Hotel Le Pacifique Antananarivo

Before leaving England, George and I had taken the precaution of booking a hotel for the night. The first hotel mentioned in the Lonely Planet is Hotel Manoir Rouge, the pictures on the website looked lovely, the review was good and, more importantly, the hotel was 700 yards from the airport. The hotel had arranged that we would be collected from the airport by Marcellin who was waiting for us ...

... up close with 7 species, all of which we hadn't seen on our trip which was nice. Gina has some spectacular pictures and videos. We were the only ones to take the shuttle out to the park from Tana which was nice as we got to leave whenever we wanted. Last night we went out to the local disco with our tour leader Sarah who is waiting for her next tour to start on ...

... into the African mentality that everything will be alright regardless of how fast things get done, and that tourists are suckers! There are no more border control cards to fill out and I must wait as one of the guards goes to get more, and proceeds to stop and chat to friends for ten minutes. Once through security I'm swarmed by about four guys offering me cabs, money exchange (despite there being banks in the 'airport'), weed, and ...

... Everybody has their laundry out and it is washed in ponds, rivers and the sea. Some of the rivers are dark red! People brought their tents and it is like a day out. We drive for more than an hour over the 25kms. The roads are bad. Andry's mother tongue is French. He went to a private school. In public schools, the Madagascar dialect is the first language. The country is beautiful. A lady, with a basket on her head, spits at our car. Andry apologizes. I ...

... last day trinket shopping at the fleamarkets! [This time actually returning with some trinkets] They couldn't leave before saying goodbye to their favourite Patisserie for lunch [croc monsieur & jambon croissant] and then headed towards the airport- shaking off dusty child-beggars and haggling down the taxi driver's original price with expertise. * As ...

... there (school starts at 7). By 7:30 the rest had shown up but they were arguing in the office over having school or not, meanwhile the students were running all over the grounds, periodically chanting to cancel class and have the cyclone come. Finally at 8 the director gave the official word to cancel class so the students could help prepare their houses. At this point the wind started blowing even harder and my ...

... and more specifically, his village of Ambondro is now in a famine. Because in 2006 there was totally insuffiecant rainfall in his area the region is now suffering of a very serious food shortage. The countries goverment was also slow to face the problem, setting relief aid back several months. I am asking you to review the attached link and view some recent pictures. Joe has worked hard to be apart ...

... What color is...?" and am pretty sure I had them name every object and color in the class. And they seemed to be getting it and were shouting out answers the entire time. So for the last exercise they had to work with a partner. Partner 1 asked a question, and Partner 2 gave an answer. I had a student come to the front and be my partner so we could do a few examples to make sure all the students understood. I was Partner 1 and asked "What color is your shirt?" "What color is this ...

... weeks will also be filled with excitement as we anticipate the arrival of my (Jenny's) parents! We are so excited that they will be able to get a taste of the Malagasy life & it will be fun for Aaron & I to experience everything again through "new eyes." During their time here we will take a short vacation to Ile St. Marie to visit the white-sand beaches, spend some time on the East coast, and stay about a week at our house, experiencing daily life. Veloma, Jenny & Aaron

... when packing. I only brought things I really need, like a skipping rope and travel scrabble... you think I'm joking don't you? I forgot to bring a Frisbee and I really want to play Frisbee in the mountains, and possibly the rainforest though I'm not sure how practical that is... because of the shrubbery and trees and stuff... practicality being a central concern... but if one of you good good people would be so good... my address is as follows ...