Well, today ended up not being as exciting as it sounded like it would be from this morning's post. We had breakfast at the hotel - bread, an egg, and some delicious juice - before heading out for the morning's activities. We stopped at the offices of MICET, the Madagascar Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Ecosystems (the real name is in French, but I can neither speak nor spell in French at the moment), and learned a bit more about the geology of Madagascar. We will be learning much more as the semester goes on and we begin classes.
Traffic in Tana is an apparent free-for-all; there isn't even a clearly defined side of the road for each direction to be going. Not surprisingly, it doesn't always go very well because of random cars, bikes, pedestrians, and chickens that wander into the road. On our way to the Queen's Palace, our bus collided with a car. No one was hurt, but it did cause a significant delay and we didn't end up going to our destination! After a lengthy wait, during which we learned some Malagasy words, we got lunch before heading to the bank to exchange some of our dollars for ariary. This took forever! We hung out in the bank and had some quality bonding time while we waited, after which a few of us took our new money to go buy phones. We rounded out the day by visiting a chocolate shop. I bought a little bird's nest of chocolate: picture coming later.
Onto the more serious stuff.
Tana is, in a lot of ways, a very depressing place. This city has so many buildings in it that they are practically on top of each other, and the poverty throughout the city is undeniable. Earlier this morning, when there weren't as many people out and about, it was easier to focus on the destruction of habitat that has resulted from the city's growth. That alone is disheartening; to see the people is as well. There were children walking barefoot in the street, a homeless family sitting in a corner with only a little food, kids running up to our bus and begging for money...
We are so privileged in the US and we don't focus on that, choosing instead to think about the latest first-world problem. New iPhones, horse shows, whatever. I think everyone knows that there are starving people in the world, but it's a whole new ballgame to be in a city in the 4th-poorest country in the world and seeing it firsthand. It makes you really think about what's important.
With that, I leave you for the night. We'll be camping for the next 5 days, so don't expect any posts for a while.
Ah, culture shock. We moved from the US to China half a dozen years ago, and it's mind-blowing to realize how differently people of the world live. A lifetime of National Geographic specials cannot prepare you for the first time you see people living in abject poverty.
ReplyDeleteIt is one of the reasons I counsel people to travel the world. Even if you can't *live* some place else, at least see as much of the world as you can, to open your eyes to the human condition. It really does help with perspective on "first world problems."
I think it's brilliant that you are writing about your journey here; keeping a diary for yourself to look back on is a terrific way to see how far you come during your time on Madagascar ... my blog has six years of stories ... and it's really fascinating for me to read some of the things I first thought when we left the US. It's a life changing event to be able to live outside of your home country. Good luck!
(Reynard Ridge on CoTH ... if you are wondering where on earth I came from ;-)