Few cars in Madagascar

Jenni and I really liked Madagascar. It was so laid back. The people were really nice, even the ever present begging kids were pleasant, not abrasive or sharp. We both took a lot of pictures so I am just going to add a some of my own to enhance your overall view of the country.

Now I should point out that we were hundreds of miles from the larger towns. We were in the extreme south. We might have had a totally different experience in another part of the country.

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This is my shot of a funeral procession along the road.

Small kids are everywhere. Some even like to run along next to the car like a dog, but they do not try to bite the tires.

It is.a very poor country, but the climate is ideal. The sea is full of fish and the ground produces crops all year long. Boats are homemade. Cars are few. Walking is the most common transportation and many people only work part time to supplement their fishing and farming.

Villages are like right out of story books.

There is no general desire for full-time work as far as we can see. Our guide confirmed this. He said people often quit regular jobs because they do not want to work that much. Elementary school appears to be the norm. People live in community. The feeling is that everybody is happy. I imagine the whole country stays pretty poor as their is not much of an income tax base. The country does export minerals. Parkland are beautiful and well maintained.

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Here is Jenni getting more information from our guide when we stopped at an ocean front park.

On the way back to the ship we saw a guy with a fresh killed pig on a bicycle. All meat is fresh as there are few refrigerators.