Oh my gosh. Where do I start this story? So I have no realized that posting everything I have done in a day makes no sense, plus it would take me weeks to put it all online, so I will try to hit the basics of what has been going on. Especially because I have had no internet for about 2 weeks. so here goes.
After finishing in Gonder ( I believe I left off there?) we went up to Debark and hiked the simien mountains. It was the most beautiful, amazing place I believe in the world. I cannot put it into words, so I will just let you know that you have to come to experience it. Period.
Then I dropped back to Debark for a good nights sleep and broke off from Dani and the Belgians who continued North. I heard from some Canadian friends the border with Kenya was heating up again and I decided to get back to the capital and hit up the embassy to check out the situations. I went 2 days in a bus (with diariah if you get the picture) and made it back to Addis. After running around like crazy for a day I got no information. Typical African embassy right? Immigration officer, the guy I had to speak with, was gone for vacation or something I dont know, but he was not there when he was supposed to be. Went to the movies (the man with Samuiel L Jackson) and it was one of the funniest experiences of my life. I love ethiopians in movies! Plus admission and food cost less than a dollar, and that is expensive theater prices! I made up my mind to head out in the morning towards Moyale (the kenya/Ethiopia border) to check out the situation first hand. As I was heading back to my room to sleep...oh wait! forgot something! I took 2 hustlet guys out to dinner that was hilarious. They ordered the most expensive things on the menu and I paid for it. BAD IDEA. But in the end it was not much money. Street Hustlers. Grrr. I hate Addis! (not really)
So as I was saying. I headed back to my room at Taitu hotel bored as can be when I saw my American and Italian friends! They were planning a trip to the remote Omo valley, and we decided to go to dinner together. I took them to a burger place I know of in town (later gave me food poinsoning) and we spoke about their trip. Basically, travel there is very expensive because you have to rent a jeep which costs over 100 USD per day. So I was not planning on going there at all, because it is way out of my budget. But they told me that I could pay my daily budget and they would cover the rest! So they let me go with them. I believe I posted something about that earlier? I dont remember. Anyway, we went the next morning to the Omo valley for what was supposed to be 8 days. I lived super cheap (i.e. camping and making my own food) while they stayed in top notch places, however allowing me to shower at will! They are really awesome. Thanks Corrado and Ben! Anyway, we saw some amazing things such as the Hammer tribe and the Mursi tribes where the women wear (insert) HUGE lip plates and no one has any idea why. Just google it and you will see what I am talking about. So I bought a lip plate from one of the women (she literally took it out of her lip and sold it to me) very cool. After the 7th day of traveling they decided they had enough, and wanted to skip the last day. I was not too happy as this was the day we were to go to Omorate and cross the river, but what can I do? So we started driving back north. On the way we were stopped by some Hammer people. A tourist car hit and run their 4 year old boy. We could not believe it. His head was split open really bad...I will leave out the gory details. Basically, with no hospital near by, we bandaged him as good as we could with my first aid kit and offered to take him to the nearest hospital (about 6 hour drive on terrible roads). The driver refused, saying he would be responsible if the boy died in his jeep, a very likely possibility. What could we do? The elders of the tribe spoke for a few hours (obviously not the smart thing to do)as the boy lay motionless on the side of the road. Finally the police showed up, we gave them money for transport, and they took him to a clinic in a nearby (3 hours away) town. I hope the boy is alive. Shame on those people who hit him. How could someone do such a thing?
So maybe we were supposed to skip the last day of our trip so that we could help the Hammer people. I am typing this really quickly, and have left out a lot of details. But I have been thinking about it a lot lately and I really hope he is ok. So many stories.
So after that we stopped again at the Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge in Konso and I stayed there the night while the other guys continued on to Arba Minch and back to addis. There was no reason for me to go there, having later to return south to the border with Kenya. the eco lodge is a unique permaculture porject owned by a nice northern Irish fellow named Alex. There were 3 guys woofing there as well (willing workers on organic farms) 1 French and 2 Americans. Alex is married to an Ethiopian and has a whild on the way. Congrats Alex! I almost stayed to volunteer there to set up a drip irrigation system for their organic garden, but my urgancy to get to the border got the better of me.
The next morning I left the eco lodge for Moyale. After a crazy (and long) ride south I arrived at the border at 8P.M. in the rain. I quickly found a hotel (the Abraheem hotel), made some pasta, and hunkered down for a quick sleep. Waking up at 5am (I had no idea what time the border opened) I got some grub and made my way accross no-mans-land to Kenya. Once there, the official (border opened 6:30) told me I have to go back to Ethiopia to get my visa exit-stamped, and they only open at 8. Chilling back in Ethiopia and eating some samusas I met an interesting hustler who set me up with the truck out of kenya. Got the exit stamp (painless) and back to Kenya to get the 10 USD 7-day transit visa. Basically I want to get in and out of kenya as quick as possible so that I can get to Uganda. I heard Kenya is expensive (not true unless you go to expensive places as it turns out) but I didnt know that, and still it will be nice to have more time in Uganda. I have to save this so it doesnt get erased, hold on!
