An Adventure to Ihosy

I have just returned from spending a week in Ihosy, about 4 hours south of Fianar. I went with Nomena to spend time with her family there. There was vacation for a holiday at Masomabahoaka so I did not have to work for the week that I was there. It was a relaxing week, we spent a lot of time playing games and just hanging out. It was very hot there! I was able to practice my Malagasy as well. The best way to tell you about my adventure is through pictures.

The street in Ihosy. You can see the mango trees and other plants.

A stand at the market with vegetable. Things are usually sold by the kilo so you can see the scale that they use to weigh. There are tomatoes, cucumbers, hot peppers, and many other vegetables.

I stayed with some family of my friend Nomena's. They have a shop in town. This is the father, Donne working in the store.

The sell pasta and coffee in the store. It is very common here in Madagascar to have things like this in buckets or tubs and measure them into small bags using a can.

Flour and sugar are sold the same way. 

This is the mother, Louisette, working in the shop.

Outside the big shop, Louisette's sister sells things too.

It was almost time for mangoes to be ripe in Ihosy. These are manga manta (unripe mangoes).

But there were still many mangoes that they bring north from the very south of Madagascar.

This is me and two of Nomena's cousins by a river just outside of town.

Nomena's aunt, Nessy, sells jewelry in the town as well.

Nomena and I by the same river.

It's common to see cows and sometimes sheep being led around Malagasy towns like this.

This is the river, you can see fields, mango trees and the river.

We went to the cow market where you buy cows. It was mostly a huge field with many cows. 

We also took a walk to a nearby lake. The lake was very small because rainy season has not yet started, but there were people swimming, and many people washing laundry.

Rice fields are everywhere in Madagascar!

In Ihosy, a common way to get around town is by kinga. There are no kingas in Fianar though. 

One of the family members in Ihosy has a snake. He will eat it when it is big enough. 

The children in town were excited to see the vazaha (foreigner) holding the snake.

Many of the children were afraid of the snake.

The street again in Ihosy. It is a much smaller town than Fianar, so the street is much less busy.