Had some trouble sleeping at night, I woke up several times. Guess I was nervous about the ride, and I really hope the jeep will show up! I will feel stupid getting caught in a scam this early in my trip (ooh just wait it will come soon enough!) Finally got up at 4am, packed everything, and came outside to wait for the jeep. Showed up at 4:40 and we rode around Addis for a while picking up and dropping off random people. In the car the driver played everything (VERY LOUDLY) from Akon to Eminem to Michael Jackson, and the other passanger by the door was secretly taking pictures of his white farenji jeepmates. He thought we didnt notice he took them with his phone...what does he want with them? When you take a picture of someone here you have to first ask permission, then usually pay them for it. We should have told him the same. For real though...creepy!
We stopped at the Africa Hotel to eat breakfast, bread and tea. I tried to open the trunk of the car and broke off the black piece which holds the little light over the liscence plate. It was obviously broken several times before and was hanging by a thread when I popped it off. The driver fixed it with some black glue which he obviously used to fix it previously, but not after throwing a fit and demanding 200 bir (19 USD). After being very clear there was no way he was getting money from us, he just let it go. I wonder how much he has gotten from that little scam? He then bought a whole bag of chat and ate it all through the car ride. Chat is a mildly intoxicating plant famous here in Ethiopia and exported to many countries. It is legal, but I would rather the person driving my jeep not be chewing it the whole time! especially on the crazy roads we were on. Oh well...its Ethiopia! I later learn that you should be suspicious when the driver does not have chat...its the normal thing these days!
Driving i was very surprised at the red dirt and the cows with massive horns and hump backs like camels. I have never seen anything like it. Just by driving you can tell what a beautiful country this is. The road down to the nile gorge drops over 1000m and is really breathtaking. Also, it seems no matter how small the town, there are a bunch of fooseball tabels all being used by enthusiastic youth. Random?
Got to Bahir Dar and we started walking the wrong way. A "nice" guy came up to us and told us he didnt want money,only to show us the right way. This immidiately got my attention. That doesnt happen in Ethiopia! Of course he wants something. So we tell him where we want to go, and he pulls us over a cab. We pay the 20 birr to take us 200 meters and only realise later this is why he didnt ask for money. The cab (a little motor scooter thing with canopy) should cost about 2 birr. Splitting the profit with the driver, he made off quite well. What a tricky guy!
Because it was a fast day (twice a week many Ethiopians "fast") we got injera with vegtables. A fast means no meat, and injera is like thge national food. Basically its a very spongy flat bread which I find tasty only when I am very hungry. Also the veggies tend to be really spicy, but its the national food so we have to eat it! It is quite filling though...
We were trying to decide whether or not to take a boat ride on Lake Tana, which is the major tourist attraction here. After getting many offers we were able to get the price to just 50 Birr per person for a ride to the Debra Maryam Monestary and the hippo place. Meeting 2 Belgiums on the way who decided to join us, the price dropped to 40. Not too bad! We walked around the grounds of the monestary and saw many interesting birds and butterflys. We really liked the Belgiums and also met an Ethiopian Israeli on the boat visiting his home country for the first time. We passed the "hippo place" and the source of the nile...did you know Egypt gets 80 percent of its water from Ethiopia? Did you know Ethiopia has 5.2 million donkeys, second only to china? But that their average lifespan is only a third that of donkeys in the rest of the world? ok enough trivia!
After the boat ride we went back to town and got food for the coming trek in the Simien Mountains. Pasta, rice, canned goods, etc. We met our new Belgium friends for mango and pinapple juice and forgot to tell them to use bottled water. Oops! Hopefully no one will get sick! It was tasty, but not as good as in addis ababa. I went to get a reciept from a guy who is going to get us a minibus straight to debark (turns out to be a scam!). He took me to a restaurant to get a piece of paper to write a receipt. It didnt seem legit at all, so I said no and he told me fine I can pay tomorrow. He told me he will show up at 8 at the hotel. Ok, fine so far. Just wait till tomorrow.
Met the group at a restaurant for dinner and drank a bunch of tea, to which i am slowly becoming addicted. Talked to Dani about doing the Simien trek with the Belgiums, someone I didnt want to do at first as it meant waiting a day until they could get to the base camp. Ended up being a good idea, and I am glad we waited for them. Dani also promised me we would be at the border with kenya by Nov. 1, so whatever happens is ok. This doesnt look like a reality at the moment for her, but that will come later. We went back to the hotel and tried to lighten dani's pack load. She has a lot she can return to Israel. Went to sleep late at 23:40 with a daily total of 405 birr (32 USD)
Wow that was a lot those past 2 stories. Its now late and I will try to upload more tomorrow!!! Sweet dreams everyone :)
