Best car ride ever.

I rode in a VW Beetle last week.

OK, so if you're in America you're probably thinking big deal?  And you're right, it was a fantastically big deal.  It might have been the best car ride I've ever had.  There were seat belts, and a digital read out of the time and outside temperature, and air conditioning vents, and air fresheners clipped to the air freshening vents.  It smelled good.

To put it in perspective, I went to another village about 30 km away for an exhumation celebration (explanation to come in another post).  I went with my Malagasy "mom" and another woman from Ambohimanarina.  We spent over an hour in the morning waiting by the road and flagging down car after car that didn't have room for us.  Finally we caught a brousse and they squeezed me into a spot where 2 people were already occupying 1 person's seat.  I spent about an hour perched awkwardly forward on the seat with the old lady next to me constantly jabbing me with her bony hip (sorry, I know I'm a giant but this is where they told me to sit) and I know one of my travel mates stood the whole ride.

So in the afternoon when all the cars were passing by full mom started to get worried that she needed to get back to her shop.  The VW drove up and mom said, "hafahafa tomobily, fa tsara!" ("It's a weird car, but it's nice!")  She asked the driver of the Beetle if he could take us; and he could fit 2 not 3.  It was quite the opposite of our morning ride.  But somehow I couldn't help but wonder why we couldn't fit all 3 of us, I mean I had an entire seat to myself.