serengeti-bound

we flew to northern tanzania today for our safari, which starts tomorrow, followed by our assault on mt. kilimanjaro.  on the plane, it hit me what we'll be attempting on kilimanjaro. the pilot announced the cruising altitude of 18000 ft, well below mt. kilimanjaro's 19340 ft summit. 

at our hotel in arusha, our safari guide, sanga, introduced himself and said it's been one of the rainiest novembers in a long time.  bridges in the parks have been washed out; the wildebeests are having to rent boats. no matter, he said i could drive the 4x4 through the parks, now if i can just get a ranger to let me borrow his gun ... 

we left zanzibar and jambiani beach reluctantly as it was an enchanting place and a(nother) highlight of our trip.  we'd never seen a beach like it.  it was tidal so the shoreline would recede by 2+km every day. the villagers fishing and harvesting seaweed added to its charm. 

we were joined in jambiani by our traveling buddies from ethiopia: paddy, the irishman, and charlie, the english woman. they're a bad influence as they're traveling for at least 9 months and have no defined end date. it was nice to have another couple to hang out with and we'll miss them.

we ended up switching from our original hotel since it's claim of a "partly sea view" was fully exaggerated.  our 2nd place, the coral rock hotel, took good care of us, especially neil, the crazy south african owner. on thanksgiving night, he opened the hotel bar at midnight to get us a few beers for our post-thanksgiving dinner party and, citing some tradition, poured us a round of shots. when we pressed him about thanksgiving traditions in south africa, he lost the plot and said there was no such thing. nonplussed, neil proceeded to pour another round of shots.   

the hotel workers, mostly young south africans, would throw parties almost nightly for major events such as the pool draining or a friday night. the parties were ostensibly for guests but we're pretty sure the employees just wanted an excuse to throw down. as we were leaving one night, we saw neil swinging around a pole while rocking an "iPood" shirt. good times. 

a characteristic of beaches visited by tourists are touts, or "beach boys", that try to sell services like a snorkeling or dolphin trip. in zanzibar,  beach boys took on colorful names like captain fruit, fisherman MB and mosquito, which made them pretty easy to remember (and they asked about our plans 5x a day).  

mosquito, true to his name, constantly badgered us in his friendly way. we tasked him with getting us a fish and setting up a beach bbq. because of the wind, we ended up having it at a local house a few meters off the beach.  the fish, coconut rice and chapatti was fantastic and the setting unique ... mosquito was happy to have the business. at least until we paid, then he said we should leave and hang out at the bar next door. 

when we wanted to go snorkeling, we went with our hotel's recommendation, figuring he'd be a more a reputable operator rather than someone off the street beach. his name? captain chicken. 

captain chicken and matt

thanksgiving in zanzibar

happy turkey day! today finds the fenskis on a spice island relaxing beachside in the charming fishing village of jambiani. this and fresh lobster on tonight's dinner menu softens the blow of spending our first thanksgiving away from our families. tonight we're celebrating with some new friends: an american couple that hails from our neighborhood in DC and an english/irish couple we also travelled with in ethiopia.

a list, in no particular order, of the many, many things we're grateful for today:

* family and friends - on many occasions during our trip, we've reflected on just how lucky we are to have such amazing and constant sources of inspiration, support and laughter. on this trip, friends/family have visited us five (!) times: france, poland, rome (twice) and greece. these visits have enriched this trip immeasurably. in a more prosaic sense, the visits also served as refueling stops that, had they not happened, prevented us from lugging 3 large suitcases around africa :)
* food - in this part of the world, not a given; the U.S. is indeed the land of plenty
* health - a six month vacation does a body good; hopefully enough good to climb kilimanjaro in 2 weeks :)
* jobs - though we sometimes complain of them (who doesn't?), being gainfully employed has enabled us to do this and saves us the stress of having to look for work when we return
* each other - i have the greatest travel and life partner in the world (home is whenever i'm with you, casha)

last days in ethiopia (addis ababa, ethiopia)

signing off from ethiopia, a land that inspired, challenged and embraced us. our final 2 days in addis were spent relaxing, meeting alex, the cousin of my friend, dawit. alex, an interesting guy and successful entrepreneur, took us to the posh addis sheraton to show us the other side of ethiopia. indeed, it had all the comforts of a western luxury hotel and we enjoyed it thoroughly. alex treated us to cocktails and some great live music. ironically, the band was from washington, DC.

as you can tell from the blog, we did a fair bit of writing today as we wanted to capture as much as we could of this fascinating place. we also took the time to get my first haircut in 3+ months, a "barbgain" at $1.25.

we'll miss the friends we've made in ethiopia

the 8th wonder of the world (lailibela, ethiopia)

Our last and favorite stop on the northern Ethiopian historic circuit was Lalibela, Ethiopia's most famous site, should it have one. One historian notes that the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, dating back to the 12th century, would be the 8th wonder of the world if they were better known. The village has been made accessible in the last 30 years.  The churches were indeed awesome! We toured the 11 main ones, all built by King (now Saint) Lalibela in, supposedly, 23 years. I don't quite believe that time-frame as they are truly incredible feats. King Lalibela identified a solid mass of rock (a section of mountain to be more accurate) and carved down into it to extract a beautiful church. This was all done by hand, with the help of the townspeople, angels (according to the Ethiopian Orthodox church), and possibly the Knights Templar (according to some historians). The churches are full of religious symbolism and range in shape, size and design. Two of the churches are monolithic - made out of just one ginormous slab of rock. The coolest part is they're still functional today, and we lucked out in stumbling upon a group of monks praying and chanting at one of the churches.

We also loved a new restaurant in Lalibela - Ben Abeba. It's run by an inspirational Scottish woman, Susan, and tireless Ethiopian man, Habtamu.  Susan built a school in Ethiopia which now has over 400 students enrolled AND has a scholarship fund that puts over a dozen children through school each year. I guess that didn't keep her busy enough so she started a restaurant :) Habtamu also manages a travel company and was Bill Clinton's driver when he visited Ethiopia last year! Needless to say, they were both pretty inspiring and we felt lucky to have lots of time to chat with them both nights we ate at Ben Abeba.

Words can't describe how funky this restaurant is - hopefully the pictures suffice. The food was great (first place we've been to in Ethiopia where the fruits and veggies are washed in boiled water so we can eat them raw!), the 360 degree views were particularly beautiful at sunset, and gin and tonics came with a heavy-handed pour (tonic more expensive than the gin) - Susan would say "one shot" as she proceeded to pour no less than 3 into our glasses! They also had South African wine by the glass -  truly a rarity in Ethiopia and this alone made my day! We reunited with our travelling buddies (we'd gone separate ways the past few days) and spent our last night in Lalibela catching up around a fire pit at Ben Abeba. It's funny how quickly these people, strangers just 10 days ago, now feel like good friends ... another cool aspect of travel, we suppose.

home cookin' (axum, ethiopia)

we arrived in axum on 11.11.11, an auspicious day and even moreso because it was my lovely polska's 31st birthday.   of the towns on the ethiopian northern circuit, axum is the least tourist-friendly, and i struggled to find a place to spoil  cath.  indeed, our $8 per night hotel room wasn't exactly the ritz-carlton.  after much searching, i found a nice hotel with a great view over town.  we enjoyed our first cocktail in ethiopia and found a  decent restaurant on the other edge of town.  though the restaurant lost power for 15 minutes, we savored our south african wine and relished the bottle of ketchup that came with our fries.  being here makes us appreciate the little things and, though lacking in creature comforts, i think cath's 31st will be memorable for taking place in africa and during month 5 of our 7 month vacation. hopefully she agrees ;) 

what axum lacks in 4 star accomodations, it makes up for in mystique, history and culture.  the axumite empire, circa 1st to 7th centuries AD was one of the 4 great global empires along with rome, persia and china.  most ethiopians and some historians believe the ark of the covenant rests here and provided the muscle needed to raise the 100+ ton obelisks or stelae. 

perhaps the main reason we came to axum was to meet shewit's mother and family.  shewit, who i've previously mentioned, is a great friend who attended our wedding after coming to the U.S. from ethiopia in 2005.   on the night of dinner, we were picked up at our hotel by meda, their family friend and our translator, and shewit's beautiful niece.  after a 10 minute walk, we arrived at their 2 room house and tried to introduce ourselves to shewit's mom, a lovely woman with her hair pulled back in a traditional tigranian style.

before we could get a word out, she gave us a wonderful smile and forcefully grabbed me, pulling me towards her and kissing me on the right cheek, then left, then right. left, right,  left, right, left ...  as cath received the same 8 kiss greeting, i subtley wiped the tears from eyes and tried to regain my bearings. we  were invited to sit on the couch and to help ourselves to the array of drinks on the table - beer, water, coke, fanta, tej.  just then, shewit, called to welcome me to his boyhood home and to say how happy he was that we were able to visit.  we were served a delicious traditional ethiopian dinner - injera, chicken, lamb - and traditional coffee (i followed mom's lead and had only 2).  

like all moms, she urged us to keep eating and expressed dismay at our paltry efforts. 

we talked of shewit and how well he was doing in america and how i proud i was of his accomplishments.  mom told me to tell him to come back to axum and build a house.  she would find a good wife for him and cathy and i must return to ethiopia to attend the wedding.   more hugs and kisses as we said goodbye but not before she insisted we return the next day for breakfast. an offer we couldn't refuse and truly one of the highlights of our trip :) 

guns, coffee and kids in the simien mountains (gonder, ethiopia)

Many people who visit Gonder, Ethiopia's 4th largest city, spend a few days trekking in the nearby Simien Mountains, home to Ethiopia's highest peak at 4200m. We didn't have the time to join our traveling buddies on their 4-day trek, so we did a half-day trek instead. As always, arrangements were not without a hitch:  as we ate breakfast at a cafe, with our hotel-confirmed driver waiting across the street, the original guy we booked with (and asked our hotel to confirm) showed up asking if we were going! Some angry sounding Ahmaric words ensued between the two drivers. Apparently our hotel manager wanted a cut so, unbeknownst to us, he called his friend to pick us up 30 mins before the arranged time. Oh well - this is Africa. Our driver and a scout with a machine gun (presumably to save us from wild animals?) accompanied us on a trek through beautiful scenery. We saw a few monkeys and lots of baboons, albeit from quite a distance. After reaching our peak, the scout agreed to let us to pose with his gun, admitting this was not a common request! 

After our trek we had some traditional coffee at the lone house located at the start of our hike. Coffee doesn't get any fresher than starting with raw beans and slowly roasting them in front of you! They then wave the pan with roasted beans under your nose (for luck or health?) before proceeding to pound the beans and slow-boil. 

At the house there was a bunch of kids curiously watching us, some waving, some more hesitant. Our camera broke the ice and the kids climbed over each other to see their picture! They giggled and kept smiling for more photos. They were so adorable, despite the tattered clothing and dirty faces. They kept us company while we had 3 rounds of coffee (well, I had 1,  Matt 2, but the Ethiopians had 3 cups) - shyly sitting close to us, staring quizzically and answering our questions "how old are you?" "what do you study in school", etc. As always, the kids made the experience extra special.   

"Manchester United Football Club!" (Gonder, Ethiopia)

That was the cheer of our 5 person soccer team - consisting of a 4 10-12 year olds and me - as we lined up to play another group of neighborhood kids (also called Manchester United) at the Gonder "stadium", an 80m rocky dirt field. not your ideal field but you'd never tell based on the kids' enthusiasm, which was evident from the destruction of the brand-new soccer ball we'd given them less than 24 hours earlier.

as a foreigner (read: relatively wealthy person) in ethiopia, requests of all kinds are received.  we'd gotten to be friendly with a few kids, bantering in english and amharic about the USA, football, world capitals, etc.  when they asked us for a football, we were a bit skeptical as scams abound (e.g. we buy football, kids return football to store and split profits with store owner).  but we had good vibes from these kids and, worst case, we'd be out $5 - the price of the cheapest soccer ball.

when we gave the ball to stephen, a diminutive fella with big eyes and curly hair, his eyes lit up, he said thank you and exchanged a meaningful hand shake and bow before sprinting home.

a day later, as we walked out of the ethiopian airlines office, stephen and his friends found us (they always seemed to know where we were) to offer their thanks, give us high 5s and insist that i play football with them.  right now.  as we walked to the stadium, other kids joined our crew, but our friends were quite protective, not allowing the other boys to talk to us or have any chocolates cath was handing out.

now on the pitch, a few things became obvious: 1) the kids had stacked our team 2) the kids were all much better than me and played a very physical brand of soccer 3) the combination of high altitude (7200ft) and being out of shape meant i would quickly need a sub 4) my nike running shoes were ill-suited to the surface but a vast improvement over the croc-like plastic sandals worn by the kids.

i felt like a kid as we ran around and i tried not to embarrass myself.  i eventually planted myself on D where less skill and movement was required.  meanwhile, on the sidelines, a few dozen younger neighborhood kids swarmed cath and begged her to take their picture.

after 15 minutes, we called the game on account of me nearly passing out.  our team won 3-0, no thanks to the farangi.  afterwards, we lined up for team photos, styled after their favorite english premier league teams.  since, as i mentioned, the ball was practically falling apart, we told the kids we'd get them a proper ball. as we walked back into town, word had spread of our exploits.  people - young and old - gave us thumbs up and said "good game!"

after we bought them a ball with an arsenal logo (unfortunately, no Man U balls were available), the kids gave us elaborate handshakes, said "we love you" and "we will miss you" and promised to visit DC when they grew up.  all in all, a great experience and well worth the sore hamstrings i've had the past few days. 

I've got to praise you like I should ... (gonder, ethiopia)

Walking home from dinner, our group stumbled into a "bar" in Gonder featuring praise singing.  In the "bar", which resembled someone's basement in size and lighting, traditional drums pounded rhythmically and the singer would come to your section/couch and serenade and, ostensibly, praise you with a powerful, soulful voice in Ahmaric while a man played a violin type instrument (more like a fiddle actually). While singing, the performer would dance with you, which involved shoulder-shaking, neck rolls, and other assorted moves a farangi couldn't perform ... afterwards, you'd put a bill on her forehead as thanks. It was a grand time. Paddy, the irishman in our group, stole the show with his moves. Check out the video - it's pretty dark but you can discern some dancing. Just hearing the music is worth it. 

farangi! farangi! farangi! (bahir dar, ethiopia)

When I close my eyes for a moment, I can still hear the shouts of "farangi! farangi! farangi!"  "Farangi" is the Amharic word for "foreigner" and people on the streets yell this to us constantly. An Ethiopian told us it's a sort-of welcome greeting, which is nice to believe. On the other hand, the greeting is sometimes followed by "give me...[pen, money, food, futbol].

As I learned in Cambodia and Vietnam in 2008, traveling in a third wold country can be an emotional roller coaster and Africa got the best of us after leaving Addis Ababa. On Wednesday, 11/4, we took a 10-hour "luxury" bus (maybe the bus was luxury, but the roads and driver were NOT) to the town of Bahir Dar, about 600 km northwest of Addis Ababa. We hadn't slept the night before (combo of too much coffee and super early wakeup) and the crazy bus driver stories we'd heard lived up to the hype. A few minutes into the trip, a few Ethiopians started throwing up into the plastic bags all passengers were issued, fortunately we escaped a similar fate. 

We arrived tired, hungry, nauseous and I felt my first bit of homesickness. I was suddenly exhausted with Africa: the poverty, little children begging, being seen as a walking ATM, showers that flood the bathroom, toilets that need a water pitcher to flush (though still preferable to the holes), cockroaches wishing us good morning in our "upmarket" hotel, salads I couldn't order. I felt guilty for having these thoughts but longed for a long, hot shower in a super clean bathroom. Knowing that I have a nice life I will soon return to, while this is the reality for so many, is the hardest part about being here. 

We do what we can to give out food, money, etc, but it's never enough. So we try to focus on feeling gratitude for what we have, rather than guilt, and know that our tourist dollars are helping Ethiopia. And we try to not let the hassling get to us because if we do, then we miss on all the good that Ethiopia has to offer. Fortunately it wasn't long before my spirit was restored. All it took was some food, a good night's sleep, and meeting Z and G. 

a bit of rain during non-rainy season

The big attraction in Bahir Dar is the monasteries around Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia and the source of the Nile River. We booked a "tour" (nowhere near as organized or official as it sounds) with a "guide", who ended up abandoning us with a non-English speaking boat driver and two other Ethiopians. This, despite promises of a perfect English-speaking guide and 4 Europeans. We were upset but were left with little choice. Fortunately Z, one of the two passengers, saved the day. He's Ethiopian, living in Dallas for the past 6 years, and served as our unofficial guide - though even he couldn't do anything about the farangi pricing, which is notorious everywhere you go.

 Z and the other Ethiopian got into the monasteries for free, while we paid 100 birr ($6) each. We don't generally mind this - usually it's amusing, at worst frustrating. Like when the monk at the women's monastery (which wasn't part of the original tour, and later we found out may not even be operational, but that's another story) sold the other Ethiopian guy a banana for 1 birr. When we gave her the same for a banana she said "no, 2 birr." Really? We just paid admission and dropped money in the donation boxes. Oh well, maybe we shouldn't have been surprised - she had also insisted to Z that we, as Americans, should stay to dig wells for them.  Despite the rough start we had a great day touring little islands and visiting 5 monasteries. We returned in the late afternoon, nearly capsizing as we "docked", which involved all 4 of us pushing/pulling on nearby boats. 

female monk in bahir dar

Z insisted on buying us sodas, in true Ethiopian hospitality, though we should've bought him a drink for saving the day. The 4 of us went out to a cafe and got delicious avocado juices and bemoaned the fact that we can't get them in the US. The silent 4th ended up speaking decent English for the first time in 7 hours and asked for our email addresses! Matt obliged then asked the guy what his name was. 

locally made natural paint

The other big attraction in Bahir Dar is the Blue Nile Falls, about an hour out of town. Instead of paying farangi prices for a mini-bus (taxi basically), we opted for the more authentic experience of the public bus. Turns out the Ethiopians don't like this idea and as we waited for our traveller friends at the bus station, 10 mini-bus drivers encircled us, staring and insisting we take the mini-bus because it's "safer". Ironic given how they were making us feel. We were also told the public bus was gone, though we were standing right in front of it. 

Matt ended up approaching a younger Ethiopian guy who was getting on the bus with 3 girls - brilliant move. Getasow, G, took us under his wing and helped us out all day. Needless to say, we were the only farangis on the bus of 50+ so it helped to have some locals with us. We even paid the same price as the locals! At the waterfall we fended off hordes of Ethiopians yelling "farangi! farangi! farangi!", clinging to G. I think he caught a lot of slack for befriending the farangis and not letting his fellow countrymen profit from us, but he didn't care. They followed us anyway, though we insisted we didn't want guides on the single, short trail to the waterfall. 

Two persisted. Thomas, a diminutive and feisty 12 year old, clung to Matt, spouting off various facts demonstrating his knowledge of the U.S. Alex hung by me, claiming he didn't what any money, just to practice his English...hmmm. We relented and "hired" them. Matt told Thomas he'd get paid but had to make sure no other Ethiopians bothered us for money. He took this task VERY seriously, yelling at everyone to back off, including Alex, who was okay to stay! It was funny to watch our little 12 year old shoo people away.  His work ethic was never in question. They were both great - helping us over muddy rocks, pointing out good views, taking pictures for us. Thomas REALLY liked taking pics and was constantly asking for the camera and ordering us into position.The camera barely fit into his l title hands as he snapped away, zooming in and out, and rotating it. He took no less than 10 shots of every pose! 

thomas - snapping away!

with alex, the girls (sporting much fancier hiking apparel than me!) and g

look at those faces!

alex pulling us up to a prime photo spot - thomas the photographer does not let this moment pass uncaptured

jumping photos - the universal language. cows remain nonplussed

"farangi, buy scarf, special price"

The return bus ride back was a bit rough...we were pretty hungry and tired and told to just wait till the bus was ready to leave. When is that? When it fills up. One, two, three hours....? Turned out to be 1.5, so I guess it could've been worse.   The driver was quite unhappy G insisted on us getting local prices as the driver was planning to charge us more. 

some well-deserved sugar-cane, thomas' treat. generosity and hospitality is learned from a young age

We also met a great group of travelers in Bahir Dar. It was good to swap stories and hear that many of them, all hard-core travelers who've been to Africa multiple times, also found Ethiopia challenging. It was nice familiarity in the face of so much foreignness. And now we have a little group for a few days: 5 Americans (including us), 1 crazy Dutch guy, a lovely Irish/British couple, and 1 nice French guy. It's a nice change to be travelling with a group and I'm sure we're quite a site: 9 farangis together when we often go a day without seeing a single other farangi!

best juices on earth!

The group of us hired a mini-bus to take us to our next destination on the historic route: Gonder on Monday, 11/07. En route we stopped at the town of Awramba - a breath of fresh air for us! Awramba is a unique community in a country that is pretty male-dominated and very religious. It's comprised of about 500 people seeking to create a sort of utopia based on 5 principles: 
there is one creator (not necessarily Allah or God); 
do good;
men and women are equal (equal rights, ideas, work); 
care for hte elderly and sick; 
hard work and education as way out of poverty (vs. begging and praying). 

founder of awramba community

school's out!

We spent 3 hours in the town and left impressed at how empowered the people are. Instead of waiting for government help, they do what they need themselves - like building a school, library and home for hte elderly.  The most obvious difference to us was the lack of begging - NO ONE asked us for anything! No one! Some people were shy, avoiding us. Others came up and chatted just out of curiosity. A group of kids ran alongside our van as we came up the rocky 2km dirt road. When we left they ran along side our van again, tossing fresh peanuts (still on their plants!) through the open windows for us to eat. We left having purchased some of their handmade scarves and blankets - they run a weaving operation and ask people to make a purchase as a way of contributing. The afternoon was a highlight for all of us, including our mini-bus driver who joined us a bought himself a handmade pink top!

weaving operation in action