Posts Tagged ‘people’
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 »
Up the Amazon in a Hammock Jungle
Saturday, July 22nd, 2006
This is insane! Even for us… It is exactly what I expected, but nonetheless it’s nuts. The cargo boat is the usual size around here, about 16m x 4m (50ft by 15ft), as big as a spacious living-room. However, it is set up for about 200 hammocks that hang literally on top of each other. It is a fabric maze of all colors of the rainbow, impossible to walk through in a straight line. A jungle, that’s what it is. The Brazilian jungle on my left and right, and another, floating, in the middle. The only difference is that in this fabric jungle the bugs don’t bite as much and those hanging from these vines are less likely to drop a coconut on your head.
The boat was to leave around 7pm, but we got here a good twelve hours beforehand to snag the good spots. Nevertheless, my first thought was, “Great. No more room for us,” but a local woman showed us how it’s done, and in no time we were looking at our “beds” swinging not too far away from a pile of old life jackets. Satisfied, we left the boat to run some errands. There were snacks and water to buy, backpacks to pack, and another round of shots to be administered – doctor’s orders. For the past few days I have been sick as a dog, sweating like a pig, and, after running around town, I wanted to be shot like a race horse with a broken leg. I felt a bit melodramatic. Ever since we got off the freezing night-bus that brought us to Belem, I have been running a fever. Alex finally looked down my throat with a flashlight and said, “Alright. We are going to the hospital NOW.” Apparently my airway was about to close up. In the hospital the doctor was quick to give her diagnosis and suggest a treatment even before I finished describing my symptoms. “You’ll have to get a shot,” she said. “In the butt. Well, actually two – one in the butt and another in the vein. Well, technically four: three intravenous and one in the behind.” Splendid. Dreading the hospital by this time, we’d done some shopping first and, as I was getting worse and worse in the heat, made our way there.
By now, my fever was gone and my throat cleared up, allowing me to swallow food without pain, but my stomach and back were still giving me trouble, so I agreed to the shots. Unfortunately, this time two factors were against me. First, there was no room for me to lie down for the shot in the butt, as today, a Monday, everybody who failed to be cured by Sunday’s prier in church were brought to the hospital, so we had to do it standing up. Not a good idea. Second, this time the shot, painful as it is on its own, was administered not by a cute and careful male nurse, who managed to insert the needle with a minimum amount of pain, but a middle-aged female nurse passing by in a hurry. She jammed the needle in my butt cheek without so much as a warning. For a few minutes I couldn’t walk, and a sympathetic doctor walking past said, “Hurt, didn’t it? Well yeah. She sort of does that …” She bit her lip and made a stabbing motion to illustrate her point. “Yeah,” I thought. “That she does.” I limped back to the hostel and lay on the couch in the bums-up position, at least having some fun freaking people out when they asked what happened. “I got stabbed in the ass,” I would say, and hold a dramatic pause, watching their eyes widen and mouths drop open. “With a needle. By a doctor,” I would add eventually. Ha-ha.
( Read more on how we hung around )
Tags: people
Posted in Places»South America»Brazil | No Comments »
A street car named Olga
Monday, April 10th, 2006
The bummer: Spending a day killing time by making a map for a town that doesn’t seem to have one, only to find out later that two and a half hours away, in The Cave of Hands, there are color copies of a perfectly good map. (My map included.)
The highlight: Harry Nauta, a very nice English speaking local man with a Russian UAZ minivan named Olga. That made us think, wouldn’t it be cool to buy an old car like that in Russia and travel the world in it?
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Tags: people
Posted in Places»South America»Argentina | No Comments »
El Chalten, Argentina
Saturday, April 8th, 2006
Weird time was spent in El Chalten starting from the bus that brought us there, where we met Genevieve – an Australian born who grew up in Hong Kong and lived alone with her ten year old brother from the age of twelve in a house of their own. Her story is extraordinary, although I don’t think I’m at liberty to tell it. However, I do have her permission to show you a tattoo of hers which is very appropriate for a citizen of the world such as herself.
( more… )
Tags: food, people, trekking
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Up-up and away
Tuesday, March 28th, 2006
There is pretty much nowhere to go when you are at the end of the world, unless you have three thousand dollars to grab a boat to Antarctica. But as the freezing Antarctic winter was at the door, the last boat of the season left a week ago. Therefore, up-up and away, back North, zigzagging through Chile and Argentina, we go.
( more… )
Tags: people, sailing
Posted in Places»South America»Chile | No Comments »
Free Mint at the End of the World
Monday, March 27th, 2006
Although next to a nice plaza, the hostel we stayed in, “Hostel Carly”, was a dinky little place with one, and only one advantage to it – free internet. And there is nothing else that draws Israelis more, like free internet. We’ve stayed in that hostel a few times already and every time both the machines were taken by my fellow countrymen. The computer room was also the “hangout” room and had a little TV hanging off the wall as there was barely room in there for people. On our way in and out, we always peeked in to see if there was a free computer to check our emails, but many times got stuck inside waiting and chatting with other residents. On one of such occasions, we encountered Yosi, Yosi, and Hagai (who we now refer to as simply “Yosi and Yosi”). They have already been to Ushuaia and Patagonia and had some useful advice for us: “You must go to Nana Hinam (Free Mint in Hebrew),” said one of the Yosis. “It is not the official name of the place, but all the Israelis grew accustomed to the name as there is a mint bush growing right next to the house and you can pick at it for free.” Now, if any of you know Shurik, you must remember his never ending love affair with tea, so to the free mint tea at the very end of the world we went.
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Tags: climbing, people, trekking
Posted in Places»South America»Argentina | No Comments »
Prestodigitation
Saturday, March 11th, 2006
I am so mad at myself I can’t even begin to describe you how much. I wish it was different, but it’s my own fault for letting my guard down and not paying enough attention. I guess the only excuse I can give is that we were really tired after our night bus back from Puerto Madryn to Buenos Aires. Even though we came in the afternoon, and sort off got some sleep on the bus, we were exhausted and wanted nothing else but to get ourselves a room and climb into bed.
We took a cab from the bus station, there was no way around it, BA is not a small city after all. I remember thinking the cab driver looked dodgy when he approached us, but we at least try not always judge a book by its cover, so we agreed to go with him. When we arrived at our hostel the meter showed about eight and change so I thought I’d give the driver ten, and we’ll all go to our merry own ways. Shurik went to get the backpacks from the trunk, and I was handing the driver the money when he refused to take my bill. “I don’t like this one,” he said. “It’s too old.” Fine. I handed him another bill, this time a twenty. “No, this one looks worn out too.” “Alright, how about this twenty?” “No,” and he reached for the fifty bill in my hands. Whatever, I thought to myself, as long as I get my change I don’t care from what bill is it from. By that time Shurik was already done with the bags, and so we were both standing outside the cab giving each other confused looks. “What’s the problem?” Shurik asked. I shrugged and turned to the driver who had a five peso bill in his hand. “Five, and another five,” he pulled another five bill from my hands. “And here is your change.” Great, I thought, since you’ve been so difficult, I will take my change, thank you very much. “Gracias, Ciao” and the cab drove off leaving me only to realize and say in a few seconds: “Didn’t I have a fifty bill here somewhere?”
Tags: people
Posted in Places»South America»Argentina | No Comments »
Punta de “Inspiration”
Thursday, March 9th, 2006
We made our way to Punta Tombo’s Penguin reserve and once again our driver didn’t fail spotting a few treats for us. This time it was a rabbit-like rodent with a bit of a horse-like snout. There were also the usual Guanacos, but the real fun began when we actually got to the reserve. We saw some penguins in Galapagos, but never that close. This time we could get as close as we wanted to these awkward birds, but the guide warned us that penguins are very curious in nature and if you stick your camera in its face, before you know it, it will snap its very strong beak, and just might get a mouthful of both you and your camera.
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Tags: people
Posted in Places»South America»Argentina, wildlife | No Comments »
Irina from Argentina
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
As of now, my flight to NY was coming out of Buenos Aires in a week and that gave us two options – spend another seven days in the search of the perfect steak and the best Tango performance in BA, or snag ourselves from the comforts of our hostel room and use this time as a couple of self respecting travelers should. Well, self respect it is, and since we have been already talking about going to the “End of The Word”, the very South of Argentina along the country’s East coast, we decided there is just enough time to zoom down to East coast’s most interesting part – Peninsula Valdez – and when I return from NY simply fly down to Terra del Fuego (The Land of Fire), which despite its name is getting colder every day this time of year.
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Tags: people
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