It was raining as I walked across a trail of brilliant color, shards of green amazonite next to sky blue lazulite, rock crystal mixed with red and green jaspers. Inside the building workers were chipping blocks of semi-precious stones into small spheres. They were smiling and asking me questions in Madagascan French. We discussed the density of the various stones, and they jokingly asked me why I was wearing long pants, shoes and socks in the heat of the day. It reminded me of the relaxed attitude of the Malagasy officials at the European Trade Fair. They all took a snooze in their booth at precisely noon Madagascar time, which was 11:00 am local. They believed that lunch prevailed, and customers were asked to come back later.
