I don't know if you have ever experienced life at sea. You may be very eager for this experience of being close to the sea. But to be honest, if you are adrift overseas for a long time, it is very boring, because there is nothing but the endless sea. Today, let's talk about a place that those who have been adrift for a long time are also yearning to go - Madagascar.
I don't know what everyone's impression of Madagascar is, but when I hear the name "Madagascar", the first thing that comes to mind is the Madagascar penguin. But today we will not talk about penguins, let's talk about the human culture and living environment of Madagascar.
Many people may not know the specifics of the country, so here's a brief introduction: Madagascar is one of the least developed countries in the world. Their main business culture was agriculture, with little to no industry. They need foreign help to survive.
Madagascar is an island nation and seafood is worthless to the locals. They wanted clothes, pants, shoes, socks and other everyday items for the crew. Madagascar is located in Africa, and you may be surprised if you are visiting this country for the first time.
Because you will find that people in Madagascar have the same skin color as you, not the black skin you think. In fact, Africa has not only dark-skinned people, but also yellow-skinned people. But when you understand the local situation, it will return to what you think of as African countries.
Now, let's assume a scenario, let's say you're a crew member living on a ship, and the ship you're working on is ready to go to Madagascar. First of all, you should prepare some things that you don't think you need, such as: socks, towels, unwanted clothes, shoes and other daily necessities.
You may be curious, why prepare these "rags", you don't understand, they don't need money, in their eyes money is paper. People here seem to be too poor to afford basic necessities. So the so-called "rags" in our eyes are particularly valuable in their eyes.
Some 200,000 to 35,000 of Madagascar's 22 million inhabitants suffer from hunger, and the situation of hungry children is even more serious and worrying. There are a lot of children here, some who don't yet know who their parents are, and most of them don't develop very well.
Next, you take these basic necessities and dock at the port of Tamataf in Madagascar. You stand on the boat and see from a distance many people, not only dockworkers and cable operators, but also the local poor.
Around each basket are many baskets containing good things. Each of them has seafood, vegetables and fruits in their basket. Local products are of no value to them. They want to exchange anything they want with us.
You find that someone is exchanging lobsters, they will tell you that a piece of clothing can only be exchanged for 10 pounds of lobster, at this time of course you can't admit defeat, you bargain with him, if he wants, you earn, if he doesn't want to, he will continue to find the right person, you can also go to someone else's to see.
Because in the end, if he can't sell it, he has to agree to sell it to you. Because if no one buys these seafood, except to put it there rotten and smelly, or put it in the seafood market to sell it at a lower price. In Madagascar, only a small percentage of the population has access to electricity at home.
Usually, these negotiations are for very poor families with little electricity, so they don't have refrigerators. After walking around, at the end you took a few pairs of socks, a soap and the locals exchanged 10 pounds of bananas, 10 pounds of jackfruit, 1 coconut.
But your captain and head chef are even more powerful, because they have to solve the problem of the crew's food, they are generally very good at bargaining, black tiger shrimp, king crab, cod, etc. are all sought-after items, and finally more than 300 kg of seafood, 100 kg of fruit and 80 kg of vegetables were exchanged on board.
The fruits here are really delicious and belong to the category of tropical fruits. They taste sweet and delicious, mainly from organic foods. In places where people can't afford to live, locals don't use pesticides and fertilizers, so everything here is organic.
In the process of exchanging, you meet Big Brother Think, who is silent and carries his basket with some bananas and crabs.
Out of sympathy for him, the boss asked him to exchange phone numbers directly with him. My brother said he had 50 pounds of bananas, 20 pounds of rambutan and 30 pounds of crabs. The chef did not hesitate to take him directly to the boat without consulting at that time, giving him two clothes and 15 pounds of sugar.
After everyone changed what they wanted, they were all happy and we were happy. The crew actively came to the stage to exchange items with them to meet their needs, and they also added many daily items to improve their standard of living.
This is your trip to Madagascar, magical and fun.