Madagascar

I've already written a lot, but I figured I needed to say something about Madagascar, seeing as I'm here. The people are incredibly friendly and polite, though they do try to extort money from tourists (I've succumbed to that one a few times. It's hard not to when I don't speak french). I walked through a very poor neighborhood as the sun was setting in Tana yesterday, not sure the way to my hotel, and it suddenly dawned on me that I should probably be scared. The truth is, I wasn't. I got a few sideways looks (it's hard not to when you have the wrong color skin and the longest hair of any guy on the block) but never felt threatened at all. The quintesential moment, I think, and one that I will hopefully never forget was as I was walking down steep, narrow stairs from the Rova (pronounced Roova) at the highest point in the city. A little boy, no more than 8 years old, was coming up the stairs and I stepped asside. As he passed me with head bowed I barely heard him murmer "bonjour monsieur." I don't really know why, it sounds simple now, but it was really touching.

world traveler

I want to be a traveler, but at the same time the idea is unbelievably daunting. I spent only 3 hours exploring Antananarivo yesterday and experienced, no felt, more than would fit in a journal, if it were even possible to put into words. I spent the rest of the day mesmerized by my newly-appreciated Lonely Planet guide to Madagascar and the Comoros while waiting for internet pages to load (No such luck here in Mahajanga, my email won't load at all). I could spend years on this island alone, if not one city or park here. This is something I experienced over and over in Europe. How then could anyone attempt to travel the entire world? I would love to try, but at the same time I can't seem to wrap my head around the concept of the "whole world" any more. The depth is just too much for anyone to comprehend. Each continent has countries, each country states, regions, cities, and wilderness. Each place has countless sub-places, each with countless life-forms to be met and personalities to ponder. I don't think anyone can really "see the world."

Time

Time is invaluable to me here. I live it, breathe it, revel in its mercies and abhore the cruel twists of fate that blatantly steal it from me. Such is the life I live. I mention time not for the sake of my inner poet's romantic streak, but because of my personal relationship with time. It is a relationship of the love-hate variety, for in one moment time is my unrelenting adversary as I race to catch a bus or train, and in the next it is my sole companion at a french café as we sip espresso to combat a sleepless night, watching the endless stream of people about their daily lives.
Several days ago I lost sight of time, both literally and figuratively. I was relieved of my watch while playing fútbol on a beautiful Barcelona beach with my Uruguayan friend Martin, and the next day of my cell phone in Dali's home town of Figueres. For days I was lost to time, and it to me, for better or worse. I missed two trains and one alhambra reservation while in this state of being, but I was also able, for the first time in a long time, to lose all sense of hurry and anxiety in the gardens of Sevilla's Alcazar. That is, until a security guard pulled me out of my trance to tell me that I wasn't allowed to lay in the grass. Proving my point, I have absolutely no idea how long I layed there listening to the birds and gazing at the sunlight playing through the trees before I was interrupted. It could have been two minutes or two hours.

Madagascar: Day 1

I still can't believe it, but I'm here. I arrived at 1:35pm local time this afternoon, got some local currency and took the waiting shuttle to my hotel. I haven't left the room until now. It felt really good to just relax for a while, get cleaned up (I'm actually clean shaven now), and go through everything in my bags. The room here is very spacious and nice, but I was very taken aback when driving here at the state of life in Madagascar. I knew that the country was poor (I believe it is the third poorest in the world or something nearly as depressing) but I thought at least here in the capital things would be a little better. While driving from the tiny airport to my hotel in business district of downtown Antananarivo (or Tana) I was a bit shocked to see countless workers up to their chests in rice patties or digging bricks out of the mud of the river by hand. While huge, this city does not seem like the capital of a nation, nore did the airport have the appearance of the country's only international hub. I'm sure it will take some getting used to, but I'm also sure that my time here (24 days and counting) will be very eye-opening. I'll write more a little later, probably about Europe as I'm a bit behind in that regard, but for those of you who care, I made it 1/3 of the way across the world alive and safe. I can tell I'm no longer in the north because it was dark at 6:00 pm here, as opposed to the 18 hours (4am-10 pm) of daylight I grew accustomed to in Europe. Stage 2 of my journey begins here.

Photos

I left the United States with a camera and 3 memory cards totaling 5GB, thinking that there was no way I would need the additional 2GB I left at home. Boy was I wrong. I've almost filled up that 5GB already with almost 3500 pictures. I didn't expect it myself, but I seem to have become an amateur photographer overnight.

I've uploaded a few photos of Spain to my picassa slideshow that displays on the right hand side of this blog, thus proving that I am in fact still alive. The one above was of two security guards changing the flags at the top of a tower in the Alcazaba of the Alhambra, overlooking all of Granada. This appears again in the picassa album where you can see them raising the flag of andalucia. The semi-artsy photo in the slide show is of a really cool pool within the Palacio Nazaries of the Alhambra, and the last one is of a beautiful stained glass window with some cool exposure effects in Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona (scheduled completion date: 2026). I'm headed to Madagascar tomorrow, so it's time to sleep, relax, catch up on blogging, and prepare for two weeks of pretty tough hiking and work. Until then, goodnight from Paris!

An Introduction to France

I felt it was finally time to write a post tonight not because I feel that I have been somewhat lax in posting, but because I, for what seems like the first time, have the time to write something, if not much. I am currently in Carcassonne, France, and more has happened in the last 12 days than I can remember, let alone recount. I will attempt to hit upon the highlights in upcoming posts (which at my current rate may well be published back in the States), because tonight, though I have some time, I feel the need to sleep before my early 8:30 am shuttle down to town. To start my retroactive accounts of what has been a simply incredible trip, I believe that deserves an explanation.

I am staying in a tiny, adorable little hostel called Sidsmum's (so called because it is run by Jan, the wonderful mother of a man named Sid, whom I have never met). Sidsmum's is located in a tiny little town call Preixan (pop. 200-300 according to my taxi driver) about 10 km outside of Carcassonne. Of all the places I have stayed thus far, this one definitely deserves the title "home away from home." Jan is the only staff present, aside from a few short-term volunteers, and the hostelers here are like a little family. Today I spent the day in the old medieval Cité with a few of my fellow tenants, Paul from Ireland and Pamela (though she goes by Michaela) from Davis, CA. The funny thing is, I found out today that Michaela has done a good deal of research at the Bodega Marine Lab, where my mom worked for a time. Small world.

We had a really good time and lots of good conversation considering we mostly met by happenstance. Paul just happened to be going into town when I was and I ran into Michaela half way through an audio-guided tour of the Cité's impressive palace/castle. After a beer (Leffe, Paul's favorite from Belgium I believe) we enjoyed a very good meal on one of the Cité's medieval streets where I tried and thoroughly enjoyed French Onion soup, a main course of Cassoulet (a local specialty stew of duck, pork, and white beans), and excellent bread pudding. Michaela then generously drove us back to the hostel. Immediately after getting back I went to the local store with most of the tenants, bought a bottle of my new addiction orangina (It's everywhere here and very refreshing), and joined two Australians (Margie, taking time off from a degree in Jazz Singing, and Caroline, her cousin) a Brit (Jess) and a Texan (Spencer, an amazing photojournalist www.spencerselvidge.com) down to the nearby river where we enjoyed excellent scenery, decent wine, smelly French cheese, good conversation, and poor crackers. Several hours later we returned to the hostel where we met the newcomers, two guys from New Hampshire and another Australian girl. We continued to talk into the night, until everyone dropped off to bed but me and Spencer.

Tomorrow I have a train to Barcelona at 12:10, so it's another day of travel (something I'd really like to avoid on any future trips, if at all possible. The day is all but wasted). I'm getting a ride into town at 8:30 because that's when Jan goes to town and there are no busses. I may run into some people I met in Paris there (A girl and her mom from Romania, though the girl lives in Canada and the mom in Holland), but we will see. I'm disappointed that I lost so much time in Spain, but at the same time glad I spent it in France. The countryside is beautiful, the history and architecture gorgeous and impressive, the people very nice if difficult to communicate with, and the journey has been a good one. I'm glad I extended all of my one night stays to two, and hopefully I can make due in Spain. I have until July 5th, when I fly back to Paris, and after that I'll just have to come back.

One thing I think worth saying is that I am envious of almost everyone I've met on this trip. So many of them are really awesome people who are taking 6 months, a year, two years, or even an undetermined amount of time out of their lives to travel the world. They love doing it, and they get to do what I can't - really experience the world I'm traveling in. I'm a stranger, they are a temporary citizen or permanently established presence. They get to see the intricacies of a town or city - often avoiding the tourist destinations altogether and getting to the real heart of the matter. Nothing would please me more.

It's off to bed with me now, but it's felt good to recount some of what I did today. I wish I had kept up with a journal or blog in the last two weeks, and hopefully I will in the weeks to come, but I will do my best to recall my time in France before the memories fade for good. Good night.

Day One: London

So after a quick and harried check-in yesterday (I was on standby until the last minute because they overbooked the flight, but got upgraded to first class because of it) and a long but rather uneventful flight last night, I arrived in London at 2pm. I took the tube (a 7 pound daily pass went a long way) to my hostel for tonight, checked in and was really impressed by it. Being my first hostel, I wasn't sure what to expect. However, this one at least (Palmer's Lodge) is really awesome. The building is a beautiful old manor house (I think), the beds are nice and everything is clean. There are a lot of guests, but everyone seems very nice and friendly. After getting settled in I took off for downtown london and a lightnigh self-tour. I saw Big Ben and the Parliament houses, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Bridge, London Bridge, and the Tower of London, and rode the London Eye, all in a matter of three hours. I wish I had more time, but it was getting dark and starting to rain so I called it quits. I spent most of the evening in the common room watching football (soccer) (Germany is going to the quarter-finals). Now I'm headed to bed before an early-morning EuroStar ride into Paris. Should be fun.