My Walk Home Cont'd

9/23 Friday evening and I just got home a bit ago from my first walk home! It took about 75 minutes to get from our program center, which is located in the North part of the city-center, to my house located in a southern neighborhood removed from the center. I brought my camera along and this post will just describe the pictures in more detail than their titles.

First up is the taxi-be that I take to and from school everyday: the 139! It is usually red like in the first picture but there are a few out there that are hot pink and purple as seen in photo 2. Some have a sliding door on the side that you enter from while others have one that opens in the back. No matter the type of car, all taxi-bes have a driver and another worker who’s job is to collect the bus fare as well as call out where the bus is going and which stop is coming up. When you arrive you tell the worker “misy miala” and he alerts the driver to stop so you can get off. The smaller ones are made for 12 people not including children sitting on laps and the bigger for 16 but in reality full capacity is closer to 20 and 22 respectively.

Nabbed a picture of one of the taxis here as well. They are generally very old (some even 30+ years old) and may or may not require being hotwired each time they are started. Gas is extremely expensive so filling up the tank is extremely uncommon – much more likely is driving around near empty with an extra water bottle filled with gasoline under the driver’s seat in case the passenger has requested a long drive. Also worth noting, they are unmetered and you must agree/bargain a price before getting in. That means that the price goes up if you are a vazaha or if it is late at night etc… Worst taxi that I have taken was the one that required I hold the door closed while we drove.

Antananarivo is a very spread out city with essentially no planning. There are main roads that you can take but the city is filled with staircases everywhere you look. Some are big, some are narrow, some cement, some dirt, some lead to private residences, others are shortcuts. The only way to know where a staircase takes you is to try it out. The next few pictures are just a few examples of some staircases I passed by.

The concept of a store is very loose here. There are traditional stores that rent space in a building but the Malagasy are also extremely creative in their building practices and can set up shop just about anywhere.

The rest of the pictures are just random sights and views that I found interesting. A woman standing in front of a more legitimate store with her baby tied to her back via a traditional piece of Malagasy clothing called a “lamba” also balancing a large bag on her head as she walks home. A kid in a rice paddy. A few examples of nicer cement buildings and the backyard/dryer of a group of houses. The chain of gas station that has my favorite color way of the 3. The view from a block or two from my house; I usually come home around sunset and this view is even better when the sky is pink and orange. A barbed wire fence covered in beautiful flowers. And finally, one of the many chickens I encountered that roam the city.