Madagascar

MADAGASCAR
Never saw the movie either #1 or #2 but actually got to go there. We made a trip across the the ocean to an island off the east coast of Africa. Madagascar is the third largest island in the world. Antananarivo is the capitol city and sits on top of a hill. During colonial time it was built here to protect the city from attacks. Madagascar was a french colony so the older part of the city has cobble stone streets and many building have French architecture. Our Hotel was right next to a french patisserie and oh the croissants, bread, and sandwiches. If you ever watched the Amazing Race this was one of the spots they stopped at. The country is very hilly and they can grow anything in this climate. The farms are terraced up the hill side. Everything that is grown here is organic and the road side stands are filled with beautiful fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The farmers support themselves with what they grow and will walk many miles twice a week to a local market to sell what they have grown. They average Malagasy actually eats 350 pounds of rice a year.
These are the kids pounding the bran off the rice.















Then they sift the bran off by flipping he rice in the air and having the bran fall to the ground. They sift off the most nourish part of the rice.





They were more than happy to do this work while we around watching--I wonder if they were this helpful if we had not been there.



They also make bricks by hand out of clay they dig out of their plots of land. All the buildings in rural Madagascar are made of bricks, instead of wood or tin. They actually use all the wood for fires and cooking