Salem (Hello) from Ethiopia

Today was our last "official" day of our course on subsistence agriculture in Ethiopia. We were given the opportunity to be on the other side of the chalkboard (or LCD projector rather) as each of us gave a presentation on our own research project back home. Our audience was composed mainly of graduate students doing their M.Sc. at Hawassa University in agricultural research. We were surprised at how many Ethiopian students want to do a Ph.D. in Canada! After exchanging our email addresses with many students, we handed out the USB drives that were donated by Casey Davis from Morris Industries in Saskatoon. Thanks againg for your donation, all the students really appreciated them!

Once the presentations were over, we headed to the market to buy our groceries for our trekking trip in the Bale Mountains. The market was a very fun experience. As we entered the market, there were a few young men trying to convice us to buy a few live chickens to take home and cook up for dinner. We opted for the vegetarian options in the market instead and found so much wonderful food - potatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, carrots, green beans, cabbage, corn, fresh herbs and spices. After about a month of eating restaurant food, we are so excited to cook for each other!

We will be leaving for our trek on Saturday morning, so you may not hear from us for a few days. We are all very excited for our trek and hopefully have some wonderful stories and photos to share with you when we return.

Ameseuganalo (thanks) for reading our blog!

Alexis, Dani, Jenn, Amanda, Melissa, and Michelle

May 17 – Nech Sar National Park

Today we woke up to brilliant sunshine and baboons in the yard. Today was going to be a very exciting day, after our staple porridge and boiled egg breakfast we set out for Nech Sar National park. We paid 100 birr/person for the park fee and 65 birr for the guide (who brought along a gun just in case). To get to the Nech Sar plains we had to drive 25 km across the bridge of God. The first 5 km was in a low lying area that is mucky and densely forested. When there’s a lot of rain this area acts as a water way between the two lakes. As it was there was at least a half km stretch where we had to actually drive through a river. It was wild! There were also several deeply rutted spots and narrow fast moving waterways. Our drivers (Abyiot and Wibeshet) were awesome, they didn’t even put the land cruiser in four wheel drive (yet). The next 20 km was very rocky and steep, with lots of switchbacks. Part of the way there was a steep drop down into Lake Chamo at least a km below us. We can see hippos lounging in the bay. Mike thought some of the trail was about 35 degrees and sheer rock. Most of the time we were crawling along in the first gear. The group in the second vehicle had trouble climbing one of the steep hills. At one point, the vehicle stalled and started rolling backwards, Dani, Alexis and Jenn volunteered whole heartedly to get out of the vehicle in the effort to lighten the load. Abyiot managed to get the truck up the incline without any problems.

As usual, the scenery was spectacular. We saw duiker, baboons, peasants, squirrels and little lizards. After an hour and a half of serious off roading, we caught our first glimpse of the zebras. Amanda was so excited she hurled herself out the window and jumped right across Mike’s lap. After another steep climb, the Nech Sar plains were in sight. It was incredible, the vast stretch of relatively flat land and white grass that was surrounded by the rift mountains was probably the remains of some ancient lake. We soon realized that there were many zebra to be seen. They didn’t even appear to be scared of us, as we can get quite close to some of them. There were several small herds, two to six females and one male per harem. Maybe it’s their strips, but they appear to be in good condition. Zebras are actually quite stocky. Besides zebras we also saw gazelles and buzzards. Our guides said there are lions and cheetahs that live in the forest that hunts zebras at night.

As we make our way around the loop, we came across several herds of cattle. They weren’t supposed to graze in the park, but we can image the plight of the people – it would be difficult to respect wildlife preservation when your livelihood is starving on the other side of the mountain. After completing the loop of the plains, we ate crackers and canned pineapple overlooking both lakes and the bridge of God.
We took our drivers out for supper that night at the same restaurant we ate the night before. We had another great meal with wonderful company.

Amanda, Dani, Jenn, Melissa, Michelle, Alexis

May 15-16 Arba Minch

After interviewing the DAs on Friday, we left Sodo around 11 am for Arba Minch. Mike wasn’t kidding when he said that it’s a rough road. There’s a highway being built, but it’s under construction, as the result we had to zigzag around the road, sometimes way into the rural areas. It was so rough, the 80 km took us over 3 hours (with one pee break, with 4 girls peeing in the Acacia thorns with about 35 goats as audiences. The scenery along the way was amazing as usual. On our right, the Rift Mountains was swirling low lying clouds hovering overhead. After about an hour and a half of trail blazing, a huge lake came into view. It was the same shade as the sky, but the lake was a muddy blush color. Behind the lake there were varying degree of the rift mountain view, it was beautiful. We were so glad to get to Arba Minch, our butts sure took a beating. We stayed at the same chain of hotels as Sodo – Bekele Molla Hotels Wolaita. This hotel is much larger and much more scenic, overlooking lakes Abaya and Chamo with Rift Mountains in the background. There are beautiful trees and flowers everywhere and the restaurant patio overlooks the spectacular scenery. We went to a local restaurant for supper and had fried fish and chips. Food safety is not a big concern in Ethiopia, goats and cats can come freely as the patrons.

The next morning after breakfast, this amazing rain shower past over the hill just across from the restaurant patio. The rain was less than 1 km away and we can see and hear it like we’re in a bubble. It came down so hard we thought it was going to miss us, but before we knew it we were in the middle of it. Saturday afternoon, we went to the crocodile market, by the name we expected something more developed, maybe a gift shop, cafe? Nope, after navigating through a busy mucky trail, we pulled up to the swampy, vegetation covered edge of Lake Chamo. There was a path of stones and an overturned boat guiding us to the boat. We didn’t have to go very far to see either the hippos or the crocks: there were hippos submerging themselves and spraying water close to where we dock the boats and directly across the small bay there were about 10 crocks sunbathing themselves on the banks. As we troll close to the crocks, they scrambled into the water to float by us. As we cruise along the lake we got close to a herd of hippos. Our guide who we picked up in town for 1080 birrs, said there’re about 400 hippos and hundreds of crocks in the lake. Hippos can weigh from 600 to 2000 kg as adults. Crocks can be from 5 to 9 meters long. We were out of the lake for over an hour. Besides hippos and crocks, we also saw pelicans, fishing eagles, cranes, and storks. Of course the scenery is fabulous, with a fantastic view of the bridge of God – a strip of land 2 km wide between Lake Abaya and Chamo – and the great rift stretching on either side of us in fading layers. There are also numerous local fishermen floating along in narrow rifts using a log as a pedal, very brave considering all the dangerous animals in the water.

We had an amazing supper at the Arba Minch Tourist Hotel. Most of us had the grilled Nile perch, it was fresh and delicious, a fabulous way to end a fabulous day.

Amanda, Dani, Jenn, Michelle, Melissa, Alexis

May 14 Parade to the Waterfall

On our way back from research farm, we did a bit of off-roading to find a beautiful waterfall in the midst of rural Ethiopia. We picked up a “guide” off the street in Areka who was to help us find our way to the falls. We turned off onto a small country road which was strewn with rocks, dogs, donkeys, and farmers going to market. For a bunch of Saskatchewan girls traveling on this rural road, we were surprised to see so many people. To us, these rural areas were as densely populated as a Saskatoon neighborhood. Thousands of excited kids were waving their arms frantically and yelling “You! You! You! You!”. We have never seen something 2 feet tall move so fast. We felt like a float in a parade!

The road seemed to head off in a few different directions, which confused our first “guide”, so we picked up a couple more men off the street to help us find our way to the falls. We did reach the falls and were very impressed with the view of the gorge and the two waterfalls, which we estimate to be 100m tall. They were beautiful! There were many children who were collecting water from the falls below. We would have walk down, but darkness was approaching, and we did not have time to do the 2 hour hike.

Melissa, Alexis, Dani, Amanda, Michelle and Jenn

May 13-14 Conducting Interviews with the Farmers of the Wolaita, Ethiopia

The last three days spent in Sodo will be days we will never forget. Our whole reason for coming to Ethiopia was based on these three days. We were to interview farmers on their farming practices. What seemed like simple questions on paper were probably very personal questions for these farmers to answer, and yet they gave whole-hearted answers to six complete strangers who couldn't even speak their language. They were also very grateful that we were there talking to them. They all smiled and laughed when we asked our final question, “Do your children want to be farmers?” They must have thought this was such a ridiculous question to ask, as many replied, “Why would they want to be farmers? They look at us and see no benefit to agriculture.”

Alexis, Melissa, Michelle, Dani, Amanda, Jenn

May 12 - A Visit to Kabele

The day before our interviews, we wanted to get a sense of what life was like in the Kebele of Delbo Atwaro (a Kebele is similar to a rural municipality in Saskatchewan). We parked at the Agricultural Development Centre and walked in to see what a typical farm was like. We were escorted/followed by a group of curious children and farmers.

This visit was our first chance to see some of the local crops grown in this area. There were enset and coffee plants growing close to the house where the soil was most fertile. Maize, sweet potatoes, kale, beans, carrots, and herbs were also some of the commonly grown crops. This farm was 0.5 ha (the average size of a farm in this Kebele) which is much smaller than most of our gardens in Saskatchewan.

The children, women and men that had gathered around us were very excited about our digital cameras. They all wanted to have their pictures taken so they could see what they looked like! On of the most memorable moments was when we took a picture of an elderly woman inside her kitchen. She was so happy to see the picture, tears were coming from her eyes and she patted Dani on the back to thank her for taking the picture.

We were very lucky to be able to see what the inside of their homes were like. There were four main areas of the hut. One area was the kitchen, which was also the place were the animals were kept at night. There was a fire in the center for cooking and many pots scattered around the kitchen area. There was a separate area for sleeping at the other side of the hut. Everyone in the house slept together on grass mats. The main entrance to the hut would have been a common sitting area. There was a second story to the hut, which housed the chickens and stored grain. The diameter of the hut would have been no more than 5 m, so the total inside living space would be less than 200 sq. ft. (the size of a bedroom at home). There would be as many as 10 people, 3 cows, 2 sheep, and 4 chickens sharing this space!

Alexis, Melissa, Dani, Amanda, Jenn and Michelle

May 12 - Impressions of Sodo

We write these impressions of one of the most densely populated regions of Earth from the safe confines of our hotel in Sodo, Ethiopia. We sit in a lush courtyard, yet there are hundreds of people begging for food and money on the street. It is so appalling to walk the streets of Sodo and see people lying on the ground, clinging to life as they reach their hands to the sky, no doubt praying to God to save them. One woman in particular is so weak that she can no longer lift her head off the ground, yet somehow finds the strength to pray. What's even sadder is that we glance at her with a look of pity but just keep walking. We have learned that the people of Sodo are so aggressive that we have become scared to give anything away, especially money. It makes a person feel very helpless, but also selfish that we have hundreds of Birr in our pockets but are too scared to reach in and pull out one to give. Of those who are healthy enough to go about their daily activities of farming, fetching water and going to school, even these people show signs of malnourishment. It doesn't matter how many Sunday afternoons we spent watching World Vision on tv back home, nothing prepares you to see this. There are so many people living in this condition.

Alexis, Melissa, Michelle, Dani, Amanda, Jenn

A day in the life...

After a week in Awassa, we have established a few routines. We start our day with breakfast around 7 am at the Pinna hotel restaurant. Due to irritated stomaches from the malaria pills, nearly all of us have oatmeal for breakfast - we can also share the large portions.

Although our walk to the university has almost become routine, there's a series of interesting sites along the three blocks. It is pretty commonplace to see beggars (usually really old, really young, or crippled) along side well dressed people on cell phones. There are numerous fruit stands selling fresh bananas, pineapples, avocados, apples, mangoes and papaya. Every hundred meter or so there are school age boys shining boots and washing shoes. People sleep under the tree in the shade just off the road. It never ceases to amaze us what a temperature difference there is between the sun and the shade. All kinds of shops and restaurants lined the streets selling clothes, baskets, souvenirs, food, photo developing and stationary. People often approach you selling scoops made from horns or wooden rattles.

One thing that sticks out as particularly different is the boy standing on the sidewalk with a noise maker that attracts attention to their weigh scale. Here is a luxuary to find out your weight and it's a service you pay for, can you image that in Canada?!? There aren't too many signs, but our favorite is the no honking sign, meanwhile all you can hear on the street are rickshaws beeping their horns. Another obvious difference between Ethiopia and Canada are the donkey carts and rickshaws buzzing along the road and the herds of goats and sheep cruising down the sidewalk along side the people.

Amanda, Dani, Melissa, Jenn, Michelle and Alexis

Wondo Genet

Today we went to Wondo Genet, a little resort town about 40 mins away from Awassa. We managed to fit 13 people into two vehicles. The 25 km to Shasheme are part of the good highway that goes to Addis. But the 15 km from Shasheme to Wondo Genet are rough with lots of off roading. Amanda and Alexis sat in the back of the SUV and their tailbone got a good workout. The scenery was amazingly, we were driving into the rift valley hills. We saw lots of crops: enset, maize, coffee, sugarcane and chat (a mild hallucinogen, Ethiopian marijuana that you chew). We also saw a lot of fruit: banana, wild guava, squash and avocado. We stop at the Wondo Genet Agroforestry campus, which is affiliated to Hawassa University. It was neatly tucked away in the base of a hill, and it was nice and cool under the tall eucalyptus tree, which is not indigenous to Ethiopia but it does very well in Ethiopia. We also saw junipers, bottle cleaner (that’s what the locals call it) and many other unidentifiable trees (we don’t have a plant scientist in the group). We bounced our way to the Wondo Genet resort, miraculously not hitting any goats, donkey, cows or people. We hired a guide to go on a hike for 120 birr. Wondo Genet is a hot spring resort, so along the hike we were crossing streams and little hot spring pools. The guide showed us where Haile Selassie, the last emperor, used to take a bath. The water was refreshing and warm. We also saw a long stretch of pipe bring water to the other side of the mountain for a new resort, the water was 65 ºC. There’s also a new water bottling plant being constructed near the origin of the hot spring. We saw baboons, monkeys and lots of kids herding goats and cows up the mountain. We had to cross many streams by maneuvering our way across the rocks. A few of us slipped and got a bootful of water. There were lots of little kids helping us across the streams, in hopes of getting a few birr from the tourist. Many locals bathed nude in many of the natural pools along the way. We tried to the scenery between carefully watching our steps, this place is the epitome of the great rift valley. The stream that supplies the water for the resort pool is 85 ºC, locals cook food here, 10 min for maize, 18 min for potatoe. Another memorable moment on our walk was a group of kids that started singing to us. They were great performers, we gave them 10 birr for their effort. We were told to give the money to the oldest, and he/she will distribute the money to the rest. Some of the girls went for a dip in the hotspring pool, while the rest of us went to the resort restaurant. Even though it was overcast for the majority of our hike (thank god), we were still pretty sweaty by the end of it. It was nice to get away from the city, and it was lovely to have Meaza with us.

rendezvous

Tonight we were sick of eating at the same old place that we have been (hotel restaurant) and decided to head up the street to the pizza place (rendezvous). We arrived, ordered beer, and found out there was no cheese, no pineapple, and no tomatoes. Shit. No pizza. As the group beer drinkers chugged their beer, we were curious to see that one skinned, and gutted sheep (“Beg” in Amharic) carcass was being hung up in the middle of the restaurant courtyard. We soon realized that this, and the other two carcasses that were brought out, would be cooked on the big pile of wood next to it. We decided to stay. Soon the restaurant began to fill up with people, and the butchers started their show. They used curved knives and cut the carcasses clean of all meat, not wasting anything. The butchers danced and seemed to cut to the rhythm of the music. It was a very ceremonial, and joyful, way of preparing meat. Frankincense was added to the fire filling the restaurant with its aroma. The freshly cut meat was cooked in oil in a large wok on the fire and the waiters began serving it up in fondue pots with hot coals that kept the meat warm. The waiter came back, informed us that there was cheese, and we had our pizza with our deep fried beg. It was delicious – not unlike a typical pub night in Saskatoon, apart from the men who were willing to showcase their dance moves. They moved their shoulders, and it seemed as though they could control every part of their body. Our boys in Saskatoon could learn something here (hint hint)!

Melissa, Alexis, Dani, Jenn, Amanda, Michelle

Soil (finally!)

On our way back from the mountain we saw a farmer discing a field with a tractor, a rare sight in Ethiopia. 95% of Ethiopian farmers usually work their land with a pair of oxen and a home made maesha (plough). We (Dani and Melissa) were excited to see the freshly tilled soil, and immediately made a bee line to touch it. The texture is likely silty loam, but we couldn't do a proper hand texture so this is just a guess. The color reminds us of a brown chernozem. We regret not bring our Munsell Color Charts. We will post a picture of the soil profile and the tractor tomorrow. In case you're wondering it was not John Deer.

Dani, Melissa, Jenn, Alexis, Michelle, Amanda

Culture day - Meeting Meaza

Today we had lunch with the scholarship recipient, Meaza. She's almost finished her first year of her M.Sc degree in Soil Science. She's the only applicant because she's the only female student in her class. She's from the northern part of Ethiopia and it takes 3 days (by car) to return home to visit her family. The Ethiopian education system is very different than the Canadian System. In grade 10 the students wrote an exam that will determine whether or not they can move on to grade 11 and 12, which are university preparatory classes. They can select a few choices of what they want to take in university as well as which university they want to attend. But ultimately, it's up to the government what you end up taking in university. Agriculture was Meaza's second choice, she did her B.Sc in plant science. She's coming with us tomorrow to Wondo Genate (a tourist site an hour away from Awassa). And she's invited us to her house for a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony. Meaza is a very ambitious and hard working student. Someday, she would like to do her Ph.D outside of Ethiopia. We to hope to keep in touch with her as she finalizes her research proposal. She's debating between a project that looks at adding pummice as soil amendment or sulfur deficiency in maize.

Dani, Jenn, Melissa, Alexis, Amanda, Michelle

An Ethiopian Evening

This evening we went to Post Rondevous (a pizza place) for dinner. However, when we tried to order pizza we were told they had no cheese... so we were about to leave when we noticed a sheep carcass being hung, raw and whole (except for the head). Intrigued, we decided to stay. Soon a 2nd and 3rd carcass joined the first, and an Ethiopian man in a white lab coat appeared with a curved knife, ready to carve the carcass.
The restruant was also rapidly filling up, almost entirely with local Ethiopians.
The man in the lab coat began to carve the carcass with great skill and speed, first removing one leg, followed by side meat and ribs. He and an assistant proceeded to cut the meat up into very small pieces, and, eventually, deep fry it in oil over an open fire!
Meanwhile, music was playing (with a few interuptions due to power outages) and people from various tables got up to dance. The dancing involved a great deal of shoulder movement (very rapid and controlled). It also seemed to be perfectly acceptable for men to dance with men etc.
We did our best to take some photos, but the lighting proved challensaging.
I (Michelle) also had to use the bathroom. I discovered that, in order to reach the womens bathrooms, I had to walk right past the urinals. Also, the womens toilets turned out to be squat toilets, fortunately enclosed in a lockable stall.

Eventually we were informed that cheese had arrived, so we were able to order our pizzas. After eating the pizza, which was delicious, Alexis bravely ordered some of the fried sheep (mutton?). It was served with injera and came in a metal dish with hot coals under the food. It tasted rather like dry ribs, or perhaps like breaded fat, or like a sheep or goat smells... palatable and hopefully safe (as it was fried).

-Michelle, Alexis, Melissa, Jenn, Amanda and Dani

house of god

This morning we took a "bajaj" (auto rick-shaw) to the base of the Tabeur Mountain. This mountain overlooks the city of Awassa with the lake forming a horseshoe around the hill. In typical tourist style, we made a bee line for the top of the hill. This vertical climb through eucalyptus and thorny bushes would have been made easier if we had followed the locals along the road. Instead we slipped, scrambled and pulled our way up to the top of the plauteu.

Once we reached the top of the mountain, we realized the spiritual importance of the hill. There was an enthusiastic man preaching to a gathering of approximately 30 people. Everyone was either sitting on the grass or bowing to the sun, praying. We quietly watched for a moment, found our own spot to sit, and took in the experience and view from the top of the hill.

This was our first opportunity to see the landscape of an Ethiopian city. The city was well organized in a grid pattern. We could see soccer fields, gated communities and instituitions (schools and hospitals), posh hotels situated right next to traditional grass huts, and the marshy edges of the lake.

While we were sitting, there were a few people lingering behind us (by this time, we are quite used to being "watched"). After a while, three young guys came to introduce themselves. They were very curious about where we were from and why we had come to Ethiopia. There were a few men who were praying alone, shouting, jumping, and screaming towards the sky. We were scared for a moment to see someone pray so passionately, but after we learned that they were praying for rain, it seemed appropriate considering the importance of rain to the livelihoods of the people here. we met another young man who gestured with his arms towards the hill and surroundings and described this as "the house of god."

Alexis, Melissa, Dani, Michelle, Amanda, Jenn

May 8 - Goat Production Tour

Today we visited the goat farm on the satellite campus, across Awassa. The University imported 53 Boer (meat) goats from South Africa 3 years ago: 46 does and 7 bucks. The females cost $600 and the males cost $900 USD. This is part of a large 5 year project involving 10 sites in 6 regions and supported by USAID. The objective of the project is to improve the carcass quality of the local breeds. There are four phases to this project: the nucleus site (which we visited) is the multiplier site, where they increase the numbers of the purebred animals, as well as crossing them with local goats. These first cross animals will be sold to farmers who have the facilities to maintain them. The other phases include extension work, herd health, and technology transfer (genetic diversity). The goats were fed sweet potatoe vine, elephantesis grass, guatamala grass, and legumes including alfalfa, sasbania tree, and deomodium. They are also let out daily to graze on the native vegetation. It was very interesting.

Thursday May 7, 2009

Hi!
There's nothing too exciting to blog about. We spent the whole day in the classroom learning about Ethiopia's rangeland ecology. A few of us are not feeling too well, probably from the malaria pill, the heat or both. We've been sticking to sticking to North American cuisines, the pizza here is amazingly delicious, most be the Italian influence. It's weird to eat out three times a day, the food here is a bit greasy. I really missing drip coffee, we can only get expresso or macchiato here. Last night, we went to a local hang out spot. It was on the roof top of the Dashen Bank. It's more of a bar/cafe, they played North American dance music all night long. It was neat to see where the students hang out. The view was pretty fantastic, you can see lake Awassa and appreciate the size. We will leave you a few pictures of Awassa from the roof top.
Take care! (and we'll do the same!)
Dani, Amanda, Alexis, Jenn, Melissa, Michelle!

Hawassa University

We had our first day on campus today. The most noticable difference at first is the guarded gates surrounding the campus. There are security guards at the gates making sure that only students and faculty get into the campus grounds. We arrived on campus around 8:30am, but as we past the first few buildings, we could see that classes had already started. The doors to the classrooms were open, and we looked inside to see a classroom packed with students sitting at little wooden desks, taking notes from the blackboard. We followed Mike to our classroom - a large boardroom with nice comfortable office chairs, red mahoganny desks, a LCD projector and laptop computer. We had to wait a while to start the lectures because they needed to turn the generator on to give power to the classroom! I really felt like we got the royal treatment on campus.

Dr. Abebe Tullu gave us a lecture on background information in Ethiopia including history, topography, climate, people and culture. We talked about the Nile River for a while. This river is very important to agriculture in Ethiopia, and is part of a river basin that is shared with 9 other countries. The most powerful country amoung them, Egypt, has much influence on how water in the Nile is used. There are many treaties that restrict the further construction of dams (in countries other than Eygpt), and also restrict irrigation, hydropower, and other uses of water in the Nile. Unfortunately Egypt only cares about the quantity of water that flows into its country, and could care a less about the quality of water in the Nile, as many industries dump thier effleunt directly into the river.

We also finalized our schedule for the next 2 weeks. We will spent the next 4 days in the classrooom at Hawassa University (the H means that it is south of Awassa), have a free day in Awassa on Sunday, and then drive to Sodo where we will spent the next 4 days interviewing farmers and agriculture development officiers (ag extension staff). Then its back to Awassa for a few days to discuss the data we collect and give research seminars to the students and faculty at Hawassa University.

Thanks for following our blog!

Alexis, Dani, Melissa, Michelle, Jenn and Amanda :)

Awassa - May 5th

Today was Alexis' birthday! Happy 27th GF!!!

This morning at 9 am, we drove 200 km (through the rift valley) south to Awassa. Surprisingly the road was in better condition than some of the highways in Saskatchewan. We made it in 4 hours due to filling up for gas (7.13 birr/ L ~ $0.713CAN/L), macchiato (coffee) break, stop by strawberry farm for fresh strawberries (very good), and slowing down to avoid numerous collisions with packing donkeys, horse drawn carts, cattle, dogs, sheep, goats, and pedestrians. Apparently to hit a goat/sheep is no big deal, to hit a donkey is a big deal, and to hit a cow we can't guarantee your safety. It was a gentle slope down to the rift valley, but the escarpement was obvious in the distance. Surprisingly, the journey to Awassa was relatively flat, kinda like driving in Saskatchewan, but with different vegetation. There were numerous Acacia trees (our fav, and classic African symbol) and cacti (acting as hedges and fences). We saw fields of maize, onions and some unidentifiable cereal crop. There were also tons of Dutch greenhouses growing flowers to supply the European market. The range land was sparse, and over-grazing was apparent. We also stopped by the road to check out the massive termite mounds, we contemplated climbing it, but we decided against it (termite + 4 hours of driving = no fun).

Awassa is very different from Addis Ababa! There is almost no traffic on road except for the auto"rickshaw" - think of a three wheel enclosed golf cart for passengers. We are staying at the recently built Pinna II Hotel, what a contrast from our hotel in Addis. It has wireless internet - which is great for blogging! It has a working shower, nice clean floors, lots of room and no bugs (so far). We will miss our balcony and our romantic candle light rendezvous. Within minutes of our first walk down the main drag, we were surrounded by kids!!! They really enjoyed holding our hands, which we had no choice but to reciprocate. They also loved getting their picture taken and see themselves on the camera. The kids are very cute and friendly, the girls are a bit shy but they are absolutely gorgeous!!! (Dani is thinking about adopting(taking) a little girl home) The kids were okay at first, but then we were definitely got mobbed by the crowd. We finally retreated back to our hotel for a breather (and to feverishly wash our hands!).

We have found several comforts here at our home away from home. St. George's beer is the most refreshing beverage to enjoy on the patio, especially on a hot day like today (28C compare to Addis at 22C). We have also found a good restaurant in Awassa, it served many dishes that you would find back home. Walking in Awassa is definitely a lot safer than in Addis, we can even walk outside at night.

After our lunch/supper, we walked around lake Awassa. It's a beautiful lake (definitely a hidden gem), we can't wait to go see the hippos!!! Other wildlife we've acquainted to are these ginormous vultures that could be closely related to pterodactyls or pelicans.

Tomorrow we start our class with Abebe, we hope the class don't get too stuffy and we can stay awake and get out of this vacation mode!

Blog soon!

Dani, Amanda, Jenn, Alexis, Melissa, Michelle

Addis Ababa - May 2 - 4

Family & Friends

First of all, Happy Birthday to those of you who celebrated Bdays in the last 2 days (Reid, Samantha, & Tiff).

We arrived in Addis late on Saturday night. Addis wasn't as dark as we expected, so we didn't need our windy flashlights or headlamps. The hotel is interesting (we hope that Jenn & Dani get over their bug phobia sometime soon). The power went off on the first day - no showers for some of us. We did a lot of interesting things on Sunday: visited the Ethiopian National Museum to see Lucy (as exciting as we thought it would be); willed Alexis to get over her stomach issues (minor, don't worry (Fanta fixed it)); had indigenous food for lunch at the Ghion restaurant (601 birr, the most expensive in the city. Works out to ~ 8 USD each (7 ppl)); walked though the gardens of Ghion where there were several weddings taking place, each with their own music and celebrations (Melissa pounded out a beat of her own on a rawhide drum), some traditional some modern, all elaborate; and we drove up to 3000 m above sea level to view Addis from the sky and to see an Ethiopian Orthodox church. Later in the evening we "enjoyed" Ethiopian wine by candle light on our private balcony (no jokes!), then some of us had a good sleep (not including Dani or Melissa).

For breakfast this morning we walked the streets alone for the first time (no right of way for pedestrians - don't worry we made it!) to find a fruit stand for breakfast (peel food only). It was very enjoyable. We also got some toast from the hotel (Amanda thoroughly enjoyed the marmalade). This morning we went to the embassy. It was very strict - no picture or bags inside - but it was nice to be back on Canadian soil.

Monday in Addis is crazy to say the least - 10X as many vehicles as compared to Sunday. No traffic lights or lanes or right of way, its amazing there isn't more carnage on the roads (we have pics & videos of the chaotic "traffic circles"). Our drivers, Aboyot and Obeshike, are the sweetest guys ever and get us where we need to go. While they wait for us, they hold hands, which is very common in Ethiopia - a symbol of great friendship. We, the women, love this!! We think boys back home should be able to open hold hands with their best buddies instead of burping and farting over beer (MATT!). The difficult thing about being stuck in traffic is the beggars who come to our windows. Mostly they are women with babies, little children, or amputees. Because we are white they are fairly persistent and its hard to turn them away. We try to keep small change on us for the particularly vulnerable looking, but we can't help everyone. Its tough to roll up the window and look away. The other difficult thing about traffic is the fumes, exhaust, and smog. We definitely are feeling the pollution in our throats and eyes. In that respect we are happy to be leaving for a more rural part of the country.

The last thing we did today was visiting the piazza and merkato (a street with lots of shops). We scoped out souvenirs that we are going to purchase on our way back (expect Alexis and Melissa couldn't contain themselves and may have gotten hosed at the merkato! Expect gifts from these two). There were leather jackets, jewelry, scarves, clothes, wood cravings, art, etc, etc. So much to see and want.

Tomorrow we head to Awassa. It will be exciting to drive through the Rift Valley (for 5 hours!!). We should have access to internet there, so keep checking our blog!

Take care (we are!). Lots of love

Amanda, Dani, Michelle, Jenn, Melissa, and Alexis!

Driving the streets of Addis

3 am in Amsterdam

Hi,
First of all, happy birthday Samantha from Mandy!
So it's 3 am in Amsterdam and we're staying at the Inner Hostel close to the Rijks museum. The room is really hot so a few of us are having trouble sleeping. This will not help with our last leg of the trip tomorrow, another 9 1/2 hours of flight to go before our final destination.
Today was an exciting day. Because we are carrying four extra (extremely heavy!) bags for Eritrean women refugees, getting out of the airport and to our hostel in noon traffic was a cluster f*ck. We finally made it, after getting hosed by one of the cab drivers. We had some lunch at a really cute cafe and soaked up the atmosphere. We went on to briefly explore some of the inner city for the rest of the afternoon. We walked by the van Gogh and Rijks museums; strolled through a park and ate a 1 e gelato; went of a canal tour (until we had to get off before we all were rocked gently to sleep); and walked through some of the busy downtown areas (Amanda & Dani window shopped - we need skinny jeans and a bubble skirt ASAP!). We met Mike for supper at a Pancake house (for the whole Dutch experience), then came back here to crash early. Unfortunately, the sleeping didn't last as long as we would have liked for a few of us, but hopefully we can get a few more hours before we have to hop on our next plane to Addis Ababa at 10:30 am. We are due to arrive in Ethiopia around 10 pm local time. I think we're going to be in for a shock seeing the city at night for the first time. We'll keep you posted (hehehe).

Not sure when we'll have access to the Internet again, but don't worry, we'll keep each other safe until we can blog again.

ttyl
Amanda, Dani, and Jenn (PS we are jealous that Alexis hasn't even moved since she fell asleep 7 hours ago!)