Antananarivo to Antsirabe

So we left Morondava (very sadly) on a much earlier flight thanks to stupid Air Madagascar changing their flight schedules at the last minute. Very, very annoying. Oh, well. Our driver and tour guide picked us up, we went to the Tana office (Louis' visa had expired) and then to JUMBO Score. Now we really started on Part 2 of our vacation.

Ok, I need to take a break and talk about JUMBO Score. It's the closest thing to a Walmart that we can find on this island. It's a real treat to go there. I love it there. Their meat is like, actually kept refrigerated and they have like different kinds of cereals, and clothing, and...well, it's just a treat to go there when I'm here. (Yes, I know I sound pathetic and I think the girls had a hard time understanding just WHY I was so excited).

After our exciting grocery trip, we were off. I'll never get over the meat markets they have here. And now like a gazillion people don't die from eating meat here.

I think the fruit and veggie stands are okay if you follow the peel it, bleach it, or boil it mantra.

Ah, Charles the driver. Charles is friendly. Charles is nice. Charles is not a good driver. Charles doesn't know how to use the gas pedal or the break pedal without giving his passengers whiplash.

The scenery was great but the first part of the road made all us girls car sick. At lunch I Googled the name for what we Canadians refer to as Gravol and we found it at a pharmacy. Unfortunately, they only had a variation, which the girls could take, but I could not. So I suffered. While Louis took pictures.

I think he liked playing paparazzi for the week.

On the way we passed a funeral. They are more common in the colder months. (Don't know what they do during the warmer months??) The body is dressed in gauze, put in a small coffin, and then there is kind of this dancing/carrying the body down the streets.

After a couple of hours we stopped at a restaurant that's famous for their foie gras and duck. FANTASTIC. Just what I'm looking for after spending two hours trying not to puke. Louis and Laurie enjoyed the duck and fois gras, I ate some vegetarian rice.

Shortly after we arrived at our hotel. The outside gave us a good impression, but the inside wasn't fantastic. It's a brand new hotel so not everything was set up yet. Oh, and it was FREEZING. The room had a small heater that didn't work well enough to keep me from freezing. Yet another night sleeping in 2 pairs of sweat pants, 2 t-shirts, and 2 sweaters.

Nice that it had a pool, can't imagine taking off any of my three layers of clothing for a dip.

This is the hotel that I had requested, but our travel agent (who I won't recommend to anyone!) booked us at the newer place. This hotel looks to have a lot more character AND had hot springs. Did I mention we were all freezing? A dip in the hot springs could have helped out with that! Um, not that I'm complaining or anything (except I'm totally complaining).

Our tour guide, Fabien had some stops to make on the way out of town. First, was this place that polishes rocks and shapes them into beautiful stones. As a "gift" we were given a bunch of really interesting stones - pink quartz, baby blue quartz, etc.

He went through and showed us how he cuts the stones (he works with precious and semi-precious).

I was a little fascinated because I used to collect rocks and I had my own little rock polisher growing up. It seemed to take months to polish rocks, but it was cool.

Randomly, he also had a bunch of turtles in his yard. Turtle shell cups, dishes, and jewelry are readily found here (but I'm pretty sure we can't bring them back into Canada).

I never did ask this guy if he used the turtles for show or for making things.

We stopped to look in their boutique but since we bought our jewelry the week before, we left empty handed - with the exception of the rock "gifts" he gave us (which Louis had to pay for).

Next stop on the tour was going to see how zebu jewelry is made. There are bracelets, necklaces, spoons, cups, jewelry boxes, and many, many other things made from zebu horn. I loved that kind of stuff when I first got here, but now it creeps me out for some reason.

First, they have to get the bone out of the horn.

The just stick it in boiling water and wait.

Meanwhile, the artist shows us how he sculpts the horn into different shapes. Everything is made from other parts - including the machine he is using here.

He then takes his shape and presses it in this thing - which I can't remember what it is but it's recycled from some kind of machine.

The polishes it again.

Here is a sugar spoon he used as an example. It's not yet polished, but he's halfway there.

Even the wheel from the saw that he uses is made from another part of something that was thrown away.

And pieces of jean cut out in circles and used to polish the finished zebu product.

The original horn was ready to be taken from the boiling water. She just hit the horn and the bone popped right out. It made my stomach cringe.

We visited their shop, but again, bought nothing. Louis was obsessed with this pair of zebu earrings for Laurie. The entire vacation, he would just.not.give.up! I think Louis' getting a pair of zebu earrings for Christmas.

Next stop was to see how the table clothes are embroidered. Anyone who has received one of these table clothes can appreciate the detailed work that goes into just one cloth.

There is one person in charge of drawing on the fabric, and multiple ladies that sew all day long. I was FREEZING just standing there, so their hands must be like ice!

Louis waited outside and practiced his yoga had a smoke. Yes, he's still smoking.

Still another couple of stops to make before we head out of town. The next one was to see how these little bicycles were made out of recycled garbage.

The wheel begins as a piece of can, then sutured together.

A bit of fishing line for the spokes.

A lot more work involved and the result is a tiny bicycle. It's amazing how much work goes into just one little bike, that sells for roughly $1USD. Everything gone into this bike is something that was headed for the trash (except for the paint).

I was so, so, so impressed with how clean this little town was. And park benches?? And park benches painted with logos?? This certainly did not feel like Madagascar.

Well, okay, maybe it did after we saw some pousse-pousses (which even look nicer than the ones we have in Tamatave!)

One last stop. We visited a man that makes things out of wood. He starts out with sheets of scrapped wood, then dyes them by placing them into different colored mud. He built this saw himself with a mattress coil and he even made the blade by hand. Everything made has wood inlaid into another piece of wood. It was spectacular to watch!

Here you can see the different colors of wood - all from soaking in different colors of mud.

The mattress spring that works like a charm!

Every piece of this is inlaid wood. Every marking is done with this very saw. Incredible craftsmanship!

He made a couple of hearts quickly and gave one to the girls.

And finally, our freezing cold bodies got into the van and started the 5ish hour drive to Ranomafana Park. "Rano" means water, and "mafana" means hot - so we were very excited to warm up in the hot springs that we read about!!!