Field Trip to the Rainforest

After almost two months in Madagascar, I have finally seen some of the crazy biodiversity this country is so famous for. It was just in time too because I was beginning to think I would have to change the subtitle of my blog since I had yet to spot a single lemur.

We went on a field trip to Andasibe, a village in the forest corridor a couple hours east of the capital. For the first time I really felt like I was in Madagascar. We got to romp through the rainforest all weekend so there were lots of lemur and chameleon sighting. There also were lots of mosquitoes but I thought it was a fair trade. I even got to plant a tree during a mini reforestation lesson. It was pretty cool to get to leave a permanent mark like that…that is of course if I didn’t kill the tree in the transplanting process. And given my lack of expertise with all things plant related I guess it’s highly likely that my tree is dead already. But it’s the thought that counts, right?

One interesting note I’d like to include about traveling in Madagascar, however, is the lodging situation. We were fortunate enough to stay in a hotel advertised as providing the “cultural experience” which is really a way to glorify staying at the cheapest hotel in the area. So “cultural experience” translated to rooms with light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, electricity that was on sometimes, communal bathrooms that sometimes worked, communal cold water showers (why do they insist on teasing us with the hot water knob when there is no hot water?) and large piles of rubble all around the outside. I do think that the hotel may have been under construction which could account for the rubble and lack of mosquito nets on some beds. Now for me the fact that this hotel had running water and electricity at all made it pretty luxurious. However, I couldn’t help but think about American and European tourists who get off the plane and walk into a hotel that looks like it could fall over at any moment and may or may not be surrounded by a junk yard. I mean, what must these people think? And how absurd is it that the state of this hotel didn’t even phase me until I thought about it from the perspective of someone who would be staying there for their exotic, tropical vacation? I guess this is all part of the cultural exchange that Peace Corps aims for.