Much as happened since I last checked in, most of it having to do with the vague work that I am doing, but it has led me on some awesome trips into the heart of rural Madagascar and then finally back to the capital with a day stop over at the country's most stunning National Park, Isalo.

I spent a few more days along the Western coast, scorching in the thick heat and sweating so much that my driver once asked me if I wanted to change my shirt, and that it is not normal to go swimming in your shirt. Pascal's "observations" have been lost on me, as i have trekking onto shore-side hilltops interviewing locals and taking evaluations of the amount of electricity that they use, how they get their electricity and who uses it and how much. My tests have been less than flattering of the capacity of the Madgascar energy services and the future of putting a plasma TV in every home worldwide.

Apart from my work, I had a chance to stop for a day at Isalo National Park on my return voyage to the capital, Antananarivo. Isalo is like the Grand Canyon meets Rohan from Lord of the Rings, meets the animated Madagascar 2. It is a collection of towering sandstone massifs and colorful savannah-like planes speckled with vast boulders. Too top it off, there are vast green valleys with vibrant streams and waterfuls crisscrossing the park with fearless lemurs diving from branch to branch. Although the less intimidating climbing spots of the park are sometimes flooded with fat, open-shirted French tourists, my guide and I had the higher plateaus to ourselves and we trekked 23 miles with a camp overnight and a dawn swim underneath a natural waterfall. Nothing like fifteen lemurs watching you take a bath, to make you feel like you are really in the thick of it.

But I've sine wound through the 12 hours of hills and steep drops back to the capital and after finishing my meeting today, tomorrow I depart for Mozambique. Madagascar has been a strange site, but a welcome re-introduction into the continent which enchants me. I'll be meeting more mercenaries, looking at precious gem mines and evaluating small solar and wind distributers in Moz, so if you continue to read, prepare yourself for step 2.

I've got a day off today, but there isn't a dugout or clubhouse for me to pound a couple of beers, and play video games, so I'll work instead,
Steven