Party like it's 1986!

So picture this - you've been in Madagascar for 5 days, you're feeling a little weird as you've got a funky sinus drainage thing going on, you're still not completely adjusted to the time zone, and your new team comes to you Friday afternoon before they leave and says "you're coming to the party tomorrow, right?". Party? What? Yes. Yes I am.

Head to work for 730 and fast forward to 1030 and myself and my boss hop in one of the totally rad Mitsubishi Diesel 4 door 1/4 tonne pickups they have all over the place here and proceed to drive an hour out into what I think technically is actually the middle of nowhere. A guy at work said "it's at the beach." but I saw no such thing.

So we arrive after a rather exciting ride over some unique roads where I discover sitting in the back bouncing around a truck at speed makes me a wee bit queezy (yet another thing I blame on you Mom). Anyway, the shindig is at a place called Taratra Village (http://taratravillage.com/ for those rushing to make reservations after reading this) to what appears to be a gigantic cultist party of some sort. It is then I'm told (whilst being laughed at) that apparently they gave out Ambatovy shirts to everyone (~1000 people) and it was mandatory to wear it to the party today. Awesome! I'm 6'5" and wearing a black polo in a sea of gray! Woo! The positive side is that it served as a good conversation starter with everyone that I met, or looked at, or that simply looked in my direction.

BEHOLD THE SPLENDOR!

Taratra village - where questionable food, incredibly nice people, and horrible cover bands make for a sweet party!

To be fair the place is actually quite pretty. The part Ambatovy rented was the front side which is essentially a large field with a stage, basketball courts, a volleyball pitch big enough for a 40 person volley ball game, and some tents they'd set up with chairs / tables and food.

Note the pretty sky. The sky here changes faster than Alberta weather. Crazy.

Soccer field & gratuitous company plug. :)

Tents, food on right, stage on far left past tents, dance thingy in front of stage. You get the idea.

Anyway - we'd just sat down at a table with a bunch of the team from IT and I'm enjoying the local band they've hired who was playing some music that I'm told is common in the North of Madagascar (HISTORY LESSON - One of the local guys told me that I guess each province in Mada has their own very distinct sound when it comes to local music. Pretty neat.) when I'm convinced the single greatest thing I'll ever experience in Madagascar happens. The local band finishes a rocking - I want to say Caribbean sounding local song, and all of the sudden out of nowhere switches gears to 80's synth-mash mode to begin the single most hilarious rendition of Europe's 1986 Megahit (thanks wikipedia) The Final Countdown.

Yes. This song.

I cannot even begin to describe the awesome. Not wanting to be rude I kept my camera in my pocket but I can't tell you how hard that was. So I'm sitting there laughing on the inside and desperately scanning for more beer on the outside, all while listening to this magical song when the chorus hits and the packed dance floor (field? pitch? thing?) simultaneously yells out "THE FINAL COUNTDOWN". These Malagasy's, they know how to party! It is certainly an experience I will never forget.

Things were not nearly as exciting following The Final Countdown but I did get a chance to have some BBQ. Thankfully I've yet to spend copious throne time regretting the decision to eat the below but it has only been ~6 hours.

In no certain order I present salmonella, ecoli, tapeworm, a fried banana and some sort of Saurkraut tasting white vegetable misc?

At the time I tried not to think of how the hell the project got enough food for that many people an hour into the middle of nowhere, prepare, cook, and serve it in ~30 degree weather and still maintain some type of hygenic scenario. It wasn't until later I discovered up the hill was a very nice banquet type kitchen thing. Still, definitely crossing fingers for no food issues. :)

All in all the party was quite enjoyable! It was nice to see some old faces and meet a ton of new ones and even nicer to see the company putting something on with the entire staff. The music other than the Final Countdown was actually really neat, and the food despite my initial worry was good. A heck of a way to spend your first Saturday in Madagascar I'd say!

Tomorrow is Sunday and I have HUGE plans. Hit the pool, take some photos of the living space to blog about and watch the F1 race.