Madagascar is frankly a big place. There has to be some travel time as we move from rain forest in the east to the spiny deserts in the south. Some days we are all, 11-13 individuals, crammed into a van like sardines. We are jostled about as we try to drive over the sometimes nonexistent roads. There is literally pot holes the size of zebu’s (think cow). However, these travel days are some the best days to see the country. We can witness as peoples houses change from clay brick, to raffia leaf roof shacks and sometimes dry mud buildings. We get to see the markets of the small towns with people trying to sell everything between fruits to cloths pinched from donations. Agriculture practices change with some people planting rice in straight rows while others scatter shot their patties. Even the landscape changes as the van moves between rain forest, city, dry grassland, high mountains looming in the distance. You get to see a lot outside a van window during a ten hour ride, that is if your not passed out from exhaustion.
