While in Tamatave I have been researching briquettetechnology. I visited a few organizations. ERI had an oil press but nobriquette. I got referred to an ERI guy down south. He referred me to a Frenchorganization in Tana named GRET. I hope they respond to my English email.Supposedly they brought in a briquette press a few years ago.

In my investigation I walked into a store that sold variousindustrial appliances and inquired about the press. They said that thePresident of the house of commerce bought an automatic briquette press and itshould be coming from Chinanext month. Wow, I had a lead. I was excited and started to track the Prezdown.

I simply rode my bike, actually I was barrowing it fromMargo, down to his office after asking a few people where it was. Once Iarrived I talked to his secretary, but he was not in, she said to come back. SoI did three times, I got so lost trying to get there the following two timesthat I wondered if I was still in Tamatave. I had a map, but I was stillconfused. Even if you have the ocean on your left you don’t know if you aregoing south or west because Tamatave juts out to form a point.

On my third visit I left a note with my number and reason Iwanted to talk.  He didn’t call the nextday, so I went by. Nope still not there, during my wild goose chase I was goingto PPRR to talk to the head cheese there. Yes, I visited them three times oneday, hoping to get a word. I wanted to talk to someone that knew about machinesused in production of various goods and services. The head duck was busy eachtime I visited. I was told to come back at this time and that time, but I wasnever allowed to enter into his office. Finally circumstances were favorable; Ikeep coming back so I gained respect from the secretary, I spoke Malagasy, itwas getting late and I had a long bike ride home. Seems like those factorsconvinced the secretary to quietly pleaded my case and I got to see him. LaterI had to ride back to Dave’s site in the dark, 10K, but at least I could crossan item off my list. I am still following up leads from that meeting, yea.

One morning I was getting ready to head to Tamatave fromDave’s site and my phone rang. It was the Prez of commerce, after getting overthe shock; I said I would be there in an hour. I high-tailed it over and hadtime to spare. I sat down in the waiting room. I saw a short gentleman leavingan office next door and I asked him if he was the president. He said he was sowe begin to talk. He was the president of artisans, his name was Xavier; Ineeded the president of agriculture. There are five presidents. He was veryhelpful; he called the president of commerce, college of agriculture. Before Iknew it we were out on the street going for a fifteen minute walk to visit withthe other president. We found him at a small fair based around raising fish. Iset up a meeting with him at 3:00pm.  WhileI was walking around the fair I got a call from the president of commerce, hesaid it was 10:30am where was I. I was beside myself, what was going on, we gotcut off. I called him back, I noticed the number was the same number from thismorning. He was the real MaCoy.  Then whohad I been talking to, who lead me here?

I could not understand him when I called him. I handed thephone to a lady I meet from PPRR. She was confused to, but I told him I wouldreturn to the house of commerce. I arrived and started to ask people who calledme and showed them the number on my phone. I talked to one guy I met earlier whenI talked to Xavier. He pointed me to an office opposite to Xavier’s. I wasallowed to enter. This office was huge and had really thick nice furniture.There was an authoritative figure behind a large dark wooden desk. He didn’tlook happy. He came to the office just to call and see me. I apologized manytimes and told him I thought Xavier was him and so on. He seemed to disregardmy story and continued to say that there are no presses in Tamatave and not anyof his Vice Presidents are purchasing any machines and if he comes across anyinformation he will call me. That was it, I apologized again and left.

At 3:00pm I walked to the area where Xavier said to meetvice prez of agriculture. I asked around and was lead up some stairs to hisliving room. He was in discussion with another man. He was walking around inhis boxers and the shirt I saw him in earlier. He was comfortable in his ownhome. He spoke English very well. He handed me printouts in English and Frenchfrom the FAO website. It was about different briquette presses. He said that hebought a press from Chinato start up a business in Tamatave. He is going to make large briquettes forboilers and ship them to near by Islands. Heis going to use sawdust from Moramonga. He should be up and running in a fewmonths. Needless to say, it was not government business, hope I didn’t causeany problems. He was very nice and helpful. I got his contact information andafter a short discussion about dried fruit and honey production I was on myway.