Tana, oct 3-5

Hi everyone, I am in Madagascar and it is fantastic! I am thrilled. I'm writing from my blackberry and the internet is very slow. Frankly I'm surprised it even works. Tana is a fabulous city, and yesterday I had the opportunity to walk into the center of town, a couple minutes walk from my hotel. Rue de l'Independence is a beautifully bustling street with the typical reminders that you're in a developing country: cars continuing to drive through you as you cross the street, the smell of local fried fruits and pastries, the occasional waft of urine. All in all i had a lot of fun walking along this main road, negotiating with local vendors (who are very aggressive) on prices with my French, which is starting to come back to me. After I paid one man for a cow hide drum, his friend followed me back to my hotel, pleading for me to buy one of his string instruments. i enjoyed his company and finally conceded at the door to my hotel, paying him a few thousand ariary (a couple dollars) for his instrument. The  people here are very welcoming, and the children are particularly cute. I could write a lot more and I will eventually, but I am about to board my plane to Fort Dauphin to join up with Azafady. I will try to post photos later. Everything is good!