Dec. 19 - and I'm off. Sitting in Calgary airport and I'm feeling a bit tired but much more rested than yesterday. The night before I had packed my pack and then took everything out and put it in my sport bag and then reversed it. Then the next morning I reversed it again ending up with everything in my sports/duffle bag. Larry gave me a ride to the Greyhound station. I was early and the bus was late.Great driver in winter conditions but still got to Cheryl's place in Calgary around 9:30-10:00. met Anita from Uganda on the airport shuttle. She was in Canada 12 years and going home to Halifax for Christmas and to see family. Now I've re-packed, stored my big pack, re-organizing paper and people watching. Lots of time researching, e-mailing, deciding and now I am off. Spent a couple of hours in Heathrow waiting and chatting with Lisa, a young African American woman from Louisiana living in Cambridge. She has schizophrenia and something else and is taking 14 pills a day. She is waiting for some pre-arranged boarding help for flight to New York to see family. Tired. Overnight flight from Calgary. Hang out for several hours in Heathrow and another overnight flight to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
Sat. Dec. 21 - arrived from London early AM & got thru customs etc & made it by Taxi to Tesfa office where Panda was quite helpful. Sorted out and left gear there that I won't need when trekking & they gave me a ride to hotel.Picture below is the view out the back of my room in the hotel.
Sunday Dec. 22 - It is evening & I am feeling under the weather - a cold, the water, the khat - I don't know. It has been eventful & I am learning and paying for my education. Saturday aft. I was sitting outside with a coffee and I started chatting to 2 Ethiopians. We went for a walk to see some kind of interesting project "Greenleaf" & as we became friendlier they asked me if i wanted to try chewing khat and I said OK. We bought some khat and went to a khat house. I knew this was a risk but was tired and made a bad decision. Down a back alley & into a khat house. Small house with 30-40 khat chewers, (and r 4 quite attractive young women, ) and shisha smokers. We talked of many things and I was continually given more khat to chew & shisha to smoke. Both tourism students with little money. Solomon quite upset as he didn't have money for rent. Being a nice guy & tired and khat high I said I would help. I ended up paying the bill which seemed quite high & which included items which I thought Solomon had already paid for.Came back to the hotel and gave some more $ as I said I would and I knew they expected more but NO. Woke up this morning still feeling the khat & knowing that I had been tired, stupid and conned. Short tour today as I was tired. Guide wanted me to hire his friend w/an old car for a day but I said no only 1/2 day. It is tiring always having to be on on my guard.
Picture below is from the Ethiopian National Museum. Modern science seems to believe now that modern humans originated in the area of Ethiopia and spread our over the world from their. One of the earliest finds is named Lucy
lots of sleep yesterday and feeling better. A good day generally. I thing Abi (my guide) squeezed a bit more out of me ie $ but no real complaints. Visit to the top of the mountain above Addis wasn't that exciting but I enjoyed coffee ceremony with street vendor along road. My line " She was beautiful not because the was young but because she had a smile for a stranger" was true and pleased her which I liked. (Unfortunately her picture didn't work) . I'm getting tired already of the crowds and traffic of Addis.
Coffee was poured into small attractive cups. I turned one over and found it was made in China. In the Mercato was a large market for spices, a large area where used and damaged items were re-fashioned into new and useful products AND many many many new & cheap goods made in China. Thinking of changing my flight to London by moving it up a week or so. That will give me enough time in Uganda & maybe an extra week or so in London. Having dinner on upper hotel terrace - tons of traffic noise and an arguing brit couple - charming.
Dec. 24 - Up at 4:15, picked up at 5 at hotel & plane left at 7:00. Got to Lalibela and after a long wait getting organized took off in a land rover over a very bumpy, rocky, winding mtn road with men, women, kids, goats, donkeys all sharing the road with us. Land is like Kamloops but much more convoluted with any more small settlements & isolated farms. Met Ryan, Daniel & Lance and they will walk the same way as me the next 3 days. Good company. Incredible scenery. Nice & informative guide. Ryan and Lance are teachers (at international schools in China and ethiopia) and we meet another couple who are also teachers (in Dubai) in the evening.
Picture below are the two women who prepared our lunch at the beginning of the trek
Dec. 26 - The guide, Baye, has been great setting a relaxing pace and comfortable with stops to take pictures of kids
look at farming etc. Lance is an Amercan teacher working in China and Ryan is also an American. Ryan, who drive a tank in Desert Storm is now a grade 4 teacher at an International school in Addis Ababa. Daniel, the Argentinian prof, is a very nice guy and adds much to our group with his knowledge of farming and his observations on the rural countryside we are walking through - eucalyptus trees imported from Australia - very useful but also problematic in that do use a lot of water and kill the undergrowth.
Children are sweet. We stopped at a school made possible by western donation. Infant mortality is 10% in Ethiopia. School for everyone but in rural areas may be 15 k away. No bus. Walk. 1/2 kids in family go in AM and work in PM & the other 1/2 switchover. New school built with western help has 240 students w/ 4 teachers and one administrator. Totally minimal equipment. Ryan teaches at a school for rich in Addis - maximum 22 students pr teacher.
(the students took a break when we came by)
and here is a teacher and the administrator with the new school in the background
Dec. 26 - Daniel left this AM & I will miss him. We will each send pics to the other & exchanged invites to stay. Our guide Baye is 28 years old with a degree in Economic, a certificate as a guide & is working by correspondence on a degree in Sociology. When we were walking along the escarpment he pointed out where he went to secondary school. There & back equalled 37 K each day & about 500 m down and up as well. Young teenagers, very slight, carrying heavy sacks on their heads or shoulders.
