Jimma to Addis

Sunday morning we loaded up in the van for the trek back to Addis. Berhanu had wanted to leave around 9, but we, being American, wanted to get on the road early. We were thinking church services would be 9:30 or 10 until 12ish. Not so. As we headed out of town people were walking home from church. We asked Berhanu what time services started, he said around 6:30, which is probably why he wanted to leave a little bit later, next time we will know this.

As we were leaving town we got a phone call from Honeybee's Uncles. They had a gift for us and wanted us to wait for them We turned around and waited at the gas station where we had just filled up. In case you are curious gas was 10ish birr per litre. There are 12 birr to the dollar, you can do the math. We also observed a van full of men filling up plastic jugs of kerosene and strapping them on top of the van with bungee cords. It didn't look safe to me, but who am I to suggest they worry about such things. This guy sporting the chickens also walked by. Heather assumed the chickens were dead, but Michele educated us on how to get chickens to lay over your shoulder quietly even while being very much alive. Fresh doro anyone? Honeybee's uncles showed up with a couple kilos of coffee, and hugs all around.

We also discovered Sunday is laundry day in rural Ethiopia. Every river we passed was full of people washing clothes, cars, themselves. There was all kinds of clothing and carpets draped over every available shrubbery drying in the sun. It was very colorful. It made me very thankful for my washer and dryer, although a little less laundry would be nice.

There were many roadside vendors. We purchased some pineapple, bananas, mangoes, tropical fruit we couldn't name, and a really cool basket. As soon as you slowed down people came running up with baskets of goods. Berhanu did most of the negotiating, and apparently had a lively conversation with some ladies about how much was appropriate to ask of rich Americans. They were accosting him for not letting them ask more for their goods. They had a point, I pay way more for bananas here, and they aren't even good. There were times I would have loved to pay them American prices for what they were selling, but I was afraid they might follow me home, or phone all of their relatives along the way to stop us and bring their goods. It is a weird position to be in.

We stopped to take pictures of this tree, but didn't want to stop too close, so that this vendor would think we were buyers. The trees were full, and I mean full of nests. There was a stretch of road that had several trees that were completely loaded with these bird nests. I guess they were the big cities of the bird world. We also saw a couple of baboons on the way home. I got a really bad picture of them, so I won't even post it. It was pretty cool to see them running around the hills though.

We stopped for lunch at Woklite. We had some really great food. The bathrooms were nice, and the machiattos were the prettiest I had seen. We even let Jubilee and Honeybee have one. It was a long drive, but very interesting. I would do it all again. Jimma is not one of the usual trips that AAI does, but if you have kids from that area I highly recommend going.