I've reached native...

It's been a rough trip back to site... It wasn't the cancelled plane, the free hotel, or even the twenty chickens I brought back with me, it was the regiment of bum workouts every 3 hours that have been killing me. But I'm happy to report that I've reached the level of Native. I can now survive on any taxi-brousse, even those with seat cushions made of nails.

Just kidding.

But we've almost made it back to site. Our first flight was cancelled so Air Mad paid for our taxis, bought us a hotel room, and all our meals, it was nice to live in the lap of luxury, even for just a day. But before going to the airport I had picked up the 20 chickens I was bringing back to site... they were not as happy about being rerouted to the hotel; they did OK in the bathtub (I hung my bedside lamp from the ceiling so that they would stay warm). Now we're in Maintirano and it's somewhat strange to be back. I know everyone on the streets now and can't go for 5 minutes without stopping at least twice to talk to someone I've met; it's comforting. I thought it would be difficult coming back, potentially isolated from everyone for a long time. But it took leaving and coming back for things to really start feeling like home.

I hope that things are going well for everyone else and would like to say I enjoyed spending the last week or two with everyone. Best of luck.

Marshall