Salama! We are currently still in Antananarivo.We took an extra three days here to sort out our ticket home in December. We are due to fly back to Sambava on the October 3rd. It may have only been less than two weeks since my last post, but so much has happened since then. I guess I'll take you through it in chronological order. That seems to make the most sense anyway.

A view of Tana during one of our exploratory walks

 We flew to Tana on September 23rd and the following day we took a trip to Andasibe, as I have mentioned before. We visited a total of four parks, and saw five different lemur species, various chameleons, frogs, geckos, and even a Madagascar tree boa. You'll be happy to know that we also saw the Indri, three separate times in fact. They are amazing primates. We got up early on our second day there to be underneath them during their morning song. It can be heard from over two kilometers away, and being someone who is truly captivated by animals, I can say that it was life-changing. Anybody who ever comes to Madagascar must take a trip to hear this loud, eerie vocalization. We also took a night walk through the rain forest and saw woolly lemurs and a mouse lemur that could have fit in the palm of my hand. It was truly adorable.

Indri or "babakoto" in Andasibe

There were only two things I didn't like about Andasibe: 1) The drive there and back was awful. It wasn't too long, only about three and a half hours, but it was all on one of the most winding roads I have ever been on. Not to mention the giant trucks cruising at probably about seventy miles per hour around these tight turns. I thought I was going to die on more than one occasion. 2) The national park itself was nothing like Marojejy. Unlike Andasibe, Marojejy is pristine primary rain forest. It really made me appreciate the experience I am getting up in the north. The trails in Andasibe were well worn, and the animals completely consumed by the flashes of tourist cameras. We make sure that tourists don't use flash at our site, and it was hard watching a group of diademed sifakas be surround by at least forty tourists within touching distance. That's not the way we are supposed to observe nature. My small rant aside though, I truly enjoyed my time there and definitely recommend it for any tourists who may have trouble getting to some of the parks that are more difficult to access. You get to see a lot of animals in a short amount of time.

Diademed Sifaka with a baby in Andsibe

After Andasibe we went to Mauritius for about four days. The island is absolutely stunning. I have about one hundred pictures of some of the most beautiful sunsets I'm sure I will ever witness. Unfortunately, I couldn't fully enjoy my time there as I was sick. The hallucinations that I mentioned in the last post had gotten too bad and I needed to switch my malaria medication. It took a while for my body to adjust, but everything has worked out now, after spending a small fortune on malarone.  Mauritus is an island that completely caters to tourists from France, England, and the states. This being said, we obviously spent a lot of time shopping to resupply on needed western luxuries such as snickers and allergy medication. Super U is the best store for buying all these things. It's equivalent to Walmart, but on some serious steroids. I also spent a lot of time just sitting on the beach.

The sunset from the beach in Mauritius

 One particular afternoon as I admired a couple of finches digging around in the sand, a man with a guitar came up to me and started speaking in French. Most people here just assume that you're French, but I replied with my usual pleasantries. He then asked if I enjoyed music. Obviously this is a resounding yes, and he then serenaded me on the beach. This may sound kind of creepy, but it was actually a really great experience. He was kind and we made small talk. His name was "Rastaman" Richard and I actually really enjoyed his music. Think acoustic reggae. Anyway, he gave me a CD, signed of course ("Dedicated to Meagan, by your best friend Richard," complete with the date and a cell number in case I wanted to book him at a venue). He then said I had the "reggae philosophy" and thanked me for giving him some time. Apparently most tourists just brush him off. Richard was a little intimidating at first, but getting past the lack of front teeth wasn't hard after he started singing. Anyway, he's on facebook if you are interested. My best friend, "Rastaman" Richard.

"Rastaman" Richard

Right now Emily and I are living it up in Tana with milkshakes, pizza, and television. Things we won't have again until December. We've also went out with some peace corps volunteers here and met a pair of Marines from the US Embassy. Its so nice to talk to Americans. You can't even imagine how hard it is with the language barrier sometimes. Although I can communicate pretty well with Malagasy now, supplementing with French as needed. Malagasy is a beautifully poetic language I think. For instance, a river is called "renyrano" or literally "mother of water."

One last thing before I go, my height makes my interactions with some people here unbearably awkward. I've caught people taking a picture of me on more than one occasion. On the plane to Mauritius, a couple of older people even went so far as to have me pose for pictures with them. The tallest person in that group reached about my elbow, not a joke. I often hear the word "lavabe" (very tall) whispered as I walk by, to which I usually respond, "marina" or "its true." That aside though, the people in this country are some of the kindest I have ever met, and they help make being away from home less painful.

We will be up in the forest on October 5th, and plan on coming back down about two weeks later. It's peak tourist season right now so I'm excited to get back up there and meet some new and interesting people. I will update again around the middle of October, veloma!