Faith and Tom's BlogTraveling in Tamatave
Last night was a little adventure in poor planning. After
having dinner, I headed to the hotel. I thought I save a few 1000 ariary in
pedal-cab fare and stay at the Lionel, which is near the restaurant. Margo
negotiated a fair fare of 400 ariary and I was on my way.
It was about 8:45 pm or so and I had stopped off to get some water before arriving at the hotel before 9:00 pm. There was not a room, it was full. I negotiated another fare to go across town to the other inexpensive hotel, which I get the PC discount. It took about 15 minutes for my “driver” to peddle a circa 1950 bicycle to the hotel. A few times he had to get off and pull me through large pot holes and over step inclines. I felt like a slave driver, but he refused for me to get out of my seat.
One reason I did not want to go across town was I did not want to go through the shady truck depot I had been warned about that morning by another PCV. I didn’t want to chance an incident, but there I was in the back of a semi-covered peddle-cab with my huge North Face duffel bag looking rich, the general thought is all white people are rich. I didn’t go by unnoticed by the trucker and drunken people, but I made it to yet another full hotel. I called Margo to get a name of another hotel. My peddling hero and I were still on a mission to find an available hotel room. It had become a challenge. He knew a place across the way, but it was full also. Well three hotels became five and my strapping Malagasy worker was really sweating, the night was hot and humid, but he said he was use to the work and work he did. At the sixth hotel they had a closet with a bed. I took it, I was glad to not be sleeping on the street, which I thought about. I squared up with my chauffer; the grand total was 6400 AR, a little over 3 bucks. That is a high price for his service, but I paid gladly. It was a little before 11:00 pm when I got into my room.
The hotel was noisy and my room came with company at no extra charge, but the cockroaches didn’t reappear once I started stirring about. My neighbors must have had a party or something because they were up most of the night. I used my technique of ignoring everything to get some sleep, which kind of worked. When I was awakened by people moving about slamming doors and what not, I know it had to be 5:00am. Sure enough the Malagasy alarm clock was right on the nose to the minute.
Last night was an example of how to travel around in Tamatave. Another way is by pousse pousse. Those are the guys that drag a carriage with you in it behind them. This morning I checked out of the roach hotel and headed over to Margo’s place. She is letting me barrow her bike, which will save me some cash. To get over there I took a foot-taxi. It is an experience, these guys run. I had my bag too, but these transporting machines are more than accustom to carrying a lot of weight. Tourists come in all sizes and shapes. It is still a lot of work especially when the sun is beating down on them. After arriving I paid my new friend 1000 AR ($0.50). In some ways I feel guilty for haggling for the price before we got off, but I get paid in Ariary also. My budget is 200 bucks a month, a buck here and there adds up.
Here is a little story about our neighbor Frank. Frank is 24 years old and likes to study English. He has helped us out a lot. One day, Faith and Martin were planning on preparing the rice field for planting. The young rice was almost ready to be transplanted, but the field was not done. Martin had to leave town on political business and left Frank responsible. So Frank and Faith were going to work in the field. The day before the big work day, Frank had some friends from out of town come and visit. They had a little party at 8:00 in the morning. He got toasted, very drunk, and finally pasted out in his little stick house a little bit after lunch. When he came to it was semi-dark so he got ready to go to work. He thought he was late, so he hurried to the rice field and started to work. He noticed Faith was not there so he came looking for her. He saw me and inquired about her ware bouts. I told him that she will meet him in the field. Then I noticed he was in his old raggy, muddy rice field clothes and his large brim sun hat. I thought it was weird but didn’t mention it. When I got to our house, I realized he thought it was tomorrow. Faith showed up and Frank followed. It took both of us to convince him it was still today. He was wondering why it was getting darker. I suggested that the sun could be broken, he laughed. Actually, everyone in town got a really big laugh, news like that travels faster than the Internet.
It was about 8:45 pm or so and I had stopped off to get some water before arriving at the hotel before 9:00 pm. There was not a room, it was full. I negotiated another fare to go across town to the other inexpensive hotel, which I get the PC discount. It took about 15 minutes for my “driver” to peddle a circa 1950 bicycle to the hotel. A few times he had to get off and pull me through large pot holes and over step inclines. I felt like a slave driver, but he refused for me to get out of my seat.
One reason I did not want to go across town was I did not want to go through the shady truck depot I had been warned about that morning by another PCV. I didn’t want to chance an incident, but there I was in the back of a semi-covered peddle-cab with my huge North Face duffel bag looking rich, the general thought is all white people are rich. I didn’t go by unnoticed by the trucker and drunken people, but I made it to yet another full hotel. I called Margo to get a name of another hotel. My peddling hero and I were still on a mission to find an available hotel room. It had become a challenge. He knew a place across the way, but it was full also. Well three hotels became five and my strapping Malagasy worker was really sweating, the night was hot and humid, but he said he was use to the work and work he did. At the sixth hotel they had a closet with a bed. I took it, I was glad to not be sleeping on the street, which I thought about. I squared up with my chauffer; the grand total was 6400 AR, a little over 3 bucks. That is a high price for his service, but I paid gladly. It was a little before 11:00 pm when I got into my room.
The hotel was noisy and my room came with company at no extra charge, but the cockroaches didn’t reappear once I started stirring about. My neighbors must have had a party or something because they were up most of the night. I used my technique of ignoring everything to get some sleep, which kind of worked. When I was awakened by people moving about slamming doors and what not, I know it had to be 5:00am. Sure enough the Malagasy alarm clock was right on the nose to the minute.
Last night was an example of how to travel around in Tamatave. Another way is by pousse pousse. Those are the guys that drag a carriage with you in it behind them. This morning I checked out of the roach hotel and headed over to Margo’s place. She is letting me barrow her bike, which will save me some cash. To get over there I took a foot-taxi. It is an experience, these guys run. I had my bag too, but these transporting machines are more than accustom to carrying a lot of weight. Tourists come in all sizes and shapes. It is still a lot of work especially when the sun is beating down on them. After arriving I paid my new friend 1000 AR ($0.50). In some ways I feel guilty for haggling for the price before we got off, but I get paid in Ariary also. My budget is 200 bucks a month, a buck here and there adds up.
Here is a little story about our neighbor Frank. Frank is 24 years old and likes to study English. He has helped us out a lot. One day, Faith and Martin were planning on preparing the rice field for planting. The young rice was almost ready to be transplanted, but the field was not done. Martin had to leave town on political business and left Frank responsible. So Frank and Faith were going to work in the field. The day before the big work day, Frank had some friends from out of town come and visit. They had a little party at 8:00 in the morning. He got toasted, very drunk, and finally pasted out in his little stick house a little bit after lunch. When he came to it was semi-dark so he got ready to go to work. He thought he was late, so he hurried to the rice field and started to work. He noticed Faith was not there so he came looking for her. He saw me and inquired about her ware bouts. I told him that she will meet him in the field. Then I noticed he was in his old raggy, muddy rice field clothes and his large brim sun hat. I thought it was weird but didn’t mention it. When I got to our house, I realized he thought it was tomorrow. Faith showed up and Frank followed. It took both of us to convince him it was still today. He was wondering why it was getting darker. I suggested that the sun could be broken, he laughed. Actually, everyone in town got a really big laugh, news like that travels faster than the Internet.
The Frank story was hilarious! That's getting laughs beyond the boundary of your village, thanks to blogging. I'll be stealing the punch line for my own use, thank you very much. Dale
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