My weekend was quite nice. It was warm and sunny both days. On Saturday I walked into town to buy some groceries and explore a little. In the afternoon, I sat in the sun on my porch and read, and then had a pizza dinner at the Snack (café at my house) with the SKIPs. On Sunday bright and early I went to church with Zoë (who lives with her sister Sophie above me), which was interesting. Despite not understanding a word (it was 100% in Malagasy), it somehow held my attention a little better than church back home. Maybe that's just because I was there voluntarily, for more of a culture than religious experience. Anyway, it seemed to be a typical Catholic mass that took just under 2 hours. The small cathedral is beautiful.

Around noon Dani (one of the SKIP girls) showed up and we went on a 3 hour walk out of town a little along the river. I brought my camera only to realize I hadn't put the battery back in it after recharging. That said, it was a nice hike. On the way out of town we passed a few people herding a good 20 zebu (i think that's the plural form too...?) down the road. Dani took a picture that I will eventually get ahold of. Or I'll take a picture of another zebu herd on a modern street - it's a commonish occurrence. We walked along a dirt road by the river that's basically at the bottom of the non-city side of Haut Ville. Nearish the main road we turned off of, there was a huge amount of trash, largely plastic, which was really sad, but as we kept walking it got nicer. There was a pond sort of area where a guy was fishing, and lots of people were carrying things back and forth (including a stack of about 10 bricks a woman was carrying on her head!). It looked to me like an area that hasn't been built up yet, but where small homes are just starting to be built. It was hot (and I was on the brink of being sunburned), so we stopped for a well deserved beer at Tsara Guest House, just down the hill from Haut Ville. It's a pretty fancy place that caters almost exclusively to the French (Westerners at least), but it's a cheap yet really nice place to have a beer. I think I went to bed at 8 that night.