Back in Addis

My friend Leah (from California) and I jsut got back from a 2 week trip through part of northern Ethiopia.  It was incredible! The sights were amazing and the natural beauty defies explanation.  I couldn't help but wonder, on several occasions, why I am so priviledged to see these sights.  I am truly blessed!
As with travel in any developing country - part of the fun is getting there!  We travelled by public bus mostly.  We were fortunate to be pretty lucky as far as achieving our destinations.... eventually.  The public busses are big busses that carry 50-65 people, they are a real cultural experience!  You can't buy tickets in advance, so you have to get there when the bus depot opens at 5am, find the bus that is going the way you want (don't even think they're labelled), run to get a seat and then wait for the locals to negotiate a price with the driver.  If the driver charges too much, everyone gets off the bus in protest.  You have to make sure that there isn't another bus going in your direction that the others can get on in the meantime, because your bus won't leave the station until its full.  So, after all of that, you wait for them to totally overfill the bus with people and then you actually leave the station around 8am. 
Ethiopia is an extremely hilly an mountain filled country, the roads are not in the best condition, the vehicles are old, and around every turn you find a herd of oxen, sheep, goats or monkeys. As a result travel is SLOW!!! The funny part is that if a vehicle hits an animal on the road, the driver has to pay the farmer for the cost of the animal.  Needless to say, if you achieve a speed over 60km/hr, you're really cruising. 
Our first stop was a city called Bahir Dar. One day we went out to a small village just outside the city to see the Blue Nile Falls. We were trying to be thrifty and hopped on a public bus. Who would have expected a 34km journey to take 2.5 hrs?! It was an experience to say the least! I was sitting between two shephards - hook and all!  The smell of the goat/sheep didn't bother me as much as the hole in the bottom of the bus that I was sitting over.  Gravel road + old rickety slow bus + 2 shephards = cost efficient travel.  I was sneezing dust for 2 days.  The sight of the falls was totally worth it though.  I guess their size has been dramatically reduced as a result of a hydroelectric dam, but I was still impressed!
Also in Bahir Dar, we rented a boat and visited some orthodox monasteries.  They are on little islands of Lake Tana (have you pulled out your atlas yet?).  Some of them we weren't able to visit as they don't allow women, but the ones we got to see were really neat.I was thankful for being taught all my bible stories and saint history as all the artwork in the monasteries was religious.  They depicted the lives of the saints, the life of Christ, or other biblical stories.  It was a lot of fun to pick stuff out and many of the monks took extra time to show me stuff when they understood that I recognized some of the stories.
The history was phenominal.  Stuff dating back to the 14th and 16th centuries.  The Ethiopian Orthodox church has a lot of traditions and it was nice to learn about it and see a lot of history which has formed and continues to guide the culture here.
The next place we visited was Gonder.  Its a smaller city built near the base of the Simean Mountains.  At one point, it was the capital city.  The emperors built castles there.  Of course, each emperor had to have his own castle, so there are several.  It was neat to see the different things they built including lion cages and turkish baths.  There were hawks everywhere - which gave the city a very mideval feel.  I can't say that the hawks didn't make me a bit nervous as they swooped down on people quite regularly. 
Next was Lalibella.  This is the part where transportation got a bit more interesting.  We couldn't get a bus from Gonder to Lalibella.  So, we got dropped off at a junction.  The first bus that came by, tried to charge us 3 times the appropriate amount.  Refusing to be swindled, we let that one go by.  Sitting on the side of the road in the heat of the day in the middle of Africa for 2 + hrs is really quite the experience.  I made friends with a few of the kids as I had some bananas and candy in my bag.  They turned out to be good allies when the next bus cam by and they petitionned for our cause.  I wish I could describe the scene of Leah pleading for a ride for a reasonable rate.  Its one of those moments I won't soon forget.
Lalibella turned out to be my favorite.  A smaller town with an incredible history tucked away from everything and thus maintaining a lot of innocence.  King Lalibella comissionned the construction of 11 rock hewn churches.  How these churches could have possibly been constructed with the technology that existed over 1000 yrs ago is mind blowing.  The details of the architecture and intricasies of the connecting cames and caverns are really neat.  We hired a really good guide adn spent 2 days exploring.  Another day we hired mules and climbed to the top of a steep hill/mtn to another monastery that was carved into the rock.  I'be been kind of fascinated by the donkeys since arriving in Africa.  Getting to ride a donkey up the hill was pretty cool! In the end, the monastery wasn't as impressive as the view, but the whole experience was worth it.
After a very boring 15 hr drive (only 700 km), I made it back to Addis.  It's good to be back.  White people are a bit more plentiful here, so we're not as big of a spectacle when we go outside of the compound. I'm not anxious to get on another bus anytime soon, so I think I'll be staying put for a while.  I also missed my patients. It's good to be back at work and in some sort of routine.  The patients and the workers were very welcoming upon my return, and it was nice.  It made me realize how much this has become my home.
As with anywhere, the longer you are there, the busier you seem to be.  I've been back at work now for 3 days, and I'm already behind! It's great to be serving in this way though, and I am blessed that every day I get to touch Jesus in a very special way.
My internet time is running out. Thanks for all your emails, prayers and encouragements.  I keep you all in my prayers, but please let me know of any special intentions you may have. 
God bless!