So Cameron/’s family knows this couple (Mr. and Mrs. Yost) from Florida Hospital who is organizing a mission trip to Ethiopia in April, and they came out here for two weeks to check out here and Gimbie and plan a group trip and see the needs and stuff. Dr. Gemechu said it would be very nice if we skipped class Wednesday-Friday and went with them. They also paid for it all. Super nice.
On Wednesday, we met them at their hotel, and we met the driver/tour guide Tamrat, and headed to see some historical/archaeological sites. *goes to copy written entry… darn, I wrote it in Spanish…* Anyway. The Yosts are really really nice people and it was fun to spend time with them.
On Wednesday, we met them at their hotel, and we met the driver/tour guide Tamrat, and headed to see some historical/archaeological sites. *goes to copy written entry… darn, I wrote it in Spanish…* Anyway. The Yosts are really really nice people and it was fun to spend time with them.
The first place we went brought us through country with volcanic rocks and other really pretty country. We saw a goat on the side of the road who had died giving birth—that was very sad. We stopped at a rock-hewn church, styled after Lalibela. It was very cool. There were two entrances—one for the men and one for the women. We had to take our shoes off too… great idea, Jennifer, to wear your hiking boots…. In every Orthodox church, there are three sections. The first is a general one, the second is where people go to take communion (anyone can go in those two), and the third is the Most Holy Place where only the priests go. It was really cool, and Mr. Yost and Cameron had to duck in parts of the passages. There were little crevices in the rock on the outside where the nuns pray.
After that, we stopped for lunch along the side of the road. While we started a fire with some sticks, our driver bought and slaughtered a goat. We helped him cut it into pieces and roasted it with some herbs we had brought until… just kidding, we had brought some peanut butter and jelly. We also brought pumpkin cookies and the Bole Mini crackers, and the Yosts brought apples and chips. We had a feast... sans goat. We then hustled along to a museum/archaeological site. The tour people had gone home for lunch, so Tamrat drove in and found one and brought him back. There were a lot of evolution posters and rocks and bones in the three hut structures. Then we saw a site that they had finished excavating, and a hippopotamus slaughtering place. It is amazing that there used to be a lake there—it was very dry and safari-esque.
Back to Addis, to the Holy Trinity Cathedral. It had amazing stained-glass windows, and is known to be one of the most beautiful churches. Then we went to some museum, the one where Lucy, the “missing link” or whatever, lives when she is not touring the United States. The bones here are replicas.
Then we went to Entoto again (with cameras this time, yay). The tour was more rushed because they were closing, but at least we got pictures. Anisha got a guy’s address. Everyone thinks that Anisha is a Habisha, which is the opposite of a feranji (white person). It basically means an Ethiopian. She’s Indian and they do not believe her at all. That was the end of our amazing day. Back home to make dinner, take showers, and pack for overnight. In the middle of making dinner, the power went out, came back on for a little while, then went back off until the middle of the night. Luckily, I woke up to turn off the lights, and switch batteries to be charged. We woke up eeeeearly, and packed up and were ready when Tamrat picked us up. We picked up the Yosts, and headed south! We saw five wrecks alone the way (not actually happening, but wrecked trucks)! It was terrible! We also got to see some lakes, and camels along the side of the road, and giant termite mounds and birds. We saw a bunch of Meribu Storks at Lake Ziway (the first Rift Valley Lake). Lunch was really good. I got this rice and vegetable dish that tasted like sourkraut (yum!). We went to Abijata-Shalla Lakes National Park, and that was super cool. The mission trip that comes in April may not get to go, because you cannot bring busses (only 4-WD trucks). There were a bunch of ostriches and gazelles, AND (shoutout to CRH) we even got to see some warthogs (are they the same thing as wild boars?)! They ran away, so we did not get to get pictures, but we have pictures in our heads. Tamrat brought us to this cool overlook thing, and we got to see Lakes Abijata and Shalla. Looking through Tamrat’s binoculars, we could see some dots that were flamingos. The Yosts and I each bought a souvenir house made out of limestone—they got theirs for 35 birr, and I got mine for 20! Heehee. It is pretty cool. We saw more camels, and were taking pictures of them from the truck, minding our own business, when this teenager camelherd comes running up to the truck threatening to throw a really big rock at us! We were like, “whaaa?” Tamrat was kind of laughing at him and stuff and he eventually put the rock down, but he gave him 10 birr. Apparently, that usually happens :-). We drove down to the shore of Lake Shala and saw more flamingos (there were two kinds), and we touched the water, which was surprisingly warm. THEN we got to go see the hotsprings! Wicked cool! 
Some were just regular hot, and there was one that was scalding hot. The locals roast corn and potatoes in there. There was another guy there who thought Anisha was a habisha. He was very friendly. Everyone was very nice there, except that guy with the rock. From the park, we drove to Awasa, on the shore of Lake Awasa (another one of the Rift Valley Lakes). We checked into our hotel, and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. I asked what “cream” meant on the pasta menu, and they said that, yes, it was like cheese. Well, it was not. It was cream. It was not very good, but Anisha had two dishes, and there was one with pasta and spinach, and Ethiopian spices and yams or carrots… THAT was good. Haha and we had breadsticks. Then we went out on the town haha. We found this cool little shop with some authentic stuff—Mrs. Yost wanted a head-shawl, and both she and Anisha bought some earrings. We went back to the hotel, showered (it had problems draining, and if you left the door open, it squirted out), and used the internet on Anisha and Cameron’s itouches. The beds were very hard, but we slept our first night under mosquito nets (which are hard to keep in place).Friday came very early. We went for breakfast at the hotel restaurant again. I ordred French Toast, and Cameron got Bulla porridge. The porridge is made from the false banana tree, and the dish was invented during a famine. It was funny, but apparently very filling. My French toast was very good, especially when they brought my honey. It was a little less sweet than the honey we are used to, but it is thicker, and very good as a spread. We put our leftovers in zippy bags, and gave them to a little girl on the street outside our hotel.
We drove to the top of Mount Tabor and saw the fish market and our hotel—it was all very beautiful. On our way back, we went to the National Park again to try to see/get a picture of the warthogs. No luck. On our way back through Shashemane, we went by the Rasteferians’ community. During Emperor Silasse’s reign, he gave some land to the Jamaicans, so a bunch of them moved to Ethiopia. They were all very nice, albeit high on marijuana. They asked us to smoke with them, but after several minutes of careful consideration, we decided to decline :-). They go to church on Sabbath too! One of the boys there goes to the SDA secondary school down the road. Neato. I am happy to report that we saw no new wrecks on our way back to Addis. Tamret brought us by Tomoca (the best place for coffee) so the Yosts could get some, and he also took us by a souvenir shop, which was really good. We were so tired by the time we got home, but we had an awesome, awesome time.
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