South to Awasa, November 14 & 15

After spending nearly a week with Elsa and Ashagre, we set out to learn more about where they came from. It is very important for us to learn as much as we can about the kids, since we take our responsibility to help them understand their roots and connect with Ethiopian culture very seriously. Ashagre is from the Sidama region of Ethiopia, which is 4 to 5 hours south of Addis Ababa, so we hired a driver, Ayele, who had been recommended to us by another family with kids from the same area and headed south. We really didn’t have much of an agenda when we started out, and I think it threw Ayele off a bit at first. I think he is used to farangi with tight schedules and detailed itineraries. We made it clear that we were very flexible and that we just wanted to see Sidama. We also let him know that we loved Ethiopian food – I think it was after we proved this at a rest stop where all three of us feasted on beef and goat tibbs with LOTS of berbere and macchiatos to cap off the meal that Ayele believed us and relaxed a bit.

Ayele.

It took quite a while just to get out of the sprawl of Addis, especially since we decided to leave the King’s Hotel at 9 a.m. Soon enough though, the number of buildings thinned, the traffic lightened and the smell of diesel smoke became less pervasive.

Orthodox Church on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.

What seemed like not too long after we had left Addis, Ayele told us that we had entered Oromia, another region of Ethiopia, home to the Oromo people. (Oromia is a large region north of Sidama – we would spend more time there later horse trekking outside of Bale National Park.) The landscape was arid with bleached-yellow teff fields (the grain grown to produce injera, the national bread of Ethiopia) as far as the eye could see. Mounds of harvested teff and Acacia trees dotted the landscape. Under the small amount of shade the trees provided almost always rested a herd of cattle, donkeys, goats, sheep, or people – and sometimes camels or ostriches.

Our first stop was at Lake Ziway, one of Ethiopia’s Rift Valley lakes, where we got out for a few minutes to take the pictures below. This was our first encounter with children from Ethiopia’s southern countryside. I don’t remember exactly, but I can almost guarantee they greeted us with, “You, you, you! Farangi!,” a greeting that we would become very familiar with as the trip went on. As we departed the lake, the kids asked us if we had a pen. We obliged and gave them our only scripto. Later we become accustomed to the incessant demands for a pen common among southern children. It isn’t so much that they need the pens, it’s that they can get them from farangi that drives the constant asking. I wonder if the first person to hand out pens to the kids knows what a craze they have started.

After Lake Ziway and lunch and some more time in the car, Ayele suggested that we check out Lake Langano, another Rift Valley lake. When we agreed he pulled off the highway onto a rutted, dusty road heading east. A few miles later we came to an impressive gate, especially in comparison to the small earthen homes we had passed on the way there – the entrance to the Sabana Lodge Resort. Since we had eaten earlier, we headed straight to the lake to stretch and relax by its coffee-and milk-colored waters. After sitting a while and asking Ayele several times if there were hippos in the lake, Brent decided to take a swim. Just like the young Ethiopians visiting the resort, he stripped down to his underwear and plunged in the slippery waters. He claimed it was quite refreshing.

After spending an hour or so at Lake Langano, we got back in the car and headed toward Awasa, the capital of Sidama. The further south we drove, the greener the landscape became. As we approached Awasa it started to rain, even though Ayele swore it wouldn’t (it was the dry season). The dark rain clouds made for great lighting, and Brent was able to get quite a few pictures from the window of our moving car.

We had originally wanted to stay at an Eco-Lodge south of Awasa in a smaller town, Yirga Alem, but it was full, so we decided to use Awasa as our home base for exploring Sidama. Prior to leaving Addis, another great driver, Ermias, that had taken us to visit Elsa a few times called his brother, Henok, who lived in Awasa to arrange accommodations for us. Ermias must have told Henok to take good care of us, because not only did he put a lot of thought into the hotel he booked for us, but he also met us for a great traditional Ethiopian dinner. Henok was a lecturer at Awasa University in bio-medical chemistry and, like his brother, offered much thoughtful insight into the Ethiopian psyche. Like all Ethiopians we spent any time with, his openness, hospitality, and warmth were unsurpassable.

The next day, by choice, we got a later start than we had been since we landed in Ethiopia. Ayele suggested we explore Awasa for the day. Awasa is wonderful. If I were to live in Ethiopia, I would definitely choose Awasa over Addis. It is a fairly large city with a large university, so there is plenty going on, but the air is fresh and the central area around the piazza is compact and easily walkable. Awasa sits on Lake Awasa, another Rift Valley lake, which is home to hippos. Before we hired a boat to check out the hippos, Ayele took us to the local fish market. After soaking in the sights and taking some pictures we sat down to sample the local catch, deep fried and drenched in lime juice. It was great!

Marabou Storks.

Fish fry.

Adding the lime juice.

After the fish market we hired a boat and driver to take us out on the lake to view the resident hippos. I think it was good we had Ayele with us, because it sounds like we paid 100 to 150 birr ($6-9) less that the other tourists we talked to that hired the same services. Seeing hippos in the wild was pretty impressive, especially when one opened its mouth really wide so we could see all its teeth. Just being out on the lake was really refreshing and calming after leaving the busy streets of Addis the day before.

After the boat ride we strolled around the park near where we hired the boat and took pictures of the not-so-bashful wildlife.

Colobus monkeys. 

Horn Bill.

After grabbing some lunch, we used the rest of the day to decompress from the previous week. Meeting the kids and visiting the orphanages was by far the best part of our entire trip, but it was also the most emotionally draining. We spent the later part of the afternoon and evening, watching bad American movies on TV, using the internet, and strolling around Awasa. We got caught in another rainstorm so we waited it out at hotel popular with Western and Ethiopian tourists alike that served layered fruit smoothies with mango, papaya, strawberry? and avocado juices. They were amazing! We had dinner at the same restaurant Henok had taken us to the night before, but we weren’t very good at deciphering the menu and ended up with fasting fir fir, which is a huge mound of torn injera soaked in berbere. I think we also ended up with doro wat, which is a chicken curry-like dish, also heavy on the berbere. At least we now knew what fir fir was and knew we probably didn’t want to ingest that much injera in one sitting (even though we really like injera).

Bajaj lining up in the rain to purchase fuel.  Apparently fuel shortages are common outside
of Addis.  Ayele got up at 5 in the morning to make sure we had gas for the rest of our trip.