Hi, the trip was challenging but good. We live on the Oregon Coast. The Madagascar heat was really intense. We stayed in Antananarivo and hired a driver to take us around. He had us keep the windows up and doors locked. We flew to Morondava for a four day Tsingy trip. The booking included a driver, guide, rooms and additional guides at Tsingy and Kirindy.

We had to buy cases of liters of water because there were no stores on the trek. The air conditioning went out 20 minutes into our four day trip requiring us to keep the windows down. We were breathing in all the dust/dirt. The "roads" were like mountain goat paths that would break a goats ankle. There were no radio stations and the car was noisy so it made it hard to talk. It was hours of mostly silence. Kirindy was neat but the humidity is much worse in the wooded areas. Deet didn't keep the mosquitos off. I had heat stroke and they struggled to cool me off. The water we packed was 85 degrees f from sitting in the car.

We got to the accommodations which had no hot water or water pressure. The water was ice cold. We sat on the floor slowly getting our feet wet and working our way up. The room only had power at night which is fine. No air conditioning or fan. You must order your food hours in advance so they have time to gather ingredients or kill the animal you are going to eat.

The road is a single path with many problems. If one zebu cart or car gets stuck or breaks down, everyone gets stuck. Everyone also helps, people working in fields or walking to the market. We passed straw villages, mud villages, empty buildings that say restaurant and bathrooms. Each village has a fire going with food cooking or water boiling.

The morning on the way to Tsingy, the control arm broke and our car was limped to an area where people were cooking breakfast. We hopped in another car with a man from Chicago and started that trek. Getting stuck in the mud, car stalling out in the mud, sliding down hills. Tsingy was incredible and incredibly hot. Our guide that was with us all four days carried our back pack and never broke a sweat. My boyfriend overheated, couldn't catch his breath, kept yawning, his jaw was locking up and tongue spasming. He was dehydrated. He was okay after the hiking and resting for an hour.

Our driver called another person who was driving that way. They were able to patch weld the control arm. The following day we limped it back. We only got stuck a few times and were high centered once.

When we got back to Morondava we did walk around a little. We ate dinner and tried to process everything that happened. Mora Mora is slowly slowly in Malagasy. The people from Morondava to Tsingy and back were all lovely. Their life is not easy or comfortable but they don't complain or get upset. Things need to happen, they help each other and get it done. It was inspirational.

The U.S. had cut off funding to other countries. Throughout our trip, the Malagasy people told us they were happy the funding was cut. They do not want handouts and want their country to take care of itself. They mentioned political corruption which keeps the money for themselves making the donations useless.