Malagasy Culture for the win

Malagasy Bull-Riding

view from our tent

Jump roping with kids

one of my good friends

grasshopper that was huuuugee

Hey all,

Stuff in madagascar is going really well.  We just got back from a 9 day trip to our third (of three) villages.  9 days I realized is a really long time to spend without 1) electricity 2) running water 3) toilets 4) heating (it's cold here now).

It was a really amazing experience though and after being there for 3 or 4 days, we basically were no longer outsiders to this village.  The village (by Malagasy standards) was really rich and many people owned radios, 3 storied houses, and one person owned a satellite TV and a generator!

Our tents were set up right next to 3 houses in the village and we had a view of this beautiful hill and then a really big valley.

Research is going well, we collected all the data that we wanted and we will basically be spending the rest of the time here doing data entry (because we couldn't use our computers to do data entry while there).

We were invited to a "new-house party" while at the village where we watched Malagasy bull-riding.  At the end of the bull riding, the owner of the new house got a cup of water, walked over to the Zebu (type of cow) that he wanted to slaughter and poured the cup of water on it.  They then commenced the slaughtering, which was fascinating to watch.

Overall, working in the villages was a really amazing cultural experience that I would never get as a tourist or otherwise

Best,

Ian