We now share a " little house by the lake!" Soon it will be our tranquil getaway place where we leave the hustling, bustling thriving metropolis of Antananarivo for the blissful quietude of the country!
We eagerly set off on Saturday morning for our second visit, to ready it up for our soon anticipated frequent weekend getaways. Even the supermarket stop for supplies was exciting. We couldn't wait to hit the open road!
If you're acquainted with my story-telling and have perused my previous blogs you should be frowning just about now. Supermarket shop exciting? Can't wait to hit the open road? Have you forgotten that marvellous word I coined: "potcraters!" "Yeah right!" would be a more honest retort to those misleading sentences.
I'm always "glad" to exit Tana for a period of time. In many ways I'm a rural girl here on this mad magical island. Exiting the city takes a fair amount of time which can never truly be relied upon. No day on the roads can ever be the same as yesterday, last week or last month or this morning.
There are the odd moments where the driver is able to quickly "snap this shot" while enjoying a break in the traffic! Stunning view and of course the electrical pole cuddled tightly by a creeping plant lends it's own peculiar charm to the passerby, or not!
We're amazed that as we "hit" the open road traffic going in our direction is seemingly quiet but we notice some more than usual heavy trucks heading in the opposite direction. But we laugh, chatter and banter along anticipating our leisurely weekend.
It is maize season....dotted along the road are these steaming pots of cooking mielies......"mielies!" Otherwise known as "corn on the cob." My mouth begins to water as my memory plays havoc with my taste buds. Chomping a hot mielie with butter dripping off all over the show......"Hilton, I can really do with a mielie. Hmm! a mielie would taste scrumptious now. I can even smell it cooking. Don't you feel like chomping a mielie, Hilton." On and on I drone till in exasperation he pulls over at a little cooking site and we ask to buy "rou" (pronounced "ru") two, mielies. What?! They can't believe their eyes but they can certainly believe the money! Vazas! (What we pale skins are affectionately referred to on this mad magical island.) They were astonished and with a "misoatra betsaka" (thank you) we were off. A mielie never tasted so good!
It's amazing what one comes across while rambling about dodging the "potcraters" out in the country.
I kid you not, a Chateau. Didn't catch the name or rather couldn't pronounce the name! But methinks this little house surrounded by rice paddies is far more inviting. Well, to me anyway.
"Oh no, now what!" we almost simultaneously exclaim as a snake of slowly creeping cars, heavy-duty trucks, taxis, motor cycles, four by fours appears up ahead. We soon realise everyone has stopped. Every now and again we creep forward. Eventually everyone switches off the engines and we wait.....Hilton takes a peek through the side rear view mirror.....
Soon on-coming traffic appears around the bend in the road up ahead......the ground begins shaking and the rumble of engines grows louder till we cannot hear each other speaking. Truck after truck after truck.......
The road is wet and muddy......we continue to sit and wait. It becomes quite festive. People pile out the cars. Pedestrians amble by, always going someplace. Cyclists weave their way through stationery and on coming trucks. Soon the call of nature beckons and we begin to see the ladies head off into the bushes! The men are less discreet of course. Hilton and I refuse to talk about "nature!" Concentrating rather on the possibility that soon we'll be on the move and reach our destination. We spy three nuns making a bee-line for the bushes. I suddenly wake up to the idea of videoing snippets of our unique way to spend a Saturday afternoon. It appears though, due to my inexperience, my video files are too large to upload here.........
These two young men I thought at first were taking a break from working in the rice paddy, but soon realised how wrong I was. They were very innovative and quick thinking. A holey dip appeared in the sodden clay road that the heavy trucks kept gouging out as they went through. These two quickly shovelled more ground into the hole and waited for donations to pour forth from the drivers. It is a given on this mad magical island that if you take the initiative to fix a hole in the road, the drivers pop some money into the "hat" you are holding. Lets just say that here it is a never ending hole and for everyone "filled" there are hundreds more. But no-one is shy in hoping to make a buck or two.
What can one do in a situation like this. Laugh and banter back and forth.
Take crazy photos and wonder when we'll reach our destination.
At one stage two rows of traffic formed on our side of the road, people growing impatient, and there was barely enough space for a pea to roll down on the other side of the road let alone a humungus truck fully loaded to squeeze past.
Soon word began filtering through that there was an accident involving two heavy duty trucks. Unsurprising really given the state of the roads, over-loading and the tendency to come around corners on the opposite side of the road!
Funny though this human family we all belong to. Somehow an unspoken bonding takes place in a situation where everyone is really a captive audience. Like the family in the car ahead of us. Obviously the hand-brake was giving trouble so the young man spent most of his time running or walking in order to place a stone behind the rear wheel when the car came to a stop. I felt rather sorry for him 'cos at one stage the traffic was moving quite quickly, if only for about three kilometres and they had to keep going despite the fact that he was running to catch up! They did eventually pull over and wait for him. Then of course what should happen to us.....as we were about to pull away the gears suddenly locked! Oh my giddy aunt did I sweat! Its amazing what passes through the mind in those few split seconds. Fortunately only about three cars had to by-pass us before Hilton, man that he is, managed to coax the bakkie into remembering that it had a first gear! But imagine my consternation when I saw the co-driver of a truck running along side to place a huge wood block at a rear wheel every time it stopped!
We soon came to the scene of the accident and a very sobering moment indeed. But no sooner had we passed by than old driving habits simply re-emerged and off everyone went.
Five hours after we left home we arrived at our little piece of peace. As I said, the lake side house is only 63 kms from where we stay! A normal trip would take two and half to three hours on a good traffic day.
As we're unpacking Hilton says: "Where are the curtains, towels and bathroom mats? Which basket did you pack them into?" A moments silence. I reply: "I left them on the bed in the spare room for you to pack!"
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