It’s not been a year since the blog was launched, and I have the chance and the honor to have been invited several times to participate in inter-blogger events . The logic is as follows: a theme is defined and shared, then each blogger is invited to write an article on the subject, all within a given period of time. Today’s article participates participates in the event “Destination: Elsewhere” launched by Michel Mélinot of the blog True Independence. I had missed the last event organized by Michel at the beginning of the summer, because of family holidays. I intend to catch up by participating in this one!
As you probably don’t know, since I’ve never had the opportunity to talk about it here, I have the honor and the privilege of being Métis. My father is French, my mother is Malagasy and has dual nationality. If I know France well (and again, I think I still have a lot of places to discover 🙂 ), it was only very late that I had the opportunity to discover my other country, Madagascar. I had to wait until I was 25 to have the opportunity to explore the lands of my ancestors . ” Finally! “ , some will rightly say. But better late than never, right?
That was a few years ago now… At that time, although I had been in a relationship for some time with my future wife, I was not yet a dad. And it was during a change of job that I finally had the opportunity to discover the red island. I then had a few weeks ahead of me, and I also had the balance of any account from my previous work. Neither one nor two, I jumped at the chance.
More than ten hours by plane, more than a thousand euros less in my pocket, and I disembark, alone, at the airport of Antananarivo, the capital of the country. Fortunately, the family is rather large on my mother’s side: one of my uncles will host me for the first few days of my stay. The most surprising thing is that part of my family still resides in the house where my mother and her siblings lived. It’s weird! 🙂 The climate, the atmosphere, life: nothing is like what I have experienced so far in France , and every moment is exotic. The city is full of bustle, children and street vendors. People talk to each other, smile and seem much happier than some privileged people on the side of our dear metropolis. Beyond the cliché, it leaves one to reflect on the true value of things and of life, and what happiness really is.
But the best part is yet to come. My family concocted a fabulous stay for me . After the discovery of the different districts of the city the first days after my arrival, we leave then to survey the roads of Madagascar in the direction of the East. I don’t know how long the trip will last, but I have contrasting memories of it: between the wonder of discovering new landscapes and indigenous populations on one side, and the sunstroke that got me the call of a local doctor once arrived in our small village not far from Tamatave, the memory is diffuse 🙂 . Once there, we stayed in a small building a few steps from the Indian Ocean and a small stream. Compared to my Western life, the contrast is total. Go and bargain in the fishing village for some fish fresh from the tumultuous waves of the ocean, it’s out of all proportion to anything I’ve seen in France. Walking the beaches without them being overrun with tourists is also an exhilarating experience. A week with the family and far from civilization or almost , it makes you think. Back to the simple pleasures of discussions by the fireside, a magnificent sky whose stars are not dimmed by the city lights,… And I’m not talking about the zebu skewers that I had the chance to discover on the spot… Accompanied papaya pickles, it’s a treat that I can’t wait to taste again one day soon! 🙂
That was now a few years ago . Why haven’t I been back since? The priorities of life, quite simply. My wife gave us 2 wonderful children, and I now dream of taking my whole little family to discover this beautiful country. They are still a little too young to appreciate the trip at its fair value, and it is not said that our youngest endures the almost 12 hours of planes without gratifying us with a few cries and cries of which she has the secret! 🙂 So we are patient: we will wait a while before taking them to discover part of their origins. We are taking advantage of this time to put some money aside for this next stay…
That’s it for this article. I hope it will have allowed you to travel a little, at least outside the subjects usually mentioned on this site 🙂 . If you are interested in discovering this magnificent country and if you want to leave the paths so often traveled on classic holidays, I can only advise you to go to Madagascar.