Last work day in Madagascar

Last night I had an early night and finally had a good night's sleep. I was also pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the meeting room at 9am and almost everyone was already there! We had a really good productive day and I am very happy with the work that was done. It was incredible that for the first two days everyone just seemed to be loafing and then they got down and did the work. Amazingly the one thing that changed between those first two days and the last three days was that the most senior person was no longer there. Coincidence or not?

Today was our longest work day because not because of trying to finish in time but because we had to wait for the Secretary General to come and close the meeting and he only arrived at 05:40 due to traffic problems. At least he kept it brief and the workshop was closed in 5 minutes.

Tonight there is a jazz evening going on downstairs here in the hotel and I might pop my head in there to see what it is all about but right now I am leaning towards just watching movies on my laptop.

I have a day to roam around Antananarivo tomorrow so will hit the streets and see what is in the neighbourhood. It is concerning though how many times I have been told to watch out for thieves and that I must be very careful. I wonder if I do the same to visitors to Durban! It doesn't give me a lot of confidence but I won't carry much on me besides my little camera and enough cash to get a taxi if I get lost :-) There are some amazing buildings here so I am looking forward to being able to take my time and look at them instead of just glancing at them from the taxi.

Sorry that there are no photos tonight but hopefully I will have lots to share tomorrow.

Take care everyone!

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