TRIP TO WOLISO AND WENCHI

Look at the hill in the background...we could be mistaken for being in a Norwegian fjord, aidellem?:)

I got tired of running, so I got a ride the last few meters....

Wenchi crater lake

A grumpy little girl....must be sick and tired of having all these strange faranjis coming all the time.....

His hairstyle......means that he is not five years old yet, and if something happens to him, the hair will be God's means of grabbing and saving him before it's too late....I've heard.....

Negash Lodge

Last weekend I went with my colleagues to Woliso, to have sort of a retreat/seminar – just a get-together to get to know each other better and to discuss issues that has to do with us, the local staff. Woliso is about 2 hours drive from Addis, a small rural town, but very charming. We stayed at this amazing lodge, that almost had some kind of colonial style to it, reminding me very much of South Africa. There were different huts that we stayed in, that were specific for the different ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The compound was big, green, and situated close to a little hill with lots of nice trees with monkeys that were a constant nuisance to us. We spent about 3 hours discussing our working environment, which has been dramatically changed, as most of you probably know. It has been very demanding to all of us, in different ways. Two of my colleagues will also have to leave, as we are reducing the number of local staff as well. So we had a lot to talk about, and it was very interesting to share experiences. In the evening the ambassador came to join us, and we spent the evening sitting around the bonfire telling jokes and making fun of each other:)

On the Saturday we went to the market, and then we drove of to Wenchi, which is a crater lake an hours drive from Woliso, on a dirt road. It is only when you get out of Addis that you realize how truly beautiful Ethiopia is. Now, there are a lot of things you can say about this country, but the beauty of it – the landscape and the people – cannot be denied. We drove down some very steep hills to get to the bottom of the crater, and I was clinging to the car seat and making desperate sounds sometimes, I’m terrified of heights. My colleagues found this very amusing of course, and we had a really good time in the car. In fact, when I think about it, we spent most of the time mocking each other, but not to the point where anyone would get sensitive about it, so it was all good. Almost at the end of the road I decided to walk the last part, together with Fikru, the ambassador’s driver. We decided to run, so we raced each other and tried to reach the shores of the lake before the cars. We almost made it. I had to race these local boys who found it infinitely amusing to see this white, strange foreign girl running for life on their dirt roads, but I must admit that I haven’t really exercised that much lately, so running at the altitude of 3000m I could really feel it in my lungs. And the dust also found its way down there…….

At the shores of the lake there were boats, looking like huge tree trunks, really, that took us out to this small island where there was a church, a big ox and a hen. That was basically it. It was a nice little trip across to the island, but I don’t think any of us were sure that we would get back in a dry condition. We all did, though. And I decided to rest for a bit and ride a horse back to the cars, instead of walking. On the way up the steep hills one of the cars got stuck, but fortunately one of my colleagues is a very skilled driver, and he managed to get it back on track without problems. We then continued to Ambo, where we spent the night at a hotel, and drove back to Addis the next morning.

It’s so good to get out of town, and every time I do it I keep thinking that I should do it more often. There is nothing as beautiful as driving through the great Ethiopian landscape – the vast fields of grass and tef, the hills, looking like green waves swirling its way towards the horizon, the clear, blue, almost glassy sky, with white, white clouds, bubbly and perfect – like a drawing from a children’s book. The crisp air filling your lungs, so different from the dusty one that one breathes in every day in Addis. Now, before I get carried away, I’m going to stop this, it’s already a veeeeery long blog post…….so, enjoy the pictures!