The Story So Far!

I have declared Blog Bankruptcy – I am so far behind, there is no chance that I’m going to post all the ones I’ve started! So, I’m just going to do an update which covers the main points!

Awash National Park
The weekend after the Debre Zeit trip (which was the last blog entry), I went to Awash National Park with U and four Germans she knows – M, G, P and D. After an eventful couple of hours, which included waking one of the guys up and a speedy stop to pick someone up from the airport, we drove the 5 hours to Awash.

It was probably the first time I’d been on a proper trip out of Addis and it was great. We spent the first half a day seeing animals in the park – crocodiles, monkeys, kudus and warthogs to name a few. Definitely the first time I’d seen these animals in the wild! We stayed at a beautiful hotel by a (now defunct) train station, and after a hairy ‘gari’ (horse and cart) drive around the village, we had dinner and were asleep by about 9pm!

At 4.45am the next morning we all rolled out of our respective beds, had breakfast of bread and omlette, and drove to the hot springs in the North of the park. Whenever you go into the park, you need an armed guide – in theory to protect you from the animals, but actually to protect you from any roaming tribes people. The Afar tribe live in and around the park, and don’t take particularly kindly to visitors - indeed, they used to have a custom of chopping off a testicle of any male intruder!

The hot springs were really hot, not just warm! There were a few girls swimming when we arrived, and G and P had a dip, but you had to be careful – the water was so hot that actually your muscles felt like they didn’t work properly, and it would be quite difficult to get out! The boys did get out safely, and I didn’t swim, I just decided to take an unplanned dip in the mud around the springs. What is it with me and muddy water? Anyone who knew me in primary school will know that I seem to be able to fall into water no matter where I am, and this was no different.

So I did a quick change in the middle of the open plains of Awash (and may have shocked a few tribesmen in the process!) and wore U’s jeans for the rest of the day, while she wore her pyjama trousers (thanks U!).

On the way back we got a flat tyre … and discovered our spare tyre had been stolen. Nice! Thankfully it didn’t happen while we were driving along the deserted roads of Awash, but instead while we were relaxing at Sodore Hot Springs Resort. A man was dispatched to Nazereth, the nearest town, to get a tyre while we relaxed in the restaurant.

Eventually we got home, much later than planned, and I spent a very satisfying 10 minutes in a hot shower!


Baby!
Shortly after this (the next morning, in fact!) E’s baby was born! A little boy, who is incredibly cute and looking more and more like his dad every day! When a baby is born in Ethiopia you go and visit and eat ‘gunfo’ (apologies for the bad spelling!) which is a mixture of grain and butter. I think it’s revolting, but it’s traditional, and it means I can say to E’s little boy ‘I ate gunfo for you when you were born!’


Trip to the South
At 3am on the 2nd October, I stood at Bole Airport, Addis Ababa, holding myself up on the airport barriers, sweating profusely and waiting for N to arrive. I wasn’t just overcome with excitement at N arriving, I’d been being sick all day thanks to some bad meat I’d eaten (Giardasis, if anyone’s interested!).

But N arrived, we slept, I drank lots of water and all was fine the next morning. We then went for a trip to the South of Ethiopia along with U. I would love to be able to write everything down here – and if only I were as good as N and U at keeping a travel diary (I’m not) I would have all the info. Instead I have some wonderful pictures, and lots of fantastic memories – just no will to reproduce the whole thing here!

Suffice to say, we saw:

- the Mursi tribe
- the Karo tribe
- Crocodiles
- Hippos
- Monkeys
- The Hamer tribe

And we

- walked through a river
- fed monkeys
- taught the Hamer tribe ‘If You’re Happy and You Know it …’
- danced in the only nightclub in Turmi
- locked the keys in the car … twice!

Not always an enjoyable experience, but always amazing!


Lalibela and Going Home
N went home on the 17th October and I had a ticket booked for the 20th, which I wasn’t sure I was going to use. But then I was offered a job working for a UK charity in Lalibela, a place I visited in 2006 and fell in love with. I will be living there, working with the teachers and the school to bring in an ‘alternative ciriculum’ – so doing community engagement stuff, teaching dance, drama, music, after school clubs, that kind of thing.

And so I decided to come home before hand. Just for a few weeks, to gather resources, see my family and friends, and just prepare for the move to Lalibela.

Not exactly what happened, but that’s for a later story ….!