Sunday, August 26, 2007

Domestic bliss in Tana

I love having my own personal bodyguard – especially when it is Roger.

Over the weekend we shopped for clothes for one of the guys whose luggage was lost, got haircuts, discovered a fabulous French pastry shop, and had a picnic in our room. Roger even found a pot that was big enough to put me in!

We also came across another interesting market today - but what a surreal experience it was walking around it and hearing Dire Straits playing over the loud speakers! The market had everything from bread, art, chickens, clothes and food – except socks that were large enough for Roger! There aren’t a lot of Malagasy men with size 13 feet and they roared with laughter when he held up his foot to show how big his feet were. The vendors were persistent though, and kept following us with different options – we finally bought a pair and considered it a donation. If you look closely at the first picture, you’ll see several roosters, chickens and ducks all roped together.

The staff at Hotel du Louvre have been wonderful during my stay. Most tourists are here for a couple of days and move on. Since arriving in Tana in July I’ve been here almost 3 weeks! I’m sure they’ll put a plaque over my bed saying “Miss Heffer stayed here for 3 weeks – except for one night when we asked her to leave”. For those who didn’t hear about that crazy night – I’ll regale you with the story over a glass of wine!

We leave on a 12 day trip touring around South Africa on August 27th, and we are really looking forward to it. Three nights will be spent at the Tuningi Safari Lodge http://www.tuningi.com/ in the Madikwe Game Reserve and we will hopefully see the “Big 5”. We also spend a few nights in Cape Town, and plan on visiting: Robbens Island where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years as a prisoner, Table Top Mountain, the famous V & A Waterfront, and a tour of the wine country. Keep checking the blog and we’ll post as soon as we are able.

Until then, take care and please keep in touch!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you get to go for a tour with Roger and see some interesting new culture.
We were at the Kinley weekend at Gull Lake, very good, Fred did a good job organizing everything. Pat C, Rhonda and I did a big breakfast for about 35ish.(not sure how many) 50 to 60 Sat.,I think)


Love, Mom K.

Anonymous said...

Hi Guys,
Paul and I are sitting here reading your blog! Looks like you are having quite the adventure. Look forward to hearing all about it.
Travel safe my friend!!!
Linda