Duct Tape to the Rescue / camping tip #1

Although I could tell this story much better in person, I will try to do it justice on the World Wide Web.

OK so last Tuesday night the pipe that feeds the faucet for my host family and all of our neighbors decided to break. Also our backyard is definitely on a hill and higher than our house so at 10:15pm we had a mini geyser that was threatening to flood the house. We couldn't call and get the water shut off because it was night time and they were closed. Some people were getting sand bags, others were desperately trying to keep water out of the house by pushing it away with a shovel, my host dad was walking around and yelling in Malagasy, and some of my brothers were in the mud getting absolutely soaked. At first I was just observing from the sidelines but then thought, "wait Jeff, dont you like mud and getting wet and fixing stuff?" So I got in there and started helping. First we tried to plug it with some Manioc, which is a common food in Madagascar. It is kind of like a skinny long potato in shape and texture. That didnt work so then they tried widdling down a stick to make it fit as a plug in the pipe. That didnt work because water got out of all the little holes on the side of the widdled wood. This is when I had my big moment. I ran inside and grabbed my Duct tape, which the french / Malagasy call "le scotch". We widdled the stick a little bit to small and then wrapped it in duct tape so that it would make a tight seal. All this time I just here my borthers and neighbors talking really fast in Malagasy with the work "le scotch" thrown in every 5 or 6 words. At first the contraption was too thick so my brother Elias just started biting it off with his teeth. eventually they got it to the correct size, wrapped the duct taped stick in cloths and then covered it with rocks to make it stay in place. It was really cool to see how the Malagasy deal with problems and to bring my own problem solving perspective. I thought the solution was the perfect mix of Malagasy and American innovations. It also helped me feel more like a family member and less like a guest.

Then next day we had our camping trip to Andohahala National Park. We raveled on some of the bumpiest roads in the history of roads and arrived 4 hours late. We did a survey of some spiny forest plots there but everyone was way to fried from the drive to process it at the time. Then after dinner we had a campfire with the Malagasy students who accompanied us. There was guitar, singing, and of course, a hybrid of American and Malagasy dancing. Jim, the academic director had some good moves to teach me. The next morning we went for a hike in the Transitional Forest to identify plants and animals, along the way we learned how to recognize different palms, aloe, lizards and much more. Then we ended the hike at a natural pool with cliffs for jumping and a waterfall. The trip was a solid mix of education, cultural learning and adventure. Tomorrow we are leaving for our Lemur Ecology 4 day long trip.

I would love to know who is reading this so please post comments if you do. If you want to say something lengthy please send me an e-mail (mom).