September 7, 2007
We're in Ivato, a surprisingly pleasant suburb 12 kms from Tana, because it's home to the one international airport in Mad and we leave for Italy tomorrow at about 7 in the morning. This has caused some concern in our camp because it means we have to be at the airport by 5, and while David's a morning person that's early even for him. (We won't discuss my morning status except to say that I'm not at my most chipper before, oh, 10 or so.) Especially since we'll be walking the 1 km there. We could get a taxi, but David has a mental block against taking transport when the journey will take less time than it takes to get our bags loaded into the cab. Besides, we like walking! So, having scouted around and been told that there are no intrepid early morning muggers, we get to leave our hotel tomorrow at 4:30. Fun!
Actually, what should be fun and what we're really looking forward to is arriving in Italy. We've already arranged to have dinner with a friend when we get in, and the best part, it will be Italian food! Mad's offerings of sustenance are a little...slim. And three months is more than enough time to establish that there are only so many rice dishes you can have when the rice is plain and served with a small bowl of sauce and three pieces of gristly, yet fatty meat as an accompaniment. But it turns out three months is actually more than enough time to establish a lot of opinions about Mad.
We've really enjoyed our time here and already have plans to come back sometime in the future, but there has been a feeling of "senioritis" for the last few weeks. Partly it's because given the way we prefer to travel (slowly) and Mad's transport options (bad), we haven't quite been able to have the trip we planned. So there's been a slight feeling of killing time, lately. But the big part of it is that we've never traveled for this long. We've had longish trips, but we've now been out for about four months. That's a long time to wear the same two outfits, deal with situations that change daily and be homeless.
But with Italy comes some routine, since while we'll still be homeless in the same two outfits, we'll also be in a country we (sort of) understand. And the food is fabulous. Because, really, who could ask for more than pizza and gelato?
