Dispatches From The Field

11 June 2003 -- Chris Golden

This morning Kimberley and I decided to do a walking tour because Luke and Pierrot had to do a site visit and Boris and Ted were still feeling a little under the weather. We met our guide at the Tsara Guest House and his name was Anja. He has lived in Fianar his entire life and was extremely friendly.

While walking through the city, we met a young boy named Hery who shadowed us for the rest of the tour. We got along very well because he spoke French and really liked the fact that I was willing to speak a little Malagasy with him. Even though I have only been in Madagascar for 4 days now, my Malagasy has greatly improved.

During our walking tour we got a great view into city life and got to visit beautiful vistas overlooking the vibrant green terraced rice paddies and the glowing red of the clay hillsides. After our walk, we took a taxi to see a small craft village that made clay pottery. It was very small but interesting to see.

By 12:30 we were heading back to our hotel to meet up for lunch. We ate and soon after were leaving in our truck and rented minibus for Tana. After a stop in Ambositra for shopping and a stop in Antsirabe for dinner, we finally made it to the Duke House in Tana at around 11:30.