village, Claude was lurking expectantly upon my return. He had confusingly changed into a tie dye tshirt, so I didn't realise it was him immediately. "Do you remember my name?" He asked. At this point I realised it was him, so told him his name. He seemed pleased. "Look at the handicrafts of my father" he said. I looked, and conscious that up to this point souvenirs for my family had been hard to come by I bought a REDACTED for REDACTED.
Next we were shown into the local guide's (not Mamy, but another man) brother's house, which was also a shop. He had some masks too, which were nicer than the village one, but were quite big, problematically so in all likelihood, and doubtless more than 20,000, so despite liking those a bit better, I was happy with my purchase.
It was then back on the bus, and back to the same hotel as yesterday (of which I was glad, thanks to the comfort of the bed in my little Zafimaniry replica shack, and the OK wifi, which is far more of a luxury here than anywhere else I've ever been: few restaurants/hotels advertise it) for a bit of a rest before tea. On the way back we saw a few white crows, which are like regular cries, but with white feathers all over their torso, like a little vest. Also, unfortunately, Meryl fell ill on the way back, with vomiting (for which the bus was stopped, and I imagine the bmx style roads didn't help), and a nasty feint onto a stone wall face first, which left her with a bumped nose. Hopefully she will feel better soon.
How big was the cenipedey thing?
ReplyDelete4-5 inches long. About a centimetre fat
DeleteSounds like a good day despite the rain and low temperatures.
ReplyDelete