Hotel Royal Palissandre Antananarivo

... friends of the Anosy restaurant staff Amelie, Julie and laura. They took it upon themselves to teach us some Malagasy and in return they got to improve their English, incidentally the food here was delicious, must better than expected. We weren't alone for long at the hotel, the day after Ruth and Eleanor arrived to stay, they were both from London and were also doing volunteering for Azafady but they were on the Pioneer scheme tasked with building a school. So we had fun ...

... 200 large tree species. Hiking & Walks at Andringitra National Park The national park was established to protect the fauna and flora in the area. Its main attractions are its landscapes, vegetation and hiking. The main hiking circuits offer a spectacular adventure of waterfalls, caves, medicinal plants, forests, granite peaks and escarpments, and an encounter with the characteristic ring-tailed lemurs. Tombs & Sub-fossil ...

... get used to this. The flight itself was really comfortable. Massive seats, loads of leg room, delicious meals and a huge video library at your own request. The 6 hour 30 minute flight passed too quickly. On arrival in Dubai we were met by our previously arranged Emirates Chauffeur who drove us to our chosen hotel. This service was included in the price of the business class ticket. This time we choose the Sofitel City Centre Hotel which is within the City Centre Deira mall ...

... all. Also lots of spices and of course vanilla pods everywhere. A late pizza lunch in the cafe in Sakamanga - very unadventurous but such a nice place, and the pizza was great :) Took it easy afterwards and didn't do much else. Lunch was so late that neither of us felt like having dinner, so an early night.

... home. When I found out I wasn't the people wanted to pick the cooler back up. They wanted to meet me downtown, however, since the PC house is far away. Lucky for me, I have an amazing roommate who offered to come with me and haul the cooler, since I could barely walk, and my muscles felt like I'd been in a weight lifting competition. We went downtown to get rid of this cooler. I know it's the custom to bring/take colis but it drives me crazy ...

On arrive à l'aéroport d'Ivato avec 2 bonnes heures de retard, il est 8h du matin. Arrivée sur le sol Malgache. On arrive mi février et il fait encore très chaud, la végétation est encore très verte. Le transfert vers le centre ville se fait en R4. Il y a partout des stickers super catho. je ne pensais que la religion catho était aussi implantée la bas. Le ...

... He was in ***** sev**al years back and men a fellow ASECNA employee from Madagascar. They began discussing religion as Africans are not at all shy to do, including their own particular beliefs. It turns out that the Malagasy (the offical t**m from people from Madagascar) man had v**y similar beliefs indeed. As they kept on with their discussion it turned out that he had actually attended s**vices with our previous church ...

... fairly expensive for here. Lunch was marked by Rosette, the lovely English teacher, bringing a tape recorder for me to sing the Christmas songs into it! Some packing after that, and then to town basketball game, to see Amy, the Peace Corps volunteer here for two years. In the evening Mme Nasolo and Saraha showed us how to make mofo bols (a bit like deep-freid scones, or doughnuts) and mofo akondro (think banana fritters, but better ...

... went from wearing fleece, scarves & hats to tank tops, sandals & shorts. Not only can you feel the change but it is visible everywhere. The large spiders are taking advantage of the warm weather and are spinning their webs around town. The grapefruit blossoms fill the air with a sweet fragrance and the limbs of the coffee trees are coated in fluffy white flowers. A few weeks ago the peach trees were bright pink full of blossoms, reminiscent of spring & a month ago we ...

... the hills with winding streets, and my favourite, the vivid purple jacaranda trees.We have two days in the city to get our money sorted, go to the supermarket for some supplies, and be given a vague orientation of Malagasy life, language, and customs. Then it's off to our placement, Anjozorobe, three hours north of Tana in a taxi-brousse (bush taxi) along an increasingly bumpy road!