Part 9 - The Zebu Rustler

Part 9 The second day out, moving from Antsirabe to Ranaomafana had started out well with a short nature walk. As we got back to the bus some locals were discussing a Zebu rustler who had been caught. At the time we had all had a bit of a laugh as Bruno our guide pronounced it 'wrestler'. As we came to the next village we drove past the man, dead on the side of the road as he had been shot by the police. Not something we had expected to see close up early in the morning! Fortunately the rest of the day got better. The group visited a a local market where Mr Smith started a bit of a scrum by by buying some lollipops at one stall and then trying to give them to the children. Some of the kids with their hands out must have been over 70 years old! Eventually the sweets had to be handed over to an old lady to distribute so as to install some order. Paddington just kept his head down during this encounter. After the market there was a visit to a small village where we had a silk weaving demonstration followed by a meal cooked by the ladies. This consisted of rice, chick-peas and chicken with rice water to drink. Mr Smith likened the later to drinking the water you used to wash up the rice saucepan after the burnt rice had been scraped off. After lunch one of the ladies taught the children how to play blind-mans-buff using an eye mask from the flight and this was followed by farmyard volleyball using a blow-up ball provided by one of the guys.    Overall the day ended on a high, despite the long bus journey and reality check earlier that morning.