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.

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.