Raw Silk, Colorful Market, Baby Lemurs on the Loose - Madagascar

Angry people want you to see how powerful they are.

Loving people want you to see how powerful you are.

Chief Red Eagle

These colorful hats are made of papyrus
Each one sells for $0.50!

My second Malagasy market.  I never took pictures of the first one as it was too crowded.  I had better opportunities to see the local wares in this market.  Madagascar is known for its high quality chocolate, vanilla, raw silk, and wood carvings.  Almost every dinner ended with a chocolate based dessert.  Restaurants often served chicken with vanilla sauce – actually quite good though unexpected.  Sadly, homemade rum and tobacco are cheap escapes for the populace and are commonly found throughout Madagascar.  However, filled with wonderful colors and smells, I enjoyed this weekly market.

Can you see the well camouflaged critter?
Some type of blackish gecko (Blaesodactylus)
Endemic to Madagascar

Here's a closeup (Blaesodactylus)

Once again, the reason it's called the Red Island
Dirt, bricks, homes, all from this beautiful red clay

From green to brown, wet to dry
They have amazing irrigation systems all over these rice paddies

Ringtail lemur mom with baby ready to be on its own

And here it is - moving without mom

Female chameleon is more colorful than male
Malagasy giant chameleon (Furcifer oustaleti)

Here with her tongue almost out, ready to eat a grasshopper

Same type of chameleon but male
The Furcifer chameleons are endemic and come in a wide variety of colors

I had just asked about the possibility of lemur twins but was told none had ever been seen
Then, as we turned the corner I saw this mother with two babies
Rare but possible...

Another little one attempting to be on its own
With mother watching

Three men in a tight circle, on a zebu watch

Kids playing with a pousse-pousse (push-push)
The Madagascar version of a rickshaw
A very common type of transportation either pulled by bike (cyclo-pousse) or by foot

These are silkworm cocoons
They will be turned inside out and made into little balls containing six cocoons each
Turning them inside out helps access the silk fiber more easily without damage

These 'balls' are then stifled (boiled) for 2-3 days to clean and 
 loosen the sericin, a natural gum that holds the silk fibers together

After they are stifled, the cocoons will be dried and sorted by color
Our host told us farmed silk is usually a lighter color than wild silk

This process is called reeling, making the silk fiber into threads
Ready to be woven

As you can see better here, she reels the silk by rolling it on her thigh

And their kids are nearby, playing with threads

You can tell you are in a richer area, all the traditional Merina houses have two stories
Not found in other countries in Africa, it follows a SE Asian influence (Borneo)

Typical homes with strong columns and west facing verandas
which helps protect the building's foundations from the eroding effects of rainfall

Drying and storing corn

Waterwheel to help irrigate rice paddies

Another waterwheel - known as 'tany' in Malagasy
Often made of bamboo or wood with the ubiquitous yellow plastic buckets

Example of a Zafimaniry wooden home (here, a simple shed)
They believe the wooden vertical carved sticks at each end can serve as lightning rods
Not sure they could work since they are not made from a conductive material

Various stages of rice paddies from dirt clumps, to flooded, to planted

As usual, working with zebus

Zafimaniry village near market
Typical papyrus hats worn by many women

Very similar to what they call piloncillo (cone shape) in Mexico
Raw sugar made into disks or cakes here in Madagascar
Made from unrefined sugarcane juice retaining rich flavor and molasses content

I was told they search for the perfect disk with no broken edges
This lady went through two baskets before finally purchasing two disks

Guarding animals for sale at the weekly market

Fruits and vegetables offerings just on the outskirt of the market
Bananas, jujubes, and also a type of yam on the right

Most of the bags on the left contain rice, beans or peanuts
Most of the merchants on the right sell cooked food

Selling peanuts or rice
I have seen people stacking peanuts for sale by small groups of ten each

A few more choices here with corn and lima beans

And they sell local wine in recycled plastic bottles
From a bucket to a small bottle!

Selling coarse salt and mangoes

Dry fish - usually tilapia

More papyrus hats but with a different color scheme

Three piglets for sale
Tied by one back leg each

Examining the larger pigs beyond what my camera could see

Please take a picture of me with my new hat

Hoping for a sale but how far does $0.50 per hat go?

Instead of fixing their pants or shorts, they usually wear several layers
Here selling the main tool to work the rice fields or other crops
Narrow shovels which you add your own handle to

Mofo Gasy - sweet rice cakes with a hint of coconut
Delicious morning treat with soft interior, crispy exterior

Bringing a zebu to market carrying a solar panel for either a radio or a cellphone
Here the zebus do not have ropes through their nostrils

Interrupted construction
Usually the locals would not enter a home like this, it is considered badluck

The forever yellow 'water' containers but here they are used to sell homemade rum
Very skinny tall home

Their way of drying and selling wood
Also bricks for sale

Possible case of rickets, this poor person had a very difficult time walking 

They have to go several miles away to find trees to process into construction materials
The Zafimaniry are the only ones left building wooden homes

A lot of the cooking is done on balconies, outside

Men often carry sticks, it is part of their culture

Selling tobacco leaves

Most doors, windows, are highly decorated
The craftsmanship of the Zafimaniry people has been recognized as
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO

Each carving has a meaning
The outer rope shows solidarity

Honeycombs represent community life
Sunrays, shared prosperity
Spiderweb, family ties

Granary to store food and protect it from rodents
Notice the disks at the top of the legs to prevent critters from climbing up

Cutting timber by hand - a long process

My guide speaking with one of the locals in the Zafimaniry village

Bees under clothes drying on handrail

Filling a recycled plastic bottle with homemade rum
Alcoholism is becoming a problem in Madagascar, it is cheap

Rum is sold in another area aka more of a black market
See all the men/boys with their sticks

Inside a small home where a man makes rum
Cooking on rocks, blackened walls

Always take your shoes off before entering a home
We are watched while tasting homemade rum

Carved zebu head post inside main courtyard
This is where they attach a zebu to kill and butcher it

Cooking on the side of the road

At the end of market day
This rum will be shipped to somewhere else to sell