Christmas Eve

I wanted to wish you all a happy holiday season! I am currently in a beach town on the southwest coast of Madagascar called Tulear. It is SO HOT here. I am sweating as I type. My friend from high school, Jamie is here visiting and it has been fun showing her my life here. she has been a trooper on all the long taxi brousse rides. we spent 8 hours in the brousse on thursday, 9 on friday and another 8 on saturday. We went hiking through a park called Isalo last week. It was gorgeous. Its like dry desert with huge sandstone formations combined with tropical trees and rivers and streams with huge rocks in the canyons. ts hard to explain! We hiked a difficult 19k the first day and then slept in the park in tents and the next day hiked around the park. We went to three natural pools and swam in them and played in the waterfalls. It was beautiful and relaxing. Today we are heading out to Ankilibe, which is a small site on the beach. We will camp there for three days and snorkle and swim. Some people in the town are going to kill a goat for us to eat for Christmas dinner as well. I will have cell phone reception, so call me if you want! Then on Saturday Jamie, Lisa and I are taking a 24 hour taxi brousse ride to Morondava. There is also beach there, its north of Tulear on the west coast. There is also the famous Baobab trees there that Madagascar is known for. If you dont' know what they are you should google them. I'm super excited to see them! We have been lucky so far and jamie was able to see two big groups of lemurs! All in all its been a great trip!

Well, I hope that you all have as much fun playing in the snow as I will the sand! Ha, no but really I wish you all a happy holiday season and hope you are surrounded by loved ones.