Life in Madagascar

Where shall I even begin? Has it really been six months since I moved to Madagascar?

I'm all settled in my new home on the northeast coast in a sweet little village called Soavinarivo right outside Mananara, where I'll be living for the next two years, in fact.

My village is gorgeous, on the edge of the Mananara Biosphere Reserve and bordered by the beautiful Mananara River. The streets are lined with coconut trees and palms. The houses are made of bamboo with thatched leaf rooves.
My house is great (check out the photos I just uploaded on my flickr account). But no, there aren't any lemurs.... however, I do have a mango tree, a lychee tree, and a coconut tree in my yard. And the ocean is a half hour bike ride away.
The people of my village are beautiful, sweet, and generous, and I have felt nothing but welcome and appreciated by everyone I meet.

Work is coming along fabulously, thanks to having a motivated counterpart in the community, as well as lots of hardworking, excited, and open-minded community members. So far, I've managed to build countless compost piles on farms and gardens in the area; I have a beautiful garden of veggies, which I share with neighbors and friends in Soavinarivo; I recently started a small tree nursery where I'm growing trees to be used for fuelwood; and when I'm not planting rice, I've been helping with the vanilla harvest. There's nothing quite like waking up in the morning to the smell of vanilla beans drying in my yard.

I won't be checking in online as regularly as I had hoped when I set up this blog, since there's no internet access in my region of the island. Chances are I won't get a chance to update again until December when I'll be taking my vacation in southern Madagascar near Fort Dauphin.

So keep the letters coming. Thanks to those of you who have made an effort to stay in touch, and thanks especially to my parents who have been most supportive and dedicated to staying in regular contact. I realise it's a hassle to send letters by post as opposed to e-mail, but it's appreciated more than you can imagine.

That's the news from me. Life is good. Better than good. Tsara BE!