a quick update...

I'm in Tamatave now after a hellish two day taxi-brousse ride on a road that vehicles honestly should never attempt... it's nice to take a break from my site, see what's up on the world wide web.
A group of volunteers are all getting together for an early Thanksgiving dinner this weekend in a nice beach resort town just north of Tamatave called Foulpointe. We'll probably all get drunk and complain about Peace Corps... ;-)

Life at site has been going well. When I'm not planting, weeding, transplanting, harvesting, drying, cooking, and eating rice, I've managed to keep myself fairly busy with lots of other projects in my village of Soavinarivo.

I think I lucked out with a village of really hardworking motivated people. I feel like my site is the perfect place for me. And despite being completely remote and isolated from the rest of the country, I feel lucky to be where I'm at in the Mananara region.

My main project lately has been working on building cookstoves with a group of women. I have lots of photos (and not a lot of time to explain), so check back in when the photos are uploaded (hopefully next month). I've lost count as to how many stoves have been finished in the last few months, somewhere between 10-15. And we just completed our first stove with a chimney. I'm hoping this will become an income generating project for the women I've been working with as their technique has improved with practice and they are already confident enough to build the stoves without my help. It's great to see so many people using their new stoves and saving a noticable amount of fuelwood.

I'm still gardening a lot too. Right now I'm growing pumpkin and corn and squash and sunflowers and watermelon. It's almost summer, and it's starting to get really hot, but not unbearably so. The weather has actually been really gorgeous since I've been here, other than the occasional downpour.

What else? I have three baby ducks and a kitten. Hehe. Check back soon for photos...

Yeah, anyway, that's it for the update. I probably have more profound things to share, but I'm not used to sitting in front of a computer these days, and it's a gorgeous day outside in Tamatave, and I need to feel the sunshine and see the Indian Ocean. I'm also craving coconut ice cream. ;-)

Stay in touch. Who's coming to visit??????