Sorry for the delay!

Life is carrying along here in Madagascar. I'm trying to get my head around the fact that it is almost Christmas. I haven't heard one Christmas carol or seen one Christmas decoration yet. And it is approximately one million degrees today.

I spent the weekend in the bush village of St. Luce with the Azafady Pioneers. One of the other English teachers and I braved the taxi-brousse system and managed to make the 50km trip in slightly less than 10 hours. We showed up at the "station" at 9:15 and managed to find the driver (who was under the bus with a wrench) and in Malagasy decifer that he was going to Mahatalaky and planned to leave at 9:30. Great. In the next 3 hours, he left and came back twice. Another very full camion departed, which we were tempted to join until so many people got on that we would have been hanging onto the back for dear life. At about 12:30, our taxi-brousse rolled out of town with Laurie and I jammed into the front seat with our knees up next to our ears and two military men with rifles as seat buddies.

We made it to the village of Mahatalaky after only breaking down three times. We expected the taxi-brousse to carry on past the village of Angazety, but were informed that they were actually going in a different direction from there. Okay fine, we collected our things and started the two hour trek to St. Luce. About an hour in, the full camion that we passed up in the morning drove towards us on the road from St. Luce. Hilarious. There is nothing like travelling in Madagascar if you feel in need of an adventure!

The weekend was fantastic. We spent the afternoon on the beach, and the evening on a night walk through the forest. I managed to see the tiny mouse lemur and a couple of the pygmy chameleons (the smallest in the world). The stars were unbelievable, and I got to fall asleep to the sound of frogs and cicadas.

For those of you who were with me in St. Luce last year, you can be assured that the camp is much improved. There is a new well that produces water that is the color of herbal tea rather than black tea, and has an equally improved smell. There is also a new maggot-free latrine and showers that aren't transparent to the person showering next to you. Oh, the small luxuries!

Back to work today. I co-taught two classes at the local high school. Although my stunning rendition of Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes from last week was a tough act to follow. Haha.

Enjoy the snow at home for me! And thank you for all of the post that has been sent. I love it! I would be forever grateful if someone were to send Reese's peanut butter cups for Christmas!!

Lots of Love!