En un suelo que mantiene bien la humedad, las pequeñas parcelas de cultivos variados que encontrábamos de camino a Arba Minch se transforman en el valle en grandes plantaciones de plátanos, maíz, tef (cereal del que se obtiene la harina para preparar la injera, el pan ácimo local, como una crepa gigante, que es la base de la cocina etíope) y la versión local del repollo, salpicados de chumberas y de girasoles, cuyas pipas gustan de consumir tostadas.
Omo River
We reached the limits for comfort yesterday with our room. With all our trinkets we were able to make ourselves comfortable and isolated from any bug with bad intention but the hut in the village was better kept and inspired much more trust than our hotel room... After a quick breakfast in a nearby lodge that is completely empty (low season), we start the long and difficult drive to a Karo village. We can't call it a road anymore but we have less cattle in the way. We're rethinking our definition of remote ;)
Hacia el valle del Omo: Plateriopía
Un borriquito, dos borriquitos, tres borriquitos... ¡cientos de Plateros! Pero no nos adelantemos al trayecto, primero hay que conseguir los billetes de autobús
Addis Abeba, la nueva flor de la emperatriz
Pocas mujeres han fundado capitales de imperios. A finales del siglo XIX, la emperatriz Taitu, consorte de Menelik II, único monarca africano que consiguió expulsar a las fuerzas coloniales y hacer de Etiopía la única nación libre del continente, decidió dejar las estériles montañas de Entoto, hasta entonces capital de Etiopía, y establecerse en las fértiles tierras de las faldas. La emperatriz bautizó la zona "Nueva Flor" y así seguimos llamándola hoy.
Bull Jumping Ceremony
With so many banana plantation we can only start the day with a banana shake. It's delicious and reminds me of the ones I use to make myself after school. We have a few errands before leaving Arba. First, getting tickets from Arba to Bahir Dar for after the tour. On the way there we pass by cows walking on the road (in the city) but on their lane... clearly following the rules of the road. It takes forever to buy the tickets but we get the discount for having flown here with Ethiopian airlines. Our driver gets two spare wheels and we leave Arba
Donkeypocalypse
The down side of taking the public bus without pre-bought ticket is that you have to be at the station around 4:30am to be sure to get a ticket for the 6am bus... We both barely slept that night, worried that our “plan” fails and we have to find another way to get to Arba Minch. The taxi driver is on-time and we cruise through an empty city listening to Ethiopian Jazz. There's a few people cleaning the street but that's pretty much it. It gets busier when we reach the bus station. Our taxi drop us off and our bags are “taken care off” by two guys (mistake!).
First Steps
The farewells were becoming each time more difficult, it's was really time for us to go. After one last intense weekend, following a intense month and a half, we're on our way to the airport. We start the check-in process and we're handed our first moment of stress. We have a ticket around the world but no flight out of Ethiopia.. yet. The person who is supposed to register us is bitchy and unhelpful. We go talk to someone else and it's a different story. We're ready to buy a flight out of Ethiopia but she tells us that they don't really check it at the Ethiopian custom.
Ninja Turtles
We had another reason not to stay up too late last night, we dive today and the boat is conveniently 5 minutes away from home. During our first dive, we see one huge turtle. It's probably around 1.5 meters long and 1 meter wide and slowly cruising by. Then on the reef we have the usual eels. We can only judge by their head but one of them seem quite big. Later on, some kind of puff fish pass by slowly, oblivious to us. And a little later a very weird fish with fins not on the sides but on the top and bottom only. The 2nd dive is at the turtle cleaning station (unofficial name).
Point break
For the 3rd day in a row, we get up with the sun! It's time for us to leave the big island. We're headed back to Oahu with the first plane and gladly leave behind our very noisy apartment. To our dismay, there's no coffee at the airport. We're left to wait half sleeping to board the plane. The flight is event-less and we're too sleepy to see much anyway. After a week in Hawai'i, Oahu is quite a shock. We saw nothing of it when we arrived but it's a very modern and busy town. We go through the chore to get our car with some difficulty. We're free to choose and not very good at it it seems...
Sanctuary
Early birds again (yes, we're on vacation but we have so many things to do!!!), we call the diving company to check whether the dive is still on. We're worried that the storm may have made the water muddy and learn it's the case... all dives canceled for the next 2 days. Life in a tropical paradise also has its inconveniences I suppose ;) We come up with a backup plan quickly and get ready for a lazy day. We'll drive south to the Sanctuary at Two Steps. The road is named tobacco road and it passes through coffee plantations. The Sanctuary is the last one left on the island.