The street markets of Madagascar

In Madagascar, going out shopping means you're out to pay a visit to the street markets.

Whether you're looking for fresh produce or clothing, you're sure to never come back empty handed.

The street markets of Madagascar welcome you with a large variety of goods. The things being sold can be divided into three sections: Stuff from the within the country (Food, vegetables, meat, artisan crafts etc.), Imported products from Asian countries (Mostly China) and used clothing and footwear from first-world countries. Spending some time in these markets and observing the shoppers will give you a general idea of the kind of lifestyle the locals live in and how much a day they approximately live on.

Every produce is mostly fresh, processed food is both expensive and nonexistent here. The catch is that some of the fruits and vegetables will have imperfections and won't be in perfect shape like you would expect in a first-world country, but everything is fresh and organic, no added chemicals or anything.

Here as usual are some pictures snapped here and there from the street markets of Madagascar, hopefully this gives you an idea of how it is down there.

(Click the images to zoom and enlarge)

1000Ar for a kilogram of oranges, that's $0.30 per 2.2lbs

An artisan showcasing her collection of hats, they're all handmade.

This one sells Zana-dandy (Mealworms), Calamari, Shrimps, Fish, and more seafood.

Similar to meal-worms, the "zana-dandy" are edible larvae that are found in trees.

Breakfast at the street food market.

From left to right: Lettuce, Coriander, Green onion, Cucumbers, Green pepper, Tomatoes, Anandrano, Carrots. 

From left to right: Carrots, Guava, Potatoes.

From left to right: Potatoes, Garlic, Peeled garlic, Onions, Garlic (exotic), Ginger, Carrots, Green beans, cabbage, Garlic.

Cranberries.

Fresh vegetables in the roofed market.

Meat is bought from the "Mpivaro-kena" or "Meat seller". They're usually small stores covered with tiles and they sell Sausages, Porc, Beef and anything related to meat.

Used clothing is also a big thing in Madagascar, you find T-shirts, Jackets, shoes and dresses imported from the United States and European countries. People prefer buying these used clothes as they are durable and are from real brands, coming from first-world countries. A dress for women can go as low as 3000Ar ($1). Try any before buying!

That's about all I can bring to you for today, the street markets of Madagascar is a fun-packed place to be around, whether you're looking to buy something or are just interested in checking out what's up for sale. Maybe someday I will come back there and get myself some of those oranges!

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A word about street food.

Do I like street food or do I just like the idea of it?

Street food is a culture, it's more than just proteins and having a good taste in your mouth.

More than just wanting meatballs and fried chicken, it's about going somewhere warm and meeting either some complete strangers or some familiar faces that you've seen a couple times. Everyone has their favorite place to go for some fried stuff and it eventually becomes something like a refuge, a part of your daily routine; you start recognizing the regulars and the outsiders in your local scene.

The steamy market is the tape that keeps everyone together. You can be fat, skinny, young, old male or female, you can be anything, the warm food stand will always welcome you and couple you with others.

You can have your reasons to like street food, we all do; tonight as I'm writing this, I want you to know that I'm about to get me some delicious shrimp dumplings.

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Traveling to Ankaramalaza, Madagascar

Last year, I traveled to this beautiful place with nice people and great landscapes.

This year, I had to come back as I had my reasons; one was to enjoy the scenery and all of the beautiful landscapes, the nature, the jungle, the trees and the wild animals; it was also an important spiritual trip to find myself and reinforce my beliefs after a long period of hardships. Just like many other individuals, I wanted to go somewhere far away, preferably a place with clean air that would exclude me from the usual stressful rhythm in my hometown. I went for a period of two weeks to find myself and solve any remaining problems with the power of thought and relaxation. I can safely call it a success, this place is magical.

There was no electricity, there was no tap water, you had to make fire and such. The people in jungle of Ankaramalaza still live in very primitive ways. They do not really operate with money and all the things that define modern society, instead, they still go with trades, they reap whatever food they sow and most of the entertainment is physical as electricity is nonexistent except for some small battery operated items such as Radios etc.

It took two days in the car to get there, and you forget about how long the trip was the moment you set your foot on the land.

  

Ankaramalaza is an island within an island, one must cross the lake in order to get to the center of the jungle.

 People bargaining with the local transporters, there's no other way around so the transporters have the privilege of keeping their prices high.

 

Coming to the island isn't a big issue, coming out of it is the problem, at a set date, everyone wants to go home and you have to fight for a reservation in order to leave early, the strong ones mostly just hop on any boat they see and ask the transporters to carry them. The weaker ones have to wait until there's less people.

 

Most of what is considered fast food are "mofo" (bread) and "kafé" (coffee).

 

The jungle has that "you're here" feeling when you first arrive, and when you leave, you start feeling like it's some very far away place that you'll never see again.

 

The local children doing their daily chores. It's either transporting goods or transporting clothes to be washed in bulk. 

I love this place, one of the biggest reasons I do is that every one of the locals are so cheerful, bright smiled and very welcoming. Some of them may be a little invasive with their begging habits, but that is completely understandable because they do not have any real source of income to get by in their life, which makes them end up asking you for some spare change every time they get the opportunity.

 

More people packing up their belongings, this time to go home.

 

A wide variety of colors.

 

Two outside residents who visited the village talking to each other.

 

Movement, lots of it. People from different regions of the map coming to this place to attend the annual Church summit meeting.

The lake is beautiful, I always felt at ease every time we rowed our way across.

 

This is where I slept, it was a wooden cabin in the woods, no electricity, no water pumps or whatever luxury you could find back home, yet I still felt like I didn't want to go home. Every night I came back to this warm little wooden room and crashed in my sleeping bag, replaying the whole day in my head until I end up falling asleep.

 
Aforementioned were some of the reasons I went to this trip, but one very important reason for this trip is as you may already know from the description, I am continuously working on an ongoing personal project to study people, human beings, cultural diversity and expand my knowledge around the subject of social anthropology, psychology and intercultural relationships. I wanted to get close to the locals and understand their way of living, their daily needs, mental and physical, what makes them different from myself and the culture I usually belong to. 

All those things add up but what I can safely conclude is that I had a great time. Enjoy the pictures.

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Arrivals and Departures

 Every tiny object, every human being, and all these moving things mind their own business. Just like the water, everyone flows in a continuous rhythm; they come and go. But that's what makes a bustling crowd—that's what gives life to a location. We sometimes feel discomfort in motionless places because we have been given the gift of an ever-changing, eventful planet.

I took this picture in 2016 during a trip to an island in Manakara, Madagascar. The place was lively, and the people made more noise than the waves crashing on the coast. It was a pleasant experience, especially with the cultural differences. I plan to post a more detailed write-up about this island later, as I visited again one year after. For now, this picture should give you a general idea of the mood.

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What is this blog about?

Born in the beautiful state of Wisconsin, I have lived in the United States, Madagascar, the United States again, and now Japan.

You discover your true self when you have lived in many places and take note of what remains constant. In Japan, I speak Japanese and bow politely; in Madagascar, we spoke French and Malagasy; in the United States, we spoke English and had to be loud and assertive. Your true self is what stays the same inside you despite adapting to all these societal norms.

I greatly enjoy learning new things and meeting new people. Many things I do count as experiments, as I try to reflect on them upon completion. This blog is about the little things in my life that I have found worth documenting: the travel, the experiments, and all the good stuff. Occasionally, I might just write about my day. After all, it would be a pleasure to have a nicely written diary of your younger days to read sometime in the future.

This blog is meant to be updated every now and then—a book with no ending—so I hope you come back often to check for anything new I’ve written. We may occasionally disagree on certain topics, but variety makes the world interesting.

Well then, let's enjoy this journey together. :)

Edits: 

Published on

8/12/15 12:04 AM

Last edit:

12/10/24 5:24 PM

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