Point A to B, to C, to D, to...

This post features our travels in various modes of transportation.  Our general itinerary for our 30-day adventure was the following:  

Weeks 1 & 2: Emily and the boys explore Addis Ababa

Week 3: Dave joins us and we head down the Rift Valley to Common River in the Southern region (SNNPR)

Week 4: Visit the lovely lakeside, regional capital of Hawassa, with an epic journey to the district of Aroresa to visit family

Addis is a huge, huge city -- especially in contrast to sweet little Bloomington, Indiana -- with lots of construction all over the place.  I'm not sure if we ever totally got used to the crowded streets, and there is no way to get comfortable with the homeless kids on the sidewalks.   We had quite a few conversations about why we gave the funds the boys raised to organizations, since of course the sweet kiddos just wanted to hand cash to everybody.  

I didn't take any photos of us walking the hilly, gritty strees of Addis, often squished under one little umbrella during the many downpours, so you'll have to imagine those scenes.  Nor did I commemorate any of the ridiculously expensive taxi rides.  We'd rather forget about those.  And then were countless undocumented hours we spent in the rental 4x4's, when the boys grieved the fact that their Nintendo DS charger did not work with our international plug adapters.  

Dreamliner!!!  We weren't so lucky on the way home.  Humidity on an airplane is a beautiful thing.

Day 1: you can see the jetlag on Zenebe's face!
Those of you that know me, it takes some kind of serious sleepiness for me to buy my kids Cokes.

The horrible traffic in Addis meant lots of time sitting in mini-bus/van seats and breathing horrible exhaust.  Blech. 

Too bad the traffic was so crazy that I did not allow the boys to take the bikes out of the parking lot, but they were happy to cruise around and show off their cycling prowess.  A few Birr to rent the bike for a couple laps, and despite the pressure from the rental dude, I did not let them try the motorcycles, too.

Dave's first day with us!  Everyone is exhausted from the excitement of anticipation.

One of the vehicles that carried us on many kilometers of bumpy, bu-uh-uh-uh-mm-mm-mm-mp-p-p-py roads.

Is a caption really necessary here?
  "Oh-my-god don't crash into that donkey/dog/cow/goat/sack of potatoes/toddler in the middle of the road!"

The roadside in Aroresa; the most beautiful place in Ethiopia (en route to Amare and Zenebe's birthplace).

Camels on a truck!  
Not exactly the camel caravan we might have expected to see.

Yup, that's a goat up there with the baggage.

Stretching out before the 18-hours in a Boeing 777.

July 2013

Lastly, for a bit of nostalgia, here are pics to compare the boys at the Bole Airport (ADD) waiting to board a plane to America.  See how much they have grown compared to the white handrail in 3+ years!

Zenebe Dec '09

Amare Dec '09

Birthplace of Coffee

As most of you know, this entire trip was made possible by a Teacher Creativity Fellowship from the Lilly Endowment.  They gave me some $$ to go experience the "Birthplace of Coffee," which - of course - happens to be in Sidama, Ethiopia, the birthplace of Amare and Zenebe!  This also created the delightful excuse to stop at as many coffee shops/buna bet as possible during our travels.  

This was a little place on the side of a major road interchange in Addis.  We stopped for a treat to console ourselves because the restaurant we were headed to was closed on Mondays, and we hadn't known.  The consolation coffee was necessary because the trip involved an expensive taxi ride, and then a hike up and then back down the steep hill.  These little buna bet are everywhere and they serve up the traditional thickly boiled, amazingly strong stuff in teeny cups.  You add enough sugar so that the cup is almost overflowing and sip it down.   Not all of them serve the charcoal burner with incense and the sprig of rue for garnish, so this was particularly awesome!  

This is a "cappuccino" at Kaldi's Coffee.  Kaldi's is an Ethiopian combination of Starbucks and Applebee's (or what I imagine Applebee's are still like; I haven't been inside one since high school).  They serve coffee drinks, but also burgers, fries, etc.  At this point, I was starting to realize that the Starbucks versions of "cappuccino" and "macchiato" don't mean the same thing in Ethiopia.  (I suppose this should not be surprising, since aren't we all constantly confused by Starbucks' grande/tall/venti sizing scheme?)   An Ethiopian cappuccino is an American mocha.  A macchiato is more like what Starbucks calls a cappuccino.  And then they have the "ranger" macchiato! This is a macchiato with extra espresso so that the milk and coffee swirl to look like a camouflage police "ranger" uniform.  Too bad I didn't learn about that one till our last week in the country.  

Sweet little buna bet on the lakeshore of Hawassa.

Here I am squeezed into the historical coffee roasters in the old Piazza district of Addis Ababa. We visited To-Mo-Ca on our first trip to Addis Ababa, and it was where I clued in that coffee was really everything to Ethiopians.  This teeny place is packed to the gills with tourists and Ethiopians ALL THE TIME!  The staff wear lab coats and take themselves quite seriously.  Originally an Italian enterprise back in the day, the story goes that the owner wound up marrying his Ethiopian cashier and now her family runs the place.  Amare and Zenebe thought it was hilarious that the only seat open in the place was under the "USA Type" roast bin, and so they snapped this photo of me.  They also wondered why there was no "Ethiopian Type" bin, so I found myself trying to explain that only outside of Ethiopia are we Europeans and Americans silly enough to roast our coffee hours/days/weeks/years (gasp!) before we grind and then brew it.

Che ferese! ቼ ፈረሴ

Near the end of our stay in Addis, we ventured out of the city smog to the fresh air of the Entoto foothills to go horseback riding with Equus.  Their trail horses were angels and the boys loved it!  We basically walked/trotted in winding circles through some eucalyptus groves for a couple of hours.  We did see a wild rabbit, but mostly just lots of hills of eucalyptus trees.  Still it was totally enjoyable, since I was so done with the traffic and bustle of the city, and Amare and Zenebe were thrilled to be bouncing around on horseback!  

 For those of you with the same collection of Amharic kids' songs, cue: 

Che che che ferese, 

Nech feres lay tekemchalehu!

 

Birds! So many amazing birds!

This post is where the pictures are worth the thousand words:  and we took about a thousand photos of birds!   What a ornithologist's paradise.  Next time we travel, we are definitely investing in a good East African field guide.  Please comment below if you know the names of any of these species (besides ostrich, Zenebe figured that one out!)

Weaver birds!  Who like to share breakfast at the restaurant (Sabana Resort)

Gentlemen storks trying to woo the lady storks.

You need the sound effects with these birds:  Beaaa!  Beaaah!  Beaah!

Pygmy goose

Amazing plumage on this tree-dweller!

We're back

Hello again!  After over three years, we're reviving our blog to share with you photos and stories from our second trip to Ethiopia.  While we were gone, some of you followed us on Facebook (which, strangely, was the fastest Internet link I could get to in Addis Ababa), but here we'll put all the pictures that were not on our phones and try to show you some of the many, many highlights.  Folks keep asking us what our favorite part of the trip was, and we are all left a little speechless.  There is just too much to choose from!

As a first post, I'll start with sharing all the flower photos I took -- mostly while the boys were playing soccer nearby.  Traveling in the rainy season had its benefits, not the least of which was all the blooming trees.  And the baby donkeys.  Oh my goodness the fuzzy, wobbly, big-eared baby donkeys with sideburns!  I would have brought one home if I could.  We also managed to be there in season for  avocados, mangoes and fire-roasted corn -- mmmm!