Saturday, July 30, 2011

Adventures in Madagascar: Sarodrano and Andasibe

Well, we're back in Tana for a couple of days before departing Madagascar. It's so hard to believe that we're already at the end of the trip. This past week we spent traveling mainly to two different places.

Sarodrano is a small fishing village on a sandy island that is about an hour and a half boatride south of Toliara. We spent about two days there with Pete Schaffler and his sons, Luke and Jojo. We stayed in small bungalows at this little hotel run by residents of the village. It was the most rustic place we've stayed, but it was incredibly fun. We spent two days relaxing and recuperating from the English club in Toliara. We went to a beautiful grotto to swim, and since we were staying right on the beach, we spent some time in the Indian ocean. Some of the highlights of our stay were the times we played with the local children. Some of the young girls sang in Malagasy and performed a little dance; I tried to follow along. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but it was a lot of fun. I also really enjoyed the stars when we were there; with no electric lights and no trees, the starlit night is incredible to see.

The other half of the week we spent in a rainforest called Andasibe for debriefing. We stayed in a hotel right on the edge of the rainforest, from where we could hear the cries of the Indri lemurs. We did a four-hour hike in the rainforest, during which we got to see four different types of lemurs. We also did a nighthike during which we saw chameleons and nocturnal lemurs. During our stay we had individual and group debriefing with Daniel Zagami. We talked about what we've learned on the trip, how we thought the trip affected us, and what we are planning for the future. It was a very good, needed time for reflection and rest.

We will spend the next couple of days in Tana finishing up shopping, packing, and getting ready to go home. We might also get to go to a halfway house for troubled youth. Pray that the next couple days we will continue transitioning mentally and physically to return home.

In Christ,
Renee

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