Two important things to note about Ethiopia

1) Its more beautiful then I could have ever imagined.

2) You will be amazed by how quickly you lose all sense of personal space.

Ethiopia has been and gone.  Previous participants had prepared me for the gong show, by my boss by everyone.  Why travel down the looking glass?  You must only be mad to want to travel through Ethiopia.  But if you let it overtake you then you won’t be able to see the beauty through the madness.  Ethiopia sees very few travelers.  Some of the major centers like Bar Dahir and Addis are more use to forengi but in general we are quite the spectacle. 

The children caused a lot of distress of many of our riders.  The throw stones, flip-flops and hold out sticks.  All of the kids in Ethiopia have sticks… You imagine the worst.  I found that while I was riding if I took a moment to make eye contact with the kids or blow my whistle is a funny way; attempt to interact with them in any way greatly diffuse many situations.  Yes, I have a bruise on my arm from a rather large rock.  And did nearly lose my head to a boulder the size of my fist flying through the air grazing just past my face as I flew down the Blue Nile Gorge at speeds upwards of 60km/hour.  For the most part the kids did not mean harm.  They simply do not know any other way to interact.  The kids did come up and push my up a difficult section of the gorge, they found me a coke stop when I needed one; they smiled and jumped excitedly at this strange white girl on a bike speeding past them.  While many of our riders could not want to see the end of Ethiopia I was sad to see the mountains, valleys and lushness of the country disappear into the lava deserts of north Kenya. 

In Ethiopia, you have to completely forget any sense of personal space.  It’s gone. People are everywhere and will get as close as you allow.  On a bike ride, we stopped for a coke in a small village. CHAOS.  The coke stop owner was very kind and allowed us to bring our bicycles onto the covered patio for safekeeping.  They found us some cold cokes and chairs.  As the audience grew on the street.  Kids were peaking from tiny corners trying to catch a glimpse of two white people on bikes.  Perhaps the first two they have ever seen.  The owner’s wife keeps taking her water bucket and throwing it at the crowd as it grows in numbers.  I am feeling more and more like a caged animal at the zoo. 

Notes from the field.

1. Always, know where your headlamp is… it will go from picturesque sunset to pitch-black in a second.

2. Spoons, mugs and tent pegs are gold. 

3. Find a partner in crime..They will help you get through the hard times.

4. Sleep..as much as you can anywhere, you can.

5. Eat…as much as you can wherever you can.

6. When all else fails and you think you’ve reached you absolute limit remember this simple rule…`go to your tent.

7. Roll with it.. it’s Africa nothing is as you think it will be.

8. Bananas are essential never leave home without one.

 9. Smile, it will get you out of the trickiest situations you ever imagined.