A Village Walking Tour

Rural life.

People greeted us everywhere.

Overlooking a rice paddy.

The village was at the base of the dome.

They vegetable patch by the rice paddies.

The house we were hosted in.

The meal.

Our hostess on the right and friend.

The product.

The upstairs kitchen.

The host family and one of our local guides on the right.

The children seeing us off.

Sunday, November 12th.

Part 2.

After we finished the tour of Fianarantsoa we began a long hike downhill out of the city and into the country. We were going to see a village of the Betsileo tribe. We were walking on a hard packed mud road down the hill. We walked through several villages before we arrived at our destination. We had excellent views of the terrain, the valley, the rice paddies and the mountains in the background. As we walked our guides explained the processes involved with planting, growing and harvesting rice and making bricks that the locals use to build their houses. The valley is owned by the villagers and they work it cooperatively. They farm the rice paddies on the valley floor and their houses are built on the the hills where the land is not as good for farming. As we walked we were followed by kids from the villages we walked through. They were clearly interested in us but were not pestering us for money, bonbons, or photos.

The scenery was great and the weather was not too hot, so we enjoyed the hike. When we arrived at the village of Vatosola we were welcomed at the home of one of the local families. They have been hosting Intrepid groups for a number of years. This is one of the things that make these trips so excellent. The company believes in giving us a real life experience while supporting some of the local people. We were taken to the second floor and we all sat on little stools on the floor. Mats were put out for us as tables and then the women brought out the food. Again it was a community effort with women from different families helping out. There was rice (of course), zebu and spinach, chopped tomato and rice water tea. All of us were nervous about eating and perhaps getting sick, but we tucked in and at least sampled it so as not to offend. Patrick had told us that they had a hard time originally finding a family who would be willing to do this as they all felt that 'rich' tourists would not be comfortable in their humble homes and would not want to eat the basic food that they eat. However, that is part of the authentic experience offered by Intrepid.

I had had a similar experience in Turkey a few years ago and like that one, this family gave us our food in little individual bowls, lots of them. I asked Patrick if this is what they would do themselves and he said no. So, I suggested that perhaps the family should just put the food out buffet style which would solve both the problem of us being only trying a bit and feeling bad leaving most of it and because water is so limited and precious here, it would save a lot of wasted water washing up. He thought that was a good idea and they are going to talk about it with the family.

After the meal the hostess made a nice speech to us (translated by Patrick) and then she told us they had some products that the community weaves and they brought out little baskets and place mats. They were certainly affordable and people bought a few which also helps support the community. Then we were given a tour upstairs to see the kitchen. It was very basic.

After that we walked back part way to where the van was and were driven back to the hotel where we had half of the afternoon to relax. I wanted to have a shower, but there is no water in the hotel, no shower, no toilet. I spent the afternoon catching up on the blog. It rained for a bit in the afternoon and I was tempted to grab a bar of soap and run outside.

At six Florien came and got me for drinks before dinner. I went down and had a beer with everyone and then the power went out. It was out for a couple of hours. We sat at our dinner table in the candlelight and waited to see what the chefs would be able to make without electricity. Then our appetizers came out in the dark, but the light came on in time for the mains. But it took three hours to serve us a three course meal, which is a long time. Then back to the room where there is still no water. Off to bed. I am ready to move on to somewhere else.

Thankfully the water came back in the middle of the night.