August 8
In the morning, we had a brief lesson in Malagasy, covering the basics of the language such as "hello", "thank you", simple numbers, and so on. We then walked half an hour down the road to Andranofasika, the local town. It was market day, so we shopped. There were very few DVD players available, in fact none, though empty bottles of every type were popular, as well as a wide variety of foods in their basic forms. The locals were very friendly, and it seemed like most of the colors on display were very bright. Apparently looking "gaudy" is not as much of a concern in Madagascar. I bought a couple little items, including a small padlock for my tent zipper.
The eighth was also when I
got to know the camp 
lemur, a crowned sifaka named Avotra. His name means "saved" in Malagasy,
a reference to his being found in a road after his mother was shot by poachers.
Being raised by humans, he's very fond of us as a species. He's particularly
addicted to human sweat, flavored as it is with salt and (in my case) delicious
sunscreen. He would usually be found on one of the camp roofs or being carried
around by humans. It seems from his perspective that we're just like trees,
only we move and can carry him to stuff without all that leaping around. Sifakas
can't walk per se; they get around by leaping. This looks terribly cute, and
a few photos of the process can be found on the all-Avotra
page. His fingers are kind of soft and leathery, and he weighs about five
or six pounds. Most commonly, he'd try to cross the open space to the central
dining hall when we were eating; he usually made it about as far as the door.
When last heard from, he was going to be sent to a zoo in Eastern Madagascar.