[9/7/07 SAMBAVA, Madagascar. Dear John, Went running today on the beach in Sambava, to clear my head. Scheduling woes are – you know me – not my cup of tea. I wanted to get out to this awesome national park because I’m stuck in this town until Sunday, but I don’t have time. On the run down the beach, I saw a man and pregnant woman herding cattle (zebu here). The hoof-prints in the sand made running interesting, and I was laughing out loud to myself about the whole scene – me on a de-stress run and encountering a herd of horned cattle blocking my path and coming right for me. I ran so much that I got blisters and cuts all over the bottoms of my feet – woops. The consistency of the beach is a little more like glass shards than powder. In reality, I’ve gotten a lot accomplished on this trip to the vanilla-growing region of Madagascar. I’m just frustrated I have to wait around for this one tour of one vanilla factory – and the down time is making me pretty lonely. Good thing the beautiful ocean and mountain views are here for that. Nature is about the only thing keeping me company (and sane) here at the moment. Love you, John]
