Omaly Tsy Miova (No Change from Yesterday)

Emily and I arrived here in Madagascar as Peace Corps Volunteers in June of 2007. We left in March of 2009, with about three months to go on our service. We had to leave, as did all the volunteers,  because of the coup d'etat. When we were volunteers we would stay at the Peace Corps transit house when we passed through Antananarivo (our current home). The house is known as the Meva, and it was a nice place to see other volunteers and rest your head. We could get to Antananarivo in a day from our site in Ambatofinandrahana, though it wasn't an easy trip. We would wake up at around 4 in order to catch the first bush taxi out of town. We would leave town around 5 or 5:30 if we were lucky. Then it was a two-and-a-half to three-hour trip to Ambositra, a larger town on one of the main national roads. The road there was entirely dirt as I remember and quite bad. If you were lucky, you could catch another bush taxi to Antananarivo from Ambositra without waiting too long. This leg was around 6 hours or so. In the end, we would arrive in a large and chaotic bush taxi station named Fasan' ny Karana, which literally translates to the Tombs of those of Pakastani or East Indian decent. This station is rough, to say the least. Without fail, upon arrival you would be mobbed by people (called mpanera) trying to "help" with your bags you so that they could get a bit of money. You had to avoid these people as best you could and then find a taxi to the Meva. We would be lucky to arrive at the Meva around 6 or so. It was a long and arduous trip. The first stop was always a nearby restaurant (Palladio's) where a cold beer and hot pizza would help restore you from the long trip.  The Meva was in general a nice oasis, a retreat from all the hustle, bustle and grind of Antananarivo. Yesterday we went by again for the first time since we left in 2009. We saw Dr. Alain and Tahina in the medical unit, two host country staff members who are excellent at what they do and just flat-out good people. So, we chatted with them a bit, took a peek inside the Meva, and just reminisced a bit. Nothing much has changed in the Meva, it seems, other than a new television set. The couches are the same and the general ambiance is the same. It was good to go back and see that it is still business as usual there. It was the last place we were at in Madagascar before we were evacuated in 2009. If someone had told me then that in 7 years we'd be back with our young son and daughter, living and working in Madagascar again, I wouldn't have believed it. But here we are. The adventure is different this time for sure, but it is good to know that some things and some people stay the same.