Paris: The Final Frontier

Notre Dame, isn't it gorgeous?

Self-explanatory, part of one of my long walks.

Sacre Coeur. This was really an architectural masterpiece. Sometimes I wish I had studies to be an architect...

Week 8:

Well, I made it. It's only a one-hour difference between Paris and Madagascar, but since I took an overnight flight, I'm still exhausted. I was a bit culturally shocked, but not so much that I couldn't enjoy my first day back to western civilization. Paris wasn't as Parisienne as other seasons, because everyone leaves for Conge during the month of August, but I couldn't get enough of it, anyways.

Sunday - Oh, it's good to be with Amanda and Katie! We first go to a patisserie, of course, to get our mid-morning pastry. Then, we head over to this posh farmer's market to grab du pan, du fromage, et des fruit pour un picnic dans le parc de Notre Dame. It was wonderful. We also went to the zoo, and saw all of the little animals. Amanda and I picked up our daily bread and made a wonderful veggie pasta.

Monday - Amanda's grocery shopping day, oh les supermarches francais! Didn't really seem to work. We then met up with Katie in the Marais - the Jewish quarter and my favorite district - for crepes. This was followed by a trek over to Kong, the restaurant where Carrie in Sex in the City met artist boyfriend's ex-wife. In the words of this ex-wife: "it used to be good." With luke warm hot cocoa, there was nothing special about this place, except its excellent view of the city. Amanda and I checked out the inside of Notre Dame, which is beautiful, and then picked up some bread to go with our homemade ratatouille (sensing a pattern). We watch Paris, Je t'Aime en Francais, and it is so good.

Tuesday - I'm on my own, besides meeting Amanda and Katie for lunch. So I go check out Montmarte and Sacre Coeur! So wonderful. I am doing tons of walking, seeing the city, and falling in love with the amazing architecture. I'm too cheap to buy metro tickets, so I really do walk EVERYWHERE. I make it back with a loaf of fresh bread and we make lentil-roasted-veggie salad and chocolate crepes.

Wednesday - Aujourd'hui est la fete de l'assomption. Meaning, nothing is opened. This is an excellent opportunity to go to Angelina's for the best hot chocolate, and then head over to the Louvre. I came, I saw the Mona Lisa, and I went to more interesting exhibits. After a falafel lunch in the Marais (remember, my favorite), I did some walking, and then went to the modern art museum, Pompidou. I also get terribly lost in a bad neighborhood on the way back, and the metro breaking down didn't help.

Thursday - Mon dernier jour! I trek out to La Duree for pain perdu, but I can't see what all the hype is about this french toast. I'd rather pastry-ify myself. Did I mention that all our lunches included a good serving of pastry? I roam around the Tulleries garden and le Musee d'Art Decoratif. I meet Amanda after checking out D'Orsay and we have a lovely lunch on the lawn. Then, a cultural museum on Quai Branley. We end our day with dinner at a vegetarian restaurant, which was fantabulous!

Well, that was my summer. Oh, sure, I lazed around my house and saw my JDS friends. But there was not this excitement of the past seven weeks. Wow, I had a cool summer!

-Over and Out.

Capitol Improvement - Antananarivo

Much of the country-side was rice-paddy-pocked or hills sprinkled with tree stubble.

Rural life: Zebu Cattle window shop at one of the many roadside villages.
View from the top of Tana's stadium and the city below.
Aw! This alone made my visit to the Lemur Park worthwhile! Mama and Baby Propithecus coquereli.

Week 7:


Well, I believe I left off with my stay in a first-rate hotel. I will continue with a retelling of my time in the capitol of Madagascar, Antananarivo (Tana). Tuesday morning we load up the car and prepare for the ten-hour drive north. Keep in mind my journey down had been in the dark, so the next ten hours of deforested, barren hilltops made me extraordinarily depressed. I think the whole way up I was on the verge of tears.

We finally arrive as night falls and I am dropped off at my hotel, The Shanghai. It's not too shnazzy, but I feel ultra-safe, being next door to the US Embassy and surrounded by guards. I settle into my lonely room ($18/night) and fall asleep. The next day I play with the three other researchers before they head back to the States. We go to a market for souvenirs. I am shop-savvy and barter away my grubby clothes and some random stuff for scarves, carvings, and bags. Marvelous! We then all have dinner with the Vice President of the University of Antananarivo and the President of SUNY Stony Brook. It was a three-course meal that was exquisite!

This year, Tana hosted the Indian Ocean Island Games (mini-olympics), which was huge for the country. They started on Thursday night with fireworks. The cool thing about being in a city in a foreign country is that you meet people. One of the young Malagasy guys at MICET, Leon, introduced me to two Finnish girls and we went to dinner at this great hotel/restaurant. We watched fireworks from the roof and I met some French volunteers on their way home! Crazy cool.

I spent Friday morning at a Lemur Park outside of Tana, taking close-up shots of some fauna before I left the country. Then, I took a lovely walk up the highest hill in the city where the Queen's Palace stands. It was beautiful and I could see the soccer match below in the stadium. I went to my favorite restaurant for my last dinner, where I could get Legume Sautee, with bread and six different dips, all for 2000 AR (a little more than $1). And it was so good.

Saturday morning before I left...wow, I can't believe it's over. I spent the morning indulging in my favorite city pasttimes, chocolate and pastries. I stop by Chocolaterie Robert to pick up individual chocolate boxes for my family. As I am passing through the markets on my way back to the hotel, I can't help but indulge in the cheap tasty pastries that line the streets. I am simply preparing myself for the splendors that await me in Paris! Anywho, I purchase dinner and get driven to the MICET office to wait until my flight out.

Good bye Madagascar. It was a pleasure meeting you and maybe we'll get to see eachother again soon!

Veloma!

Next Week on Survivor: Can she handle the culture shock of Paris? Or will the pasrties do her in?

EXPEDITION #2: Vatohoranana

I LOVE LEMURS!!!

Week 6:

Wow, my last full week of research in MadLand! I am on expedition in Vatohoranana, a campsite in the almost pristine forest. It has been much more enjoyable than Valo, both weather and health-wise. There are actual wooden structures to protect our tents and it's been sunny!

I was uber excited yesterday when three Varecia came to visit camp and were really close to us! So amazing...I could watch them for hours. Why am I doing a project on plants??? Anyways, we attempted a night hike, but failed to see anything. I was using my crank flashlight, which is great until I need to recrank it, and then it's loud and obnoxious.

One downside to this expedition has come in the form of potatoes. I now not only have fried omelets for meals, but potatoes as well! Second downside is that I can't stay asleep for more than two hours at a time, and so I wake up exhausted every morning. Woohoo. My Malagasy self-lessons have failed, and I've basically given up learning any more than I already know. I just need to know how to say "that is rude" (tsy tsara - not nice) - so I can tell of the evil little children who keep "vazaha-ing" me!

Excitement! I arrived at the station on Friday after hiking back from Vato. The president of SUNY Stonybrook had come to visit, so we had a few special events. The next day, we were supposed to be hosting this billionaire on his vacation, but last minute change of plans landed all of us lowly researchers in the nicest hotel in Ranomafana! I get a whole queen-sized bed for myself, a shower in my room, and a balcony! AMAZING!

Weekly Tidbit:

A short rant on Malagasy environmentalism - I haven't been to any other developing countryies, but I would assume if they have any touristic value the mentality is the same. The guides take pride in knowing a lot about the animals and plants, but it seems more for the prize it brings in terms of economic stability. Guides are more interested in the comfort of their charges than the integrity of the environment - like pulling down a chameleon so a picture could be taken; shining a flashlight in the nocturnal mouse lemur's eyes. I admit I partook in this waste by not rebelling against the constant fire (and therefore CO2 emission) on expedition, but it was so cold. It is things like this, and just tossing cans and bottles into a pit at camp that really drives home the difference in cultures in relation to environmental ethics. Normal people are even worse, just throwing containers out the windows of taxi-brousses. There are NO garbage bins in the cities. The difference between protected and non-protected areas is astounding in terms of vegetation, but people are barely scraping by. People need the land to survive, so they just use it. Maybe we should all just go to the moon!

Depressedly yours - over and out!

Mixed Up Mondays

One of the cuties following me around in the forest!
My Bungalow!

Everyday is laundry day on the beach! But how do clothes get clean when washed in salt water and dried on sand?

Week 5:

So, I am safely back from expedition and ready to begin another week of research in the disturbed forest. Unfortunately, I come out of the dining room at 8am on Monday, and low and behold people are packing my gear again for expedition. I have to go explain to everyone that I am not leaving again for another week! My guide knew this, because I told him the 30th and not the 23rd, but does anyone listen, no!

Tuesday, my technician and I were followed by a group of Propithecus (sifaka). We were so close and they were just bounding around everywhere! This is why I came in the first place!!!

I decided to squeeze my week's worth of research into three days and visit the coast on Thursday and Friday. Mananjary is about about a five hour drive from Ranomafana, and is a quaint little beach town. So, Thursday morning I squished into a Taxi-Brousse, the main method of transportation in Madagascar. I was in one equipped with four rows of seating meant to house around 12 people total. We broke down and had to wait half an hour while the driver fixed the car. At one point there were 24 people inside, including three nursing mothers (infants not counted in total) and a chicken.

I get to Mananjary and find my way to the hotel amidst much "vazaha-ing" as I am the only white person around. I am in this cute little bungalow right on the shore. As I am leaving my room, I am accosted by a Malagasy who wants to learn English. I politely talk for a few minutes, but he won't leave me alone! After two hours, I attempt to lose him by going to dinner. As I am waiting for my food (my usual: legume sautee et du pain), who should enter but crazy Malagasy man with three Americans. Turns out they are peace corps volunteers and he's been following them around. We have dinner together and talk in English. This little vacation has made me realize how much I miss having people around! I can't stay here by myself and enjoy it, so I am going with them back to Fianarantsoa, where there is a Peace Corps House. We do wander around the markets and have lunch, but there isn't a whole lot to do in Mananjary!

In Fianar, I meet some other volunteers, who all miss the states alot. It is very cool that they can get to know a country like this over the course of two years, though. The next day we check email, go around to the markets, and I hunt down some delectable pastries (my new addiction - can't wait until Paris). I get back Saturday and veg out, watching this horrible movie with Orlando Bloom and writing about my adventures.

Weekly Tidbit:

The Malagasy: People actually only settled on the island of Madagascar aroudn 2,000 years ago, but they came from an array of places. Indonesian, Mainland African, and some Arabic lineages and customs all play a part. The language is the biggest tie for the diverse population, but even that is split into many dialects. It was interesting as I went different places, that I could see differences in people very clearly. Many people looked clearly African and others very Asian, while some had this most exotic aura of a mixture. I find this pretty amazing for an Island twice the size of Arizona!

Expedition: Valohoaka Contd.

Varecia variegata - Black and White Ruffed Lemur. Ain't it adorable? (Gender Unknown)

View from La Belle Vue at Valo! C'est tres belle!

The damage one leech can do if it happens upon your face. I couldn't wear contacts for four days.

Week 4:

It's my birthday and I can cry if I want to, cry if I want, cry if I want to. You would cry, too, if it happened to you!!! July 16, 1986, brand new baby me came into this world. 21 years later I am in the middle of a high altitude, tropical rainforest in a developing African nation. Not exactly what I was envisioning, but that's what you get for having a summer birthday...


Two days ago on Saturday, I had started to feel ill. By Monday (my day of birth), I was hanging on by a thread. This combination of nausea, achy shoulders and neck, fatigue, and headache/dizziness are reminiscent of the flu, but like nothing I have experienced before. If I hadn't been so stringent about my malarial medication I would swear that I had come down with the disease (to compliment my mosquito-bitten body). Hopefully it will be gone by Wednesday, so I don't have to hike back feeling like I am dying.


After a lovely birthday and a fitful birthday night's sleep, I decide to spend Tuesday doped up on Ibuprofen, which improves life considerably. It was pouring rain this morning, but we had to get the plots done. As is customary when you don't want something to happen, it stops as soon as you are done. I finally get my birthday surprise: my first sighting of the Black and White Ruffed Lemurs!!! My favorite species is the Red Ruffed, but they are far north and are not on my itinerary. This is why I came, tho. All that plant stuff is just an excuse!


Wednesday, I'm back! I still can't laugh, because my shoulder aches too much, but I am feeling loads better. The 2 hour hike back was brutal in pouring rain. I also had the great fortune to experience my second leech-in-the-eye and first actual bite as they come falling from the sky when it rains. I GOT MY LOST LUGGAGE BACK!!! Besides the bag being destroyed and my laundry detergent exploded, nothing is in terrible shape...except my phone, which is gone! ACK!


On Friday I made my first voyage to Fianarantsoa, the closest big city. I checked my email and was extatic to see all the wonderful Facebook happy birthday posts! It's really not a very exciting city, but it was nice after ten days in the middle of the forest.


Weekly Tidbit:


Madagascar's Leeches - Malagobdella spp. Terrestrial by nature, these suckers are most prevalent during and after rainfall. They attach to their unsuspecting victim by a combination of mucus and suction (thank you Wikipedia) and begin to feed. One would never suspect the places these little annelids end up and how they manage to sneak through boots and socks to find your skin. They produce an anisthetic substance so you don't feel the bite (althoug the sliming slithering is unmistakable) and anti-clotting enzyme so you can't stop bleeding! All in all, you come to love these tiny little blobs of mush!

-That's All Folks!

EXPEDITION: Valohoaka

Home Sweet Home #2 - Valohoaka Camp

The equivalent to a Malagasy Raccoon, one of three Ring-Tailed Mongoose that lived next to our "kitchen" at Valo

My first glimpse of my study subject's predator - the Milne-Edward's Sifaka (Propithecus edwardsi)

In the world of research at Ranomafana National Park there are two situations to be in: at the station and on "Expedition." Half of my time at RNP was spent at a satellite site deemed a pristine habitat, on expedition. This means hiring porters to carry a week or two worth of food and gear into the forest, hiking about 2 - 3 hours, and then living at that camp site for said period of time. Yes, that means no showers, toilets, or running/potable water for the duration. This episode documents the first part of the first of two expeditions.

Week 3:

Observation - I am going to have a lot of down-time! I am with my research technician (little English) and my cook (even less English), it gets dark at 6pm, and there just isn't a whole lot to do! I must ration the book and crossword puzzles that I brought along (unfortunately I have already read the book once). The little stroll I took on the first day turned into leach-fest on my sandal-clad feet...woops!

Let's move on to the scary weather on the first night! As you have observed from pictures, I live in a tent with a tarp over it. This means that when it pours rain and blasts wind every night, I feel as though my ceiling will cave in and smother me! Luckily, this is winter and not the wet cyclone season, then we'd be in real trouble. I still can't sleep for more than two hours at a time each night, so I am becoming very sleep-deprived. I've also come to realize what three years sans research projects can do to a trail system, proven by the hours of scurrying around looking for pink-flagged trees and wading through waste-deep brush and bamboo. I am being eaten alive by insects, even though it is winter and supposedly too cold for them to be out. It does get really cold at night and I have take to wearing my mom's wool sweater, a fleece hat, and a scarf! Tropical climate, huh?

I decide that we'll go back a day early, so I walk with the cook, Heri, on Thursday to the visit the other camp and give Virginia Tech researcher, Chaz, a letter to bring to the station. From my conversation with Heri, I am beginning to understand the lack of resources available to normal people here. He really wants to learn English so that he can have more opportunities as a tour guide, but does not have the money to attend classes, let alone purchase a book or dictionary. Ironically, we are discussing all of this in both of our second languages, my one-year of college French!

Weekly Tidbit:

Let's talk food! There is a great disparity between expedition food and station food. On expedition we have the same thing every day. After the first morning of inedible and unappetizing beans, omelet, and rice for breakfast, I have fallen back on cliff bars. Lunch is always greasy beans and rice. Dinner is usually oil-soaked vegetables, fried omelet (imagine 1/2 inch of oil in skillet and then throwing in two eggs), and rice. Water is boiled for at least five minutes so it's drinkable. Now the station is heaven! Breakfast is three cups of tea, a petit baguette or loaf cake with jam, and some fruit (although unfortunately usually banana). Lunch is a three course meal with a cold starter salad of sorts (cucumber, carrot, or tomato with bread), followed by the main dish with beans and/or veggies and a "vazaha" (white person's) portion of rice (1/2 cup versus the 2 cups for Malagasy). We finish with a fruit dessert. Dinner is always anticipated, commencing with soup or salad (I love the soups). Main dishes include pastas, omelets, rice, or even pomme frites (good fries) with veggies. Dessert is often ice cream, yogurt, or sometimes crepes. I can see the french influence, but I am not getting an accurate Malagasy experience (thank god), because their meals usually center on the rice and then if you are lucky, you get a vegetable, beans, egg, chicken, or zebu beef.

Anyways, that's all for the beginning of my expedition. Stay tuned for the next episode. Read about the fun on my 21st birthday and find out whether this awful nausea and chill I have right now is actually malaria!

-Over and Out

The Luggage Crisis Develops Further

There are many beautiful waterfalls around Ranomafana!
Eulemur rubriventer - Red-Fronted Brown Lemur
This is the back-yard of the station!

Week 2 - 2/7 - 9/7:

My first day of plots went well, counting epiphytes I couldn't see and vines I couldn't identify. Luckily for me, my research technician knows enough for both of us. But then that first day I returned to the station for some unpleasant news. I needed to send in a list of my luggage contents, because my bag was currently being held due to a "suspicious" object! Woe is me, will I ever see my precious bag again? I can't even remember what I packed...so maybe I don't really need the stuff after all. My first lemur siting was probably the only thing that lifted my spirits for the day!

I'm leaving to go on "expedition" on Monday, meaning I will be camping in the pristine forest for 10 days. My bag is still MIA, tho, which means I am short warm clothing (temps dip into the 30's at night) and I am cold-a-phobic. Second part of my crisis is that my Malagasy student, Josiah, who I was supposed to be supporting, got a better offer to go to a conference in South Africa, so she won't be joining me. That saves me a lot of money, but it also means I have no one to talk to on expedition...

Day before expedition - I spent a couple hours wandering aimlessly around the park, because I was desperately lost. Then, at around 11:45 am, I spot the beautiful red-fronted brown lemur! Naturally, I had to stop and take pictures, which made me late for lunch (always promptly served at noon). My two stationmates were already almost finished with the main course (more on my station meals later). Other than that, my first week was uneventful! Sum of a normal day: 6am wake up, run to gross outdoor toilet pit, condition in tent. 7am walk to station and eat a leisurely breakfast. 8am go out and do some plots. 12pm, ocassionally make it back for lunch, otherwise eat a sandwich after I return. Afternoon not much. 6:30pm dinner and then waste time reading, watching movie, or entering data until around 9pm, then sleep! Voila!

Weekly Tidbit:

Malagasy driving - Scary would sum this up very nicely. Walking down to Ranomafana, I feel my life is at stake. Despite the prevalence of pedestrians, cars purposely swerve out of their lane or ever into the other just to frighten an unsuspecting trecker. It still freaks me out when a large taxi-brousse zooms by within a half-foot of me. I will survive...I am a SURVIVOR!

-R