Back to ancient civilization
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2006
1
33
75
Trip End
Ongoing
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Friday, March 2, 2007
I loved ethiopia. I loved the people, the food, the landscape. It is of course still very poor, but it felt like a hopeful and happy place. Andrea said the funniest thing before I left, '...make sure you bring some water.....and a snack, they don't have many snacks there!' Luckily, I ate really well. They eat a big pancake made of fermented dough (injera) that is spread out on a giant plate and then dollops of veggies or meat is placed on it and you tear off a piece of injera and use it to pick up the food...delicious! I had it for lunch everyday. I was usually with a driver and a guide, so they always knew the best local lunch spots. I reccomend you all go out and try your local ethiopian restaurant!
The best thing out going to ethiopia is that it became more than a place that was all about famine, bad governments and marathon runners
01- village near bahir dar
. It has such an old culture that remains pretty much the same as 2,000 years ago, it has some really beautiful mountains and lakes too. Big smiles, crazy hairdos, and shoulder dancing to local music...they are really beautiful people!I spent about 6 days up in the northern highlands visiting all the ancient castles and churches carved out of rock mountains, Bahir Dar, Gondor, Lalibela, and Axum. I saw the source of the blue nile, and thousands of coptic christian pilgrims circling churches (it is lent, so there is alot of extra praying going on). Then I spent about 4 days visiting the south, to Arba Minch and the local national park and some highland villages.
The kids go nuts here when they see you, just like in alot of other countries...farenji!! you!! Alot of them are yelling out when you drive by,' highland, highland, highland!' that is the name of the local bottled water, and what they want is your empty water bottles. so we would save up bottles and give them to kids that were way out in the boonies. they can use the bottles for....water, or oil or whatever their family needs. Most of the kids we saw were shepherds out with their goats or cows.
