onto Antsirabe

June 28, 2008
We left our confines in Tana this morning and headed four hours south to the Tourmaline mining areas and gem marketplace in Antsirabe - pronounced [ann-sara -bay].

This river flows from the centre of the country out to the Indian ocean.

But here, near Antsirabe, it is used for washing clothes amongst other necessary functions. The colors you see on the far bank are the cleaned clothes scattered amongst the bushes so they can dry in the sun.

The rolling hills of the Malagasy countryside were lush and beautiful. The landscape was painted with rice paddy outlines as far as one could see as we weaved our way through the hills and valleys, occasionally passing through villages where we witnessed poverty and happiness in the same breadth. This stark contrast is a constant reminder of how fortunate I am.

When they refer to market-place here, it does not necessarily refer to the gems we were searching for.

On arrival, we checked into our hotel - a former Norwegian hot springs spa built in the 1930's. I’m thinking, “we’re not doing too badly so far“…. hot and cold running water, showers and toilets I recognize, French cuisine; what could be better?

Yeah, it was tough....

We moved on to our next opportunity. Close to the hotel is a marketplace known as “the Circle of Mess”. Not quite sure what is its meaning, but there were about 40 small booths set up in a ‘L’ shape with a dealer (or two) in each one. Sometimes the children assisted or played nearby.

The majority of what we were shown were in cut goods, with rough taking a distant second place here. I didn’t find anything for me, though some of the crew were having fun with all the esoteric pieces and crystals. It was clear to all of us that we were not yet working with the local top tier dealers - tomorrow they said.

Seen here, Lisa Elser on the left and Naomi Sarna on the right.... negotiating for some specimens.

Another view

Nightfall set in and we headed back to our hotel for another fine French meal. Since I don’t read or speak French I had to guess what I was receiving for dinner - I can only presume that is part of the fun of travel? I did finally figure out Langouste, Crevettes, Poulet, Poisson and others.