Day 022: Today was a much better day than yesterday in the capital of Madagascar. First, it was a work day and this area around our hotel has a lot of busy government offices. All the shuttered shops of a Sunday, were lively and colorful on Monday morning. So many people were walking about on business! Additionally, the weather today has been mixed and everything looks much brighter in a little sunshine. Finally, I feel great today. I realized I must have been briefly under the weather yesterday, perhaps because of something I ate, or a person whom I sat next to on the flights. Anyway, these factors all led me have a much more enjoyable day!
The Malagasy faces (Wikipedia article) that we see are widely varied. Although this island is next to Africa, the genes of the population are even more varied than on the continent of Africa itself. Some folks here look like they could be from SE Asia, because they had ancestors from far and wide. Seeing a group of young people in school uniforms laughing and being kids felt amazing.
Importantly, even before we walked out of the door of the hotel today, we ironed out some plans. We will be heading off with a driver tomorrow morning at 8:00 am. We have four nights on the road and five full days of exploration. We arranged for a driver who'll take us to the famous Baobab trees and the chance to watch changing scenery on a trip to the western coast. Of course, we hope to see some lemurs in the wild as well.