Tuesday, September 18 -- Welcome to Madagascar!!!

After about 30 hours of travel time and a long 8 hour layover in CDG airport (Paris) we finally arrived in Madagascar at 4:45am local time. We got off of the plane, went through customs, got a visa and then discovered that Byron's pack was missing :( So we filled out a claim form and then went to Tasir's house so we could give him the forms to pick up the bag if it ever showed up in Tana. When the plans for this trip were in their infancy I feared that one of the backpacks would get lost in transit. It is kind of difficult to do a hiking/backpacking trip when you don't have a pack (or tent... or sleeping bag... or food)! In fact, the safe arrival of our luggage has been on specific prayer request lists for some time now. But God provides and we were able to use one of Kyle's day packs, borrow a tent and sleeping bag from Matt, and wouldn't you know that I had packed just enough food in my pack to last us the first leg of the trip??? We do have an awesome God! And another thought here... when Kyle was planning the itenerary for our trip, we had the "unique" opportunity to visit 2 distinct parts of the island. Because of that, we were scheduled to pass through the capital in a few days as we headed to the north part of the island for the second leg of our trip. It wasn't really out of our way at all to intercept Byron's pack when it finally arrived. I do believe that the way everything unfolded was a bit more than coincidence.

We went to Matt's house (the strategy facilitator for the Indian Ocean cluster) and borrowed his gear, then got back into Kyle's car and drove to Antsirabe which is about a 4 hour drive on narrow, windy roads. I am not sure that I can accurately describe the experience of driving in Mada... particularly in Tana! Imagine an interstate system with 2 way traffic sharing a 1 1/2 lane road. Now, instead of just cars, imagine sharing this road with oxcarts, hundreds of pedestrians, zebu heards, bicycles & roadside vendors. Now imagine speed "suggestions" instead of speed limits. It is insane... particularly in the city. You are passing by bicycles, pedestrians, cars, animals etc... with only inches of clearance on either side. Horns are beeping constantly attempting to alert any obstacles in the path of approaching vehicles. And did I mention the lack of passing lanes or zones? If you want to pass anyone/thing you just honk and pass... doesn't really matter if you are in the city, country, at an intersection or in the path of what a sensible person would define as an oncoming vehicle. Whoever is bigger, braver, faster, (or more suicidal... uhh, uhh, uhh I mean aggressive) takes the right of way! (Sorry, Kyle... just giving you a hard time... we all arrived safely!) This would be an example of a "not very busy" section of the road.

When we got to Antsirabe, we met Suzanne and Baby Kylie, ate a quick Malagasy pizza, packed up our packs, picked up our translators, crammed everything into the truck and headed south on the national road to Fionare. It was another 3-4 hour drive on these same windy, narrow roads. I have never been carsick in my life... not even close to it, but let me tell you... I was turning green by the time we got to Dries and Marlee's house that night! I think that it was a combination of exhaustion, jet lag and the roads. I would highly suggest dramamine to anyone traveling to Mada, regardless of any prior history of car sickness!

Dries and Marlee are independent missionaries from South Africa who live in Mada. They are a lovely couple and have 3 great little kids. We were able to crash at their house for the night and they fed us a great meal. While we were waiting for the food to be ready, Kyle began the orientation with Byron and I. It was very exciting knowing that we would soon be in the bush doing research and survey work with the Bara tribe. However after about 2 1/2 days with out any sleep we were both about spent... as indicated by the fact that Byron literally fell asleep during orientation! Kyle didn't take it personally, tho. We had a nice meal and it was off to a welcomed bed for the weary travelers who had gone more than 10,000 miles in the last couple of days!