'Tana is nothing like I expected. It's a beautiful city much more reminiscent of eastern Europe than Africa. It reminds me a lot of Prague with maybe a dash of Porto - all very medieval. It's kind of like what I expect the older eastern European cities were like thirty years ago - beautiful building, but lots of them showing wear. The people are friendly and except for the ubiquitous panhandlers there were no hassles. I really like this city.

I went to the "Zoma" market - which is supposed to be at it's biggest on Fridays. My guide book claims it is the largest street market in the world - it's cool, but was no where near as big as the markets in Addis Ababa or Kumasi, or for that matter the swap meet at home?!? I'm wondering if I somehow missed it, but I don't think so. Maybe it's moved, my guide book is five years old.

I bought some sewing stuff (snaps and a zipper), an adapter that turns a light socket into a plug, and of course some snacks. But what made my day shopping wise were these little tin whistles - they're loud! I liked them so much I bought ten of them for 150 FMG (Francs Madagasikara) - that's less than twenty five cents, total. Anyway I suspect I've annoyed a lot of people in the hotel because of them. I can't help it they all sound slightly different...

I also found an ATM (there's only one that I've seen) - the most it will let you take out at a time is 350,000 FMG (~$55). I was going to take out four batches, but the machine shut down after the third one - I think I might have triggered some kind of fraud protection routine. I walked all over the center of the city. Passed the palace where people with machine guns told me to walk on the other side of the street - at least the people with machine guns here wear uniforms and point them down, unlike a lot of places in Africa. Walked through a couple of hideously ugly 70's monolith monuments to independence, basically I just enjoyed the city. As a bonus the trees around town are all flowering a beautiful purple!

Back at the hotel I tried to read up on the rest of Madagascar - I'm realizing that 10 days here isn't going to be nearly enough. Right now I'm trying to decided if I should fly all over and get a taste of everything, or stay in one area. Right now I'm tending towards the South coast...

Just killed a cockroach that was about the size of my hand! The mosquitoes are also starting in.