Once again, the alarm rang too early and we dragged ourselves out of bed and over to breakfast. It was definitely warmer than in Addis, though one still wanted a bit of a jacket in the early morning. Paulos said we should be on the road by 7:30, but what with breakfast, brushing teeth, and getting stuff back into our suitcases, it was after 8:00 by the time we headed off.
First we made a short visit to a local fish market. This was right on the shore of Lake Awassa; we saw the fishermen in their boats and others on the shore, hawking their wares. Little boys came up to us, offering to let us take pictures of them throwing fish guts to the gulls and storks. We did, and of course they wanted a birr or two. Giggles even threw a few pieces.
We saw some young men filleting the fish: one gutted the fish, a second cut the fillets off, and a third skinned them by pulling the skins off with his teeth. All this done, of course, right on the bare dirt. Not the Canadian concept of sanitary.
By 9:00 we were on the road for real. We had another 270 km to do today, the same as yesterday, so it couldn't be much worse, could it?
We first needed to backtrack 20 km north to Shashemene, then take the secondary road to the west and south. As soon as we hit the secondary road, it became apparent that it could, indeed, most definitely be a lot worse. This road reminded me of the ones I'd driven on in Kenya - once paved, it was now rutted, holey, pitted, and in general disrepair. Add to that the need to avoid the usual donkey carts and pedestrians along the side of the road (and this road had little in the way of a shoulder), as well as the occasional cow, goat, or donkey lounging in the middle of the road, and it seemed the maximum speed obtainable was in the order of 40 kph. Maybe 50 kph for 50 metres every now and then.
The roads were dusty; the sun was hot; the car was bumpy and loud. Giggles and I played with her stuffies (Rory Bear and Wally the Walrus had joined us on the journey); we said rhymes and sang songs, we played I spy and other word games. We napped and played clapping games. And still the road went on. Lunch break finally came around 1:30 at the town of
Then back into the van for more bumpy, hot and dusty road. By 3:30 we were asking whether it would be possible to stop for tea. No, said Paulos, there wasn't anywhere to stop. Nowhere at all? Nowhere suitable. What about an unsuitable place? He pointed off to the side of the road at one of the tin stalls lining the village highway. But didn't offer to stop. We didn't press the issue and sat back, eating more dust.
At 4:00 we passed the side-road that led to the mountain-top village we were supposed to visit for a glimpse into the Dorzie people's way of life. Too late, said Paulos. It takes about two and a half hours to visit. An hour to get there, a half hour at the village, and an hour to get to Arba Minch. We wouldn't reach our hotel until 6:30, maybe 7:00. By that point we were sick to death of riding in the van and the thought of two more hours in it was not at all palatable. Okay, we said, scratch that from the itinerary.
We reached our destination in only half an hour's more driving, and it was high time. This hotel was located on a hilltop above the town, with a good view of both Lake Arbiata to the northeast and Lake Chamo to the southeast. Again, the rooms were in a townhouse type building a short distance from the reception area; we had two rooms side by side. The beds were equipped with mosquito nets; a necessity at this low elevation. Since leaving Addis we'd descended over 1000 metres and were now at 1200m (4000 feet) above sea level. There were definitely mosquitoes here; we covered ourselves with bug spray (especially Giggles and Laolao, who attract the bugs more than Laoye or I do). After unpacking and relaxing a bit, exploring the hotel grounds, we proceeded to supper on the terrace overlooking the lakes. Despite the fact that the sun had set, it was still quite warm and pleasant enough to sit outside in shirtsleeves.
Being quite worn out from the day's bumping and jostling, we all fell into bed shortly after supper and slept soundly. (Before climbing into bed, Giggles had a heyday whacking every mosquito she could find in the room with one of the flip-flops the hotel provided - not for that purpose, I'm sure. Giggles hates mosquitoes at the best of times, but she was quite concerned about not getting sick with malaria. Though we are taking pills for that purpose as well. Then I made sure the mosquito net was properly draped around her bed before doing my own.) Even here the beds were equipped with heavy wool blankets but, warm-blooded Canadians that we are, we pulled the blankets off and slept comfortably with just a sheet.
(Continue to 28 December: Arba Minch - A good day after all)
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