4/8/19
We drove to Debark where Elisha and I walked around the town before lunch. On our walk, we visited the market and played some ping-pong with the locals. Ethiopia, is not at all toursity, so all the locals are very excited to see us. They say hello and come up to you, some wanting to touch you. They often follow you around for a bit (or long while), and you can get quite a crowd following you.
On the truck, they (especially the kids), are always waving and running up towards the truck. Sometimes the truck will park in seemingly the middle of nowhere for a bush pee stop, and before you know it, a crowd of kids (and sometimes adults) will be in a semi-circle around the truck waving and saying hello. Also, the kids (and even many adults) will often right away yell, "Hello! Pen!?". Some will yell "Hello! Money!", but mostly it's "Hello, pen". And they stick their hands out. Ethiopia has a history of foreign aid due to all their famines and such, and so they have quickly learned to ask for handouts. Since us travelers have been taught not to hand out candy as it rots the teeth of children, it seems as if the trendy thing to give now is pens, which is why they ask for those. But in Ethiopia, we were told the kids often just go sell the pens or trade them to shops for sweets, so the best thing to do, if you want to help, is to buy pens or paper and give them directly to a school. What we couldn't believe is how, no matter how rural and in the boonies we were, the kids still knew, "Hello Pen". It seemed to have spread like wildfire. And we laughed thinking, some of the kids were so young that "Hello, Pen" might have been their first words!
After lunch (by far the worst lunch we would have on our whole trip...plain pasta with a little bit of tuna), we drove to the Simien Mountains National Park. We road on top of the truck (the truck has 8 roof seats, with seat belts), which was a lot of fun. By the way, our truck's name is Xara. Along with us on the journey through the Simien Mountains are 3 scouts, all carrying AK-47s.
We hiked about 4.5 miles along a ridge, all above 10,000ft. The trail had scenic views down the escarpment. To me it looked a little bit like Canyonlands NP back in Utah. On our walk, we had some really close encounters with the famous Gelada monkeys. The big males are very regal looking. We walked right through a whole troupe with babies and everything. We camped at a nice little primitive campsite with good views. As it was quite chilly that high up, we sat by the campfire at night.
4/9/19
Hiked first to an impressive, but mostly dry waterfall. Then we hiked up a peak (~13,400 ft) with stunning views and a crazy drop-off. Above tree-line, we walked through a forest of unique Lobelia plants that are reminiscent of Dr. Seuss Lorax trees. After reaching the summit, on the way down, we got to hang out with a troupe of Gelada monkeys and also saw 2 Klipspringers. Our hike ended where we would be camping for the next 2 nights, at about 12,000ft. The scouts slaughtered 2 lambs for us, and we had a lamb roast for dinner. It's *super dusty* here, so we washed off at the hand-pump used to draw water from the well. It was very cold at night, but amazing stars!
4/10/19 We hiked up to the 2nd highest peak in Ethiopia (Bwahit at 14,557 ft.). On the way up we saw more Gelada monkeys and also saw two groups of the endemic Walia Ibex, one group quite close. There were very nice views from the top of the mountain.
Because of all the crazy dust, more bathing at the pump again. We walked to another closer viewpoint, and then did lots of reading and relaxing. In the evening, 2 *majestic*, big male, Walia ibex walked by camp along the ridge. So beautiful. Elisha made chapati as part of our curry dinner, over the campfire. It gets chilly at night up here in the Simien mountains (~32-34 F).
4/11/19
I made scrambled eggs for the group in the morning. For the 4-ish hour drive back to Debark, Elisha and I sat on the top of the truck, which was fun. We saw a couple of Klipspringers and a *ton* of Chelada monkeys. Got to hang out with them, within a couple of feet. And we got up close to a couple very cute babies. Back in Debark, we shopped at the local market for lunch for the next day, and Elisha did a great job of not getting ripped of with the Farangi (white person) price at the market.
We drove to Debark where Elisha and I walked around the town before lunch. On our walk, we visited the market and played some ping-pong with the locals. Ethiopia, is not at all toursity, so all the locals are very excited to see us. They say hello and come up to you, some wanting to touch you. They often follow you around for a bit (or long while), and you can get quite a crowd following you.
On the truck, they (especially the kids), are always waving and running up towards the truck. Sometimes the truck will park in seemingly the middle of nowhere for a bush pee stop, and before you know it, a crowd of kids (and sometimes adults) will be in a semi-circle around the truck waving and saying hello. Also, the kids (and even many adults) will often right away yell, "Hello! Pen!?". Some will yell "Hello! Money!", but mostly it's "Hello, pen". And they stick their hands out. Ethiopia has a history of foreign aid due to all their famines and such, and so they have quickly learned to ask for handouts. Since us travelers have been taught not to hand out candy as it rots the teeth of children, it seems as if the trendy thing to give now is pens, which is why they ask for those. But in Ethiopia, we were told the kids often just go sell the pens or trade them to shops for sweets, so the best thing to do, if you want to help, is to buy pens or paper and give them directly to a school. What we couldn't believe is how, no matter how rural and in the boonies we were, the kids still knew, "Hello Pen". It seemed to have spread like wildfire. And we laughed thinking, some of the kids were so young that "Hello, Pen" might have been their first words!
After lunch (by far the worst lunch we would have on our whole trip...plain pasta with a little bit of tuna), we drove to the Simien Mountains National Park. We road on top of the truck (the truck has 8 roof seats, with seat belts), which was a lot of fun. By the way, our truck's name is Xara. Along with us on the journey through the Simien Mountains are 3 scouts, all carrying AK-47s.
We hiked about 4.5 miles along a ridge, all above 10,000ft. The trail had scenic views down the escarpment. To me it looked a little bit like Canyonlands NP back in Utah. On our walk, we had some really close encounters with the famous Gelada monkeys. The big males are very regal looking. We walked right through a whole troupe with babies and everything. We camped at a nice little primitive campsite with good views. As it was quite chilly that high up, we sat by the campfire at night.
4/9/19
Hiked first to an impressive, but mostly dry waterfall. Then we hiked up a peak (~13,400 ft) with stunning views and a crazy drop-off. Above tree-line, we walked through a forest of unique Lobelia plants that are reminiscent of Dr. Seuss Lorax trees. After reaching the summit, on the way down, we got to hang out with a troupe of Gelada monkeys and also saw 2 Klipspringers. Our hike ended where we would be camping for the next 2 nights, at about 12,000ft. The scouts slaughtered 2 lambs for us, and we had a lamb roast for dinner. It's *super dusty* here, so we washed off at the hand-pump used to draw water from the well. It was very cold at night, but amazing stars!
4/10/19 We hiked up to the 2nd highest peak in Ethiopia (Bwahit at 14,557 ft.). On the way up we saw more Gelada monkeys and also saw two groups of the endemic Walia Ibex, one group quite close. There were very nice views from the top of the mountain.
Because of all the crazy dust, more bathing at the pump again. We walked to another closer viewpoint, and then did lots of reading and relaxing. In the evening, 2 *majestic*, big male, Walia ibex walked by camp along the ridge. So beautiful. Elisha made chapati as part of our curry dinner, over the campfire. It gets chilly at night up here in the Simien mountains (~32-34 F).
4/11/19
I made scrambled eggs for the group in the morning. For the 4-ish hour drive back to Debark, Elisha and I sat on the top of the truck, which was fun. We saw a couple of Klipspringers and a *ton* of Chelada monkeys. Got to hang out with them, within a couple of feet. And we got up close to a couple very cute babies. Back in Debark, we shopped at the local market for lunch for the next day, and Elisha did a great job of not getting ripped of with the Farangi (white person) price at the market.
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