Around the World in 85 Days: Tamatave: Almost Paradise

In Tamatave, I went to church in the Toamasina and Ambolomadinika branches where I worked the last 5 ½ months of my mission. Tamatave is the French name for the city of Toamasina (“Really Salty”) which is Madagascar’s largest port and the provincial capital of the east coast about 300km or 8 hours from Tana. One month before I went home, the 3 branches in Tamatave were split into 5, and then in late 2010 they became Madagascar’s 1^st new district (there are now 2 stakes and 2 districts – when I showed up in 2008, there was 1 stake and 2 outlying branches).

I loved the look on the member’s faces when I showed up totally unannounced :- ) It was a lot of fun seeing so many people I knew.

This is Fr. Tina and his family. He is one of the counselors in the Toamasina Branch Presidency. He owns a real estate business and most of his kids names are things like Money, Inheritance, Diamond, and Wealth.

Fr. Emilien and Sr. Colombe who are really awesome and threw me a small party when I went home from my mission (well actually it was a ton of really delicious food, and they gave me a little souvenir!). They’re planning on moving to Mahanoro which is about 5 hours south on the coast. They want to farm stuff.

This is a typical Malagasy sign. It says (literally) “Not capable of being sold or sat upon here on the side of the store! Thank you my lord!” What’s notable is that it’s actually being obeyed. Usually whatever the signs says can’t be done is exactly is what’s going down.

I always loved this street corner because it was so jungle-y for some reason.

Sr. Pierrette runs a frozen fish store and this very smiley guy was working there. He’s very proud of the frozen chunk of Marlin he is displaying.

Sr. Pauline! I taught her! She was just visiting apparently, but she put on the gloves for the picture.

And a view of the store. Sr. Pierette is working the cash register at the very back.

Me and Pauline.

Sr. Juliette is another lady I taught who is super awesome. She’s from Diego. The lady on the left is her aunt, which I finally found out this trip. In Sakalava (the dialect in Diego) the word for aunt is the same as the Merina (official dialect) word for grandma. So the whole time I was trying to figure out how some 50 year old lady could be a 30-something’s grandma. Problem solved.

This is the Antandroy family I found with E. Sender (my trainee). I never thought in a million years when we first talked to them that they’d all get baptized… but they did! From right to left: Soavelo (the dad), Soa Arlene (the mom), me, Jean Jacques (who wants to go on a mission!), and then the 3 girls who I always get confused: Anjarasoa, Rhodeline, and Zo. They were really fun and I’m glad they still remembered me even though they didn’t get baptized for almost 6 months after I had left.

This is Santatra, Toamasina Branch President Eguene’s son. This face pretty much sums up his life lol. We would have a meeting with Pres Eugene / FHE / dinner with this family every week and he was always in trouble with his mom haha he’s such a punk.

Left to Right: Miora, Sr. Hanta, Santatra, me, Pres. Eugene.

Later that night I stopped at Sr. Pierrettes to surprise Gino (her younger brother). He never joined the church but he’s still a really cool kid. He’s studying wildlife conservation and plans on getting a Masters and PhD and he’s way involved in community cleanup projects and such. On the right is Sr. Pierette’s daughter Karina.

This is the “hotel” Busteed and I stayed in. Behind the wall is a toilet. The other half of the room looks the same (two beds total) except there’s a “shower” behind the wall. It was 8,000Ar a night, or $4 – which is a steal, if I didn’t contract some terrible disease that will cost me a bunch in medical bills later lol. Grossness Story: I was putting my contacts in one day, and I dropped one on the floor, but I didn’t have any others, so I had to wash it off with lots of cleaner and put it in my eye anyways… diseasatopia : - )

This is the city hall, which is currently under renovation by the President. As far as I can tell, he’s throwing whatever money he’s got left into large, visible public works projects to salvage his dismal public approval. The current president is 36 years old, and took power in essentially a military coup d’etat two years ago and has run a government that is not officially recognized by anyone in the world.

The ticket office for a bus back to Tana.

Busteed's and my trip was moderately noteworthy. While it was in no way a disaster-trip-of-doom (like my bus from Mahajanga to Diego), it was not as smooth as we had expected.

For missionaries, the Tana to Tamatave trip is among the most pleasant and indeed predictable. There is a company that runs American charter bus-style buses between Tana and Tamatave several times a day with several different transport options (this is what I used to get there). Well, Busteed and I thought it would be easy to get seats on a bus back the day beforehand.... not so. The only bus they had spots on was either a dinky mazda van (like all those I'd been in thus far) or another night bus (but much more comfortable). So we went around looking for someone who could give us the front seat, leaving the next morning as early as possible.
The next morning, we arrived only to discover the front seat was terribly uncomfortable, and the bus didn't leave for almost 2 hours after the "scheduled" time. We switched to the front row (not the front seat, but directly behind it), but soon regretted it for the lack of leg room. It wasn't too bad though and we commiserated and chatted the whole way back to Tana (9 hours).
On the way we saw: