a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

(originally written on 10/20/2010)

After a night of much-needed rainstorms, the morning sky from my favorite stoop was the color of pink cotton candy and violets. I enjoyed a cup of delicious coffee (from beans grown right here in Madagascar) while watching the coconut and mango trees outside my hut swaying gently. Their fruits are growing faster as the Malagasy summer begins.

Shortly after a breakfast of oats and bananas, my work counterpart stopped by for a chat. It is good to be easing into conversation in a foreign language with little thought of what I will say, how I will say it or without even needing to translate it in my head. Soon the discussion turned to a tree-planting project that I’ve been waiting to begin for some months now. Today, it finally, almost began, and this lifted my spirits tremendously.

After spending the rest of the morning chatting with friends in town and cooking tasty beans on my fatana mitsitsy (a cookstove that saves on firewood), I went for a great mid-day run down to a distant beach. About a week ago, I discovered a quiet little alcove protected from the wind, perfect for an afternoon swim. The waves are much calmer there and from the rocky outcrop above you can watch many brightly colored coral reef fish. I saw a school of delicate blue and orange fish exploring the nooks and crannies of the shoreline beside me; soon after a fascinating multi-colored striped fish with long leaf-like fins followed suit. With nothing but mangroves and rolling tree-covered hills as far as the eye can see, I swam in the crystal blue water, grinning at my good fortune. I guess if I had to be placed somewhere for two years of Peace Corps service, this is just about as good as it gets.

As I took a moment to soak up some sun and stretch, I saw what looked like a tiny person diving up and down under the waves, perhaps wearing a snorkel mask. How strange, I thought, someone all alone out there in the ocean. But then I looked more closely (yes, I need glasses)! It was a giant sea turtle! It swam a bit closer to shore so I was fortunate enough to get a great viewing. She was huge, perhaps 3 feet long, with a massive green and orange speckled shell, and would dive down under the water for a few minutes only to emerge some great distance further along the beach. It was such an inspiring sight, but marked with a tinge of sadness. Many of those shells become empty of life in my village, as turtle meat is still consumed here in Madagascar despite conservation efforts by many agencies, including WWF.

In any case, it was incredible to see this perhaps 100-year old graceful swimmer making her way through the water that I had just enjoyed myself.

Back in town, I stopped by another friend’s house to help her cook up the cashews we had just gathered the day before on her land. Before coming to Madagascar, I had never even seen a cashew tree, but in the last few weeks I have been on several trips into the forest which is chock-full of these lovely broad-leafed trees. The cashew nut grows out of a sweet-smelling fruit about the size of a plum and needs to be roasted over a fire before they’re edible… and truly delicious! These cashews are sweet, slightly crunchy, and because they’re cooked over a wood fire, have an exquisite smoky aroma. No oil or salt is added; you just eat them as soon as you crush the outer shell, still warm, and best of all: free!

Like the cashews, I have been enjoying many different types of wild fruits that grow everywhere here. Even just walking around the village, I constantly see kids knocking fruits out of some tree or another that I’d never even noticed before. Indeed, children spend most of their free time gathering whatever is in season… climbing coconut trees or foraging for cashews, mangos, papaya or a zillion other fruits you’ve never seen before.

Yep, I like living here. Just another beautiful day in the neighborhood.