Day 2

The view from Christi's front porch.

We boarded our plane at 7am on Monday from San Francisco to Washington DC (5.5 hours).When we arrived at IAD in DC, Frank & Barry, Terra's friend's met us there with glowing smiles and big hugs. We laughed delirously and snacked before our longest flight from DC to Johannesburg, South Africa (with a short stop in Dakar, Senegal). 17 hours later we arrived in JoBurg. We stayed at a hostel on the outskirts of town and met some great travelers who were preparing for a 40 day overland trip to 5 different countries. we drank, we laughed and we met some of the guides leading the overland trips, who upon hearing we were outdoorsy ladies with white water guiding experience promptly offered us jobs. Tempted with tales of the glorious sites of the Motherland, we declined since we had something more epic planned out: MADAGASCAR!

The next morning we hopped on a flight (with about 30 american mormons) for a 2 hour trip to Antannanarivo, the capitol of Madagascar. Christi, Terra's friend from college, an AMAZING & INSPIRATIONAL woman met us at the airport. She was suprised (but not too suprised) to find out that we had befriended a Slovenian fella while waiting in line for our visas. I think Terra and I were a bit too relaxed in planning this trip because when I arrived in JoBurg I barely made it through due to my passport pages being filled! I will have to apply for a new passport in Tana (nickname for the capitol of Madagascar). Luckily I travel with extra passport photos. The other travel faux pax we made was paying for our madagascar visa- sure it makes my passport full and pretty, but it cost $85 and as we came to find out, the visa fee was waived for all tourists until Dec.31,2009 (due to the recent political coup). C'est La Vie.....

Christi, Terra, Gaspar (Slovenian pal) and I took a long, packed taxi ride to Christi's fantastic house in downtown Tana, where Christi opened up her bag of goodies we carried from the states for her. I know how absolutely nice it is when you are living in a foreign place and crave some of the comforts and neccessities of home. We got the full tour of her abode, and decided to have some dinner. We went to an amazing Indian restaurant, that was a beautiful subterannean escape. There are plenty more stories from this dinner, however they will have to be told face to face, as it would not be wise for me to publicly share. It was nothing bad, just an eventful evening that of course would happen to Terra and I on our first night in MADAGASCAR!