Posts Tagged ‘kids’
Baobab Alley
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
I expected more from Madagascar’s Baobab Alley – probably the most recognizable place in the whole country. I’ve seen ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kkaplin’s photographs of this site before and must confess: the pictures are much more impressive than the real thing.
Local children here are noticeably spoiled by tourists. They have figured out a long time ago westerners want to take their picture and are not extremely thrilled to see their own image on the digital screen. Well, at least they are not faking it. “Photo?” they come and ask as I photograph the baobabs. I take their picture, show it to them and keep on walking. They grab me by both hands, on each side, and walk with me singing a rather forced sounding “frère Jaka” until we reach the end of the alley and a stand with selling fruits of the baobab. There they stand in front of me in a line – ready to receive a reward for their trouble. I had three cookies remaining from today’s breakfast and I gave each child a cookie. One boy didn’t want to share and grabbed an extra cookie intended for a little girl. Adults intervened, and the greedy boy reluctantly had to part with half of what he thought was his deserved bounty.
Tags: flora, kids
Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar | No Comments »
Vazah in Madagascar
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
If you’ve got money you’ll travel Madagascar by plane getting a bird’s eye view of the rectangular patches of rice fields in all possible shades of green. If you wish to see what’s in between the protected areas and beaches that you most likely came here for, you’ll hire a jeep and maybe even ask your driver to slow down as you pass through a village, to take a quick picture of a local woman – her face painted with a special white, yellow, or orange cream to better the skin. But nothing will bring you closer to the real – not as cuddly as might seem from afar, but nevertheless real – Madagascar, as a two (three, four, five) day ride in a taxi-brousse (bush-taxi, Japanese minivan with seating for fourteen passengers, but generally squeezing in twenty or more).
Though in the last three years many Madagascar roads have been paved, locals still only seldom see a vazah – a white person, a stranger – crammed in with the rest of the Malagasies in a taxi-brousse. On one occasion, when a radiator blew in a our taxi-brousse, I passed the time showing a few local children the pictures from our guidebook. I was so enthralled with watching their reaction to images of chameleons and lemurs, I barely noticed that the whole village we just passed gathered to see what the vazah is showing. I looked up and found out that an amphitheater formed around me – smaller, braver by innocence children in the front, giggling teenagers behind them, and in the back, as if supervising but really curious, adults.
The pictures in the book soon became old news when I pulled out the camera. From our days on the Rio Napo, a tributary of the Amazon, I knew children will be entertained by their own photographs much more than those of lemurs or monkeys. I didn’t think the adults will get a kick out of it as well, but women opened their eyes wide and stepped back a bit clasping their hands to their mouths, startled at first, but then also amused. Men tried to remain unfazed, as it is appropriate for adults of their age and stature in the community, but smiles spread across their faces when they saw themselves, their wives or children frozen in some funny expression on the little screen surrounded by silver buttons.
Tags: kids, people
Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar | No Comments »
Vazah in Madagascar
Sunday, December 14th, 2008
If you’ve got money you’ll travel Madagascar by plane getting a bird’s eye view of the rectangular patches of rice fields in all possible shades of green. If you wish to see what’s in between the protected areas and beaches that you most likely came here for, you’ll hire a jeep and maybe even ask your driver to slow down as you pass through a village, to take a quick picture of a local woman – her face painted with a special white, yellow, or orange cream to better the skin. But nothing will bring you closer to the real – not as cuddly as might seem from afar, but nevertheless real – Madagascar, as a two (three, four, five) day ride in a taxi-brousse (bush-taxi, Japanese minivan with seating for fourteen passengers, but generally squeezing in twenty or more).
Though in the last three years many Madagascar roads have been paved, locals still only seldom see a vazah – a white person, a stranger – crammed in with the rest of the Malagasies in a taxi-brousse. On one occasion, when a radiator blew in a our taxi-brousse, I passed the time showing a few local children the pictures from our guidebook. I was so enthralled with watching their reaction to images of chameleons and lemurs, I barely noticed that the whole village we just passed gathered to see what the vazah is showing. I looked up and found out that an amphitheater formed around me – smaller, braver by innocence children in the front, giggling teenagers behind them, and in the back, as if supervising but really curious, adults.
The pictures in the book soon became old news when I pulled out the camera. From our days on the Rio Napo, a tributary of the Amazon, I knew children will be entertained by their own photographs much more than those of lemurs or monkeys. I didn’t think the adults will get a kick out of it as well, but women opened their eyes wide and stepped back a bit clasping their hands to their mouths, startled at first, but then also amused. Men tried to remain unfazed, as it is appropriate for adults of their age and stature in the community, but smiles spread across their faces when they saw themselves, their wives or children frozen in some funny expression on the little screen surrounded by silver buttons.
Tags: kids, people
Posted in Places»Africa»Madagascar | No Comments »
Chamula and Zincantan
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
I was worried that having GreenGo will sort of turn us into tour operators, but our first time taking people on a day trip along with us wasn’t that bad at all. In fact, I am much more outgoing when I feel other people are in my responsibility (even if they are not).
( more… )
Tags: culture, kids
Posted in Places»North America»Mexico | No Comments »
I like it here in Buenos Aires
Tuesday, February 28th, 2006
It is both vibrant and calm at the same time, and I can see why people come here and understand why some even stay. We spent enough time here to say, in all honesty, that if you come here, you’ll never regret it. Be it for the people who dance tango in the park in their sneakers on Sunday, or put on a colorful carnival with drums and flags on a Tuesday night, or the architecture and the nightlife.
O yeah. Also in BA, new and original way for children to ask people for money. $1 will get you a dashing portrait and the fuzzy warm feeling of helping an aspiring artist.
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