Thank you! Very good! YES!

Ruth and I are sitting side by side in an internet cafe in Gondar, Ethiopia right now. There has been so much going on over the past 6 days that we decided to tag-team and each write half of our trip so far.

So... picking up where Ruth left off. After 2 days of smoke & exhaust saturated air in Addis Ababa, my lungs breathed a sigh of relief the instant we stepped off the plane in Gondar, a smaller city north of Addis. The half-hour drive from the airport to our house gave us a good first glimpse of the next week we would be living in Gondar. Along with countless donkeys, goats and roaming cattle, one of the most interesting things we passed on our taxi ride in was the station for the UN Special Convoy to Darfur. Sudan is only about 200 miles west of Gondar, so the UN Peacekeeping troops keep all of their tanks and equipment in a giant field outside of Gondar. We kept driving through the city with a quick "beep, beep" on the horn sparing the life of a sheep hanging out in the middle of the street or a pedestrian risking life & limb to cross the street.

When we arrived at Ruth's grandmother's house, there was a welcoming committee at the gates to see us inside. Since we took such an early flight, we had the whole day ahead of us. So, Ruth, Alem (Ruth's uncle and best tour guide in the world), and I hit the streets. We walked around markets and vegetable vendors up a huge hill to the ruins of Fasil Castle, built several hundred years ago for Ethipian emperors. Unlike many Western museums, there are not really any rules so you can walk anywhere and touch anything. We have visited a few other ancient churches and monuments, and its the same story. We went to once church yesterday where we were ushered into a small dark hut that had glass cases on the wall protecting ancient manuscripts in lost languages and other artifacts. We were each handed a narrow, tallow candle to provide a small amount of light, which just added to the mysterious atmosphere. In the back room of the 2-room hut, there was a small box shoved in the corner with an ornate purple fabric covering it. I opened it (because you can do that in these museums) and it was the bones of three people, who I later found out was the Emperor, his wife and his son. Surprise for me.

Back to the first day, after walking around Fasil castle, we took a taxi/ crowded minibus to the highest point in Gondar where the Goha hotel sits. This is the nicest hotel in Gondar, and the only place I have seen a few other foreigners. Alem, Ruth and I sat and overlooked the city each with a delicious Ethiopian-style macchiato in hand. I am hooked on Ethiopian coffee. I am not going to be able to enjoy the weak American stuff after this. After that, we headed back to our house where we were promptly ordered to sit and eat. Ethiopians are incredible hosts, and guests are treated like royalty. So, as soon as anyone enters your house (even a neighbor popping by to say hello), they are offered a meal and drink. Injera (Ethiopian sponge bread and the staple of their diet) & wot (the toppings) are always ready for the next person to stop by the house. Now, this has been something to get used to because every time I come back to the house I have to eat. And eat a lot. The grandmother of the house (everyone calls her Mama) does not take no for an answer. It takes a lot of refusal before you are allowed respite. I don't think I have been full this entire trip. But, don't mistake this for complaining- the food here is delicious! My Ethiopian family says I was cut out to be an Ethiopian.

Yesterday was my birthday so we woke up to a special breakfast treat of homemeade bread and honey from the bees out back. Mama had no problems pushing me to eat breakfast, it was delicious! Then Alem, Ruth & I walked around town and visited a few castles and historical sites, including the King's ancient swimming pools. He used to pump water from the rivers into a giant stone pool. The best part though was the giant Avatar-Swiss-Family-Robinson-esque trees surrounding the walls. Their roots were at least 10 feet high and completely embedded into the rocks. It was a very peaceful place.

After that, we went to pick up my cake from a local bakery, "Las Vegas Cafe." On the way we stopped so Alem could buy us a birthday treat of mango, avacado, guava smoothies. I don't really have to say anymore. It was exactly as delicious as it sounds. When we returned in the afternoon, there were 40+ people (only a few of whom I had met before) in a very decorated house. I think Mama had invited the entire neighborhood. She decorated with signs and balloons, and then we feasted on a giant circle loaf of homemade bread, popcorn, cake, candy, mangoes and wine. And they were roasting so many rounds of coffee for us too. A few people even got me presents! Of course, hardly any of them spoke english so it was just a lot of kissing on the cheek and hugging. During this time, there were two very very old women, (I would say pushing 90) on the couch next to me. I don't know what happenned because I can understand very little Amharic but one of them took the scarf off her head and started beating the other one over the head with it. They are very old, so I use the term "beating" loosely. Apparently this is fine because everyone was laughing and egging them on. One of them started pulling the other one's arm to push them off the couch, and they were shooting insults back and forth. The Kelly Rowland documentary (which I did not know existed ) was playing in the background. One of these women kept looking at me and yelling, "Thank you! Very good! YES!" I think that was the only English she knows and she wanted to wish me a happy birthday. The day ended with a fervant 3-hour game of make-shift volleyball with laundry lines, a plastic blow-up watermelon ball and 12 adults. It was a great birthday.

Today we drove out to Gorgora, a town on the edge of Lake Tana. In my opinion, the drive through the Ethiopian countryside was far better than the end destination. The rural areas were unlike anything I have ever seen before. There were babies and toddlers hanging out by themselves on the side of the road without any adult in site. There were dozens of people walking along the dirt road dozens of miles from any town carrying you-name-it. My favorite was a woman balancing a giant basket of live chickens on her head. Every mile or so there was a person working the land with two very skinny cows and a plow. A few times the person with the whip must have been 5 years old and maybe up to the cows' knees. The only buildings we saw were round huts constructed of mud & sticks that were about 5 feet high by maybe twice as wide. Bossena (Ruth's mom) told me that it is common for families to share one hut. This would be 15-20 people, and I don't see how this is possible.

One of the girls in the house is graduating on Saturday so it will be celebrating all day. Then we are headed up to the Simien Mountains for some hiking & I am going to try to catch a monkey. We are going to meet with Wogen this week, so we are really looking forward to seeing the water project we have been supporting. Now headed across the street for a Macchiato before we head back home and are forced to eat a giant dinner. There are much worse things :)

We will write when we can!

Steph