Hi everybody! We made it finally to Lesotho last night after travelling for 48 hours. We are in Hloste about 2 hours away from Maseru, the capital city. We will be here for few days before we head up to the mountains. Hlotse (aka Leribe) is a city of 20000 people maybe; it's really interesting here. We were pretty much prepared by the images we have seen from the calendars and slideshows so visually we weren't too shocked. The mountains are absolutely incredible, even though we are in the supposed lowlands. We were picked up at the airport by one of the volunteers, named Donna. It was strange driving on the left side of the road. We had to drive through Maseru, which was insane. It's a city of 250 000 people; people were everywhere walking through the traffic. The car was a standard which made it more interesting since our driver was a Canadian. Once we got out of the city into the mountains, we were treated to an amazing sunset. Michaela here...As Joel said, the scenery is mindblowing. We got off the plane in Maseru (a little 29-seater) and walked from the plane, across the tarmack and into the ariport. That's when we felt like we were really in Africa. The people in Hlotse are hilarious---they make no bones about staring at us. The customs lady was incredulous that Canadians would actually want to come to Lesotho for four whole months. I'm sure they think we're crazy! We are staying in the guest house that's run by the nuns. It's quite comfortable; there's electricity and running water. Warm water to shower in-though it's a trickle more than a shower. I've stayed in hostels with more rustic amenities than this. Still so nice after all that travelling. The nuns also take care of the St. Mary's girls whose faces we've seen in the calendars we were selling. It's around 22 degrees here and the flowers are still blooming. We're a bit overwhelmed by everything and it doesn't really help that no one from Help Lesotho is here today! They've all eft for the mountains or for Canada. One of the interns will be returning to Hlotse tonight, supposedly. All in all, we're doing really well. It's hard to believe that we're finally here; it's been in the works for so long. Not much more to say at this point. We're still trying to get our bearings and figure this wonderful place out. Can't wait to write more! Don't hold your breath... --m & jcs