This post is over a week old. We arrived in Ft. Dauphin early morning of Thursday September 11, but Collin has been using the laptop for his college class and I have been busy with school, so I haven’t had a chance to upload until now. I’ll write a post about settling in here soon.

We arrived in Antananarivo on a Sunday afternoon after three travel days and an exhausting week of preparation. We all had colds on top of everything. Friday, Jay drove us six hours from the farm to Chicago. Normally, we can find a flight out of Dayton, Columbus or Cincinnati, but those got to JFK later and I didn't think we'd have enough time, considering that we would have to go from domestic to international. So we flew very early Saturday from Chicago O'hare. As it worked out, we were in an adjacent terminal and had plenty of time, but there's no telling if that would have been the case had we arrived from elsewhere.

The JFK-Nairobi flight was long, obviously, but uneventful. We all slept some. We had a quick stop, and were on our flight to Antananarivo. I like a long flight bookended with short ones better than breaking things up in Europe. The long one gives you time to sleep.

Our driver met us at the airport, we got cash and a Sim card, and were on the way to the Hotel Sakamanga. We love this hotel. It's comfortable, quiet and highlights local culture. The price for four nights is about the same as what we paid for one night at Comfort Suites O'Hare, but the room is nicer.

There are two restaurants, a pool, though it's too chilly to swim, a spa, which we don't need, and a sweet little garden. We are not city people and Tana is overwhelming sometimes, but Sakamanga is a peaceful oasis.

We've been here before, and as cities go, we all like it, because of the green spaces. It's just that there is a lot going on. Last time we had been traveling for awhile and had recently been in Naples, Athens and Beirut. This time we're coming straight from the farm. We suck at crossing streets. But some kind soul usually stops for us. So, we definitely feel the culture shock, but it's more country to city than America to Madagascar culture shock.

Sunday night we just ate, showered and crashed. Monday morning after the hotel's yummy breakfast, we went to transform our entry visa into a residency permit. Honestly, I still don't really understand this process, but we have a guide from our host's family. We took a taxi to where we thought we were supposed to meet and were super early. So we sat on the steps chatting and enjoying the morning sunshine. I think that was a gaffe. We were politely told to move on. We were not, in fact, in the right place, but our guide found us and got us to where we were supposed to be. We could see the building, but never could have gotten there on our own.

The process went pretty smoothly, a lot of forms to fill out, but not too hard. We did need one more photo than we had brought, and our guide gave us directions to a place to do that near our hotel. That walk was crazy. After several attempts, we eventually found it, but it was closed for Mohammed's birthday.

There is a Muslim community here, but I don't think it's a majority. We still had our passports with us and I was nervous walking around with them. I think part of the culture shock is the lack of space. The US is huge, and we sprawl. Not the best thing environmentally, but we're used to wide streets and sidewalks and give each other a wide berth. That can't happen here. Like any big city pick pockets exist, and having the passports made me hyper alert to people in my space. My idea of my personal bubble isn't very realistic here, and I know that intellectually, but still get stressed. So we went back to the hotel to regroup and WhatsApp our guide. He graciously agreed to show us the way to another photo shop.

That walk was much better, we got the photos done and went to the atm, then our guide delivered them to the visa office for us. That completed our business in Tana. We returned to the hotel, had lunch/dinner by the pool, and went to bed early.

We're still struggling with jet lag, we get tired and go to bed, but wake up a couple hours later. Tuesday we slept late, after being awake most of the night. With our business done it was time for some world schooling. We went to the Photography Museum of Madagascar, which has rotating exhibits of historical photos. The current theme is water. It was a really interesting exhibit. We also enjoyed the courtyard. The museum is up on a hill, so the air is super fresh.

We think this table might be a game board, but we don't really know so we just made up a way to play.

We had lunch at the museum cafe, which Collin especially enjoyed. We spent the afternoon repacking, and had dinner at the hotel.

Wednesday we visited the Queen's Palace, Rova Manjakamiadana.

We learned a lot about the history of Madagascar up to the colonial period.

These are the tombs of the queen and king.

This is the king's palace. The reason the queen has both a fancier palace and fancier tomb is because historically Malagasy society was matriarchal.

You can't take pictures inside the buildings, but the complex is up on the same hill as the photography museum, and the highest point in Antananarivo. So the view is beautiful.