October 18th

Today is a drive day. Breakfast was the same as yesterday, except we had orange and we opted for hot cocoa. While we were eating, the male host and George were taking turns playing a guitar and singing. The guy was teaching George some guitar, it was a nice accompaniment to our meal. Finished we went back to our room and packed. We loaded up and headed out around 845. We only have the destination of getting to the capital, about 4hrs driving if there are no mishaps on the road.

Again the drive is just a reverse of two days ago. The road did not, thankfully, have any issues from all the rain we had last evening. Traffic and road construction was the only slow downs. George actually took a cut off and skirted up north of town, Antananarivo – the capital city. We are going to the King's Palace. First though we stop for lunch. We ordered a penne pasta with grated cheese – had a garnish of hardboiled egg and tomato slices; and French fries with grated cheese. Jeff had water; I had a World Cola. Our food took forever, but we had entertainment! This time it was an actual band. They played a couple of numbers, then out came dancers. Four women and a man. George translated when they sang. They had traditional dress for the local tribe. They left and band played another number. Then dancers came back with different costumes. The dancers left and returned after one more costume change. This time a “turkey” was part of the show (it was someone costumed up as a turkey. George said it was a representation of a festival day, in which the turkey would be dinner. All the dances had something to do with the king and decrees. Anyway, our food finally arrived and we ate.

Now we left restaurant and walked up steps to the Kings Palace. This was the first King of all of Madagascar. He's responsible for unifying all the 12 tribes. He did this by marrying a prominent woman from each tribe! I know this is better than having warring go on between the tribes, but really? Anyway, our guide Norra, lead us through the palace area. The first King was here from 1788-1810, but with only one wife – the favorite. His home was humble, made of blackened wood, it was basically one room. He lived, ate, and slept here.

Later when the Monarch was a Queen, there were additions for the Queen to be here when it was too hot in the city. These rooms had much more “stuff”, things that were given from France, Italy, United Kingdom, ect. to the Queen. We also were shown the Royal Tombs, where the first King, his dad and his grandfather are buried.

Finished we thanked our guide and George took us to the city and to our hotel. We are at the same hotel as our first night in Madagascar, Hotel Belvedere. We checked in and scrambled updating our web site, because we have internet. 🙂

Then readied and went to supper. George ate with us, which is rare. But before he joined us we were served a punch-type drink with a small sampling of a bruschetta. Then George sat with us. We shared some of our wine with him. Then we were served our starters: a small plate of local cheese with a Russian potato salad; and also, two crepes filled with ham, cheese, and mushrooms. Our mains: Blue cheese gnocchi; and a duo skewer (Zebu and Chicken with tomatoes, eggplant, and green pepper) with side of sauteed veggies. Our desserts: Tiramisu; and cup of fruit salad with small scoop of ice cream. George just had a main of stewed cassava leaves with pork and side of rice. We three talked a lot. He had questions about what we thought of our accommodations, restaurants, and the tour in general. So we told him. We talked about our travels some and the fact that this is the poorest country we have been to, but also the beauty of Madagascar. It was good. Then we finished and discussed plan for tomorrow. He wants to take us to another park – this was not part of the agenda, but we have time and are willing. So plan is to leave here at 730 in the morning. So i'm finishing this to get to bed.

End of Mad Tour, Day 24 – hard to believe.