A few Days in Fianar(antsoa)

Back in Fianarantsoa (Fianar, for short) after 4 nights at Ranomafana, I met up with Ernesto, one

of the Peace Corps Volunteers I met in Tana. He took me to a local bar to listen to a local band play and to meet some other volunteers and a variety of other foreigners living in the area. After several hours of trying the local beers, we headed off to the town’s hottest nightclub where, fortunately, I was denied entry due to my inappropriate dress. Apparently dirty shorts, smelly socks, and torn sneakers just didn’t cut it to gain entry. Happy to have been turned away, I stumbled back out to the street, hailed a cab, and headed back to the hotel. I spent the following day walking up through Fianar’s Old Town and then met up again with Ernesto who took me to the Peace Corps meva (rest house). I headed back to the hotel, armed with a 2-liter of coke and four packs of wafer cookies, and spent the next few hours watching the Jacky Chan and Owen Wilson classic, Shanghai Noon.