unsure where i left off.......... i got tour on lake for 8.00 as i figured. guy wanted 12.00 but i said 8.00 is better than nothing if i book with someone else, knowing this was true, he happily agreed to 8.00. The next day i got up had a fish sandwich, rice n coke for breakfast(it was delicious , laura u surrised at my chioce for a meal after just waking up?) n went to boat. there was 13 tourists, 2 boat operators n 4 life jackets.........surprise surprise? oh well i can do the pencil float so i knew i'd be fine!
on way to boat it was near nicer hotel, my guy said to me, this hotel is very expensive, it costs 13.00/night still not bad by our standards, but since i was paying about 3.00 i said 'yeah that is expensive!' for here it is . 3 girls from boat were mad as they specifically booked a boat to go 5 girls only to monastaries that allowed woman in them and for their own boat , they were promised this. then they showed up to a huge group of people and men included, and i have no doubts everypne else paid 12.00 as most were staying at the expensive hotel, also none of them looked like they could care to bargain! oh well, if the money was going to the poor guys operating boat in hot sun, sure i'd pay 4.00 more, but i know darn well the rich,greedy owner of the pontoon boat(and prob the 13.00/night hotel as that is where it was moored) we went on was getting all the money and these guys got pittance....so darned right i would try to bargain down simply for the principle of it.
was hot day and quite big lake. we went to only3 monasteries, not the 5-6 we were promised, and we landed at dock of men only allowed place(4'th ) when those girls started to complain and i spoke up as well saying not fair to make them sit in the hot sun for 1 hour , and that they were lied to, so boat driver went to other one. bad thing is we got one less church for our trip but they were 3 lil hotties, that cycled 5 days on bikes to raise money for building a hospital in ethiopia so i backed them up louder then they were complaining. and i wasn't the one getting ripped off, but i hate locals lying to tourists just to get their comision for selling boat ticket, and laura, i woulda stuck up for them even if they were not -so much -hotties.
we even went to the mouth of the nile where it begins and goes through many countries over a few thousand km.s where we saw a hippo in water in distance. boat driver wouldn't go closer for pic so we were all mad , but all in all it was good day on the lake. i had only paid 1/2 my price and would pay 1/2 after, in case there was scam involved i said i wouldn't pay other half. and we only saw 3 not 5...but it was 6 hours cruising round lake so hey, i went to find tout to pay my remaining 4.00 as i promised. i respected fact he trusted me to let me pay 1/2. i said i'd pay at the end, he wanted full payment upfront, then we agreed to 1/2 before n 1/2 after so hey, i was happy......as let me tell you. if tour was bad i wouldn't paid another cent, and laura knows darn well i wouldn't.
after i went to nice bar over looking lake for the best beer i ever had, so cold and i was so hot(speaking of that sun is about to go down, what the heck am i doing here , i should be having beer watching it set?) and talked to nice guy about history of ethiopia. after went to hotel relaxed a bit then went out and met 2 nice local guys 25'ish. i asked them was actual price of bus ticket to my next town was as i figured guy at hotel inflated the price he qouted me, and sure enough it was roughly what i thought. then these guys insisted on walking me all the way there to show me bus station so the next day i could find it myself n not have to pay extra to hotel tout. how nice is that. i insisted to buy them coffee n soda(they were muslim so beer was outta the question for them), and we spoke more about ethiopia n politics n history n canda. i enjoyed chatting with them as wasn't about money or them expecting anything from em it was just as freinds. the way it should be.
after that i tried to chat with laura online but got completely aggrevated by the slow dial up connections here and chatting wasn't working so went to hotel, read and had early night.
i have dilemna in deciding my next 8 days as bussing here is soooooo slow b/c of poor road conditions, so i am going to town 4 hours away tomorrow, then if i go to next town it is another full day away from where i fly home so i'd be 3 - 3 1/2 days by bus from capital city which would be total hell bus riding back, yet sounds like an amazing town with tombs, lots of stuff to see. either way the town i go to tomorrow will still leave me with 2 solid days of bussing , maybe 2 1/2, so i gotta keep that in mind.
next town has a huge caslte n other things, then the highlight of entire country lalibella, 11 churches carved out of rock in the ground not built above ground and tunnels connecting them i believe. i've been told horrible road there and maybe take more than 1 full day from my next castle town, so today i decided to stay here, relax, eat more fish(crazy that the fact this is last unpolluted waters for me to eat fish from , would influence my decision eh?) and read to decide my final 8 days left.
i walked lots today, went to seafood rest recommended in my book, that told me i couldn't get fish till after 4:00 to allow for prep time. i frowned like a lil kid, telling them i walked all across town(was only about 8 blocks in reality) and that i heard back in canada from freinds about their rest(that was flat out lie completey), then the guy said he'd go check with owner. well there is a god. he said i'd have to wait a bit but they would make fish for me now. i had fish dadur i think. chunks of fish that asked to be with tomatoes n garlic n oignons and 1/2 the bowl was filled with orangish/reddish oil and maybe hot peppers(most food is spicy here). it was awesome with 2 fresh ,soft, homeamde buns(like baba buns rox!) although my stomach n mouth was on fire 1/2 way through. was 1.07 and so tastey. i may walk back after this, but man was it greasy!
i walked all the way to local market(no tourist stuff at all, unless i wanted to buy a chicken....a goat is what i want actually, please laura can we get one?please!) after this and chatted with many locals, having no interest in buying anything at all. many people excitedly said hello, but when i answered back all they coudl say again was hello..only word they knew lots of men chewing chat, many offering me for free even but i didn't want.
i saw amazing amount of outdated shirts(some new, some used) from N. America. like 2008 phillies world champs n mondetta n fund raising shirts from U.S. and university shirts. guess all the stuff that we think we r too good for, gets sent here. my god did i see a million poor people. poor like u cannot imagine how poor as u read this on your lcd monitor with your 60.00 jeans. POOR. yet very happy n freindly. so many homeless, as matter of fact i can see boy, dirty face lying on piece of cardboard looking thorough doorway at me while i type this. is soo sad. so sad. sorry but u cannot imagine! u will never imagine 1/2 of how bad it is here n the poor homeless children looking after themselves on the streets. how lucky we r to be born were we were! today in market i will never forget the fresh fruit, the flies,the dirty clothed 1/2 naked children, the broken glass everywhere,the used shirts from N Amer, the flies,the smells of spices n coffee brewing, but mostly, the flies. crazy how many, i sat having fruit juice watching out over the market constantly shooing them away, the entire time while all the vendors that could see me would be watching me, as i was watching them. we smiled back n forth and the woman would be embarrassed n look away, only to slowly start looking again 10 seconds lator.
lovlyy people here. so freindly. i cannot believe how many people had shirts n pants all worn so much they had ripped. thread bare is what laura would call it. if they had a better shirt obviously they would be wearing it. soo poor. sorry u cannot imagine, and i cannot help but not forget. the images are burnt into my brain. the guy on cardboard is staring at me everytime i look up, maybe i'll give him a birr when i leave. 1 birr is only 1/13 of dollar or 7 cents'ish yet i've given many people 1 birr and their faces light up as they bow their heads and say something i don't understand. but i understand the look in their eyes n head bow. it is really rewarding to help them out a bit and here, even 1 birr they can get something with or collect a few for a meal. there he is eyeing me up again. if u care to know i'd say he is approx 14 or so, dirty face n clothes, laying on cardboad up against side of building in the sun, covered in a dirty white stained blanket, plain ripped whiet n green shirt. i totally must give him something, i will 5 birr after all this talk of him.
weird but i just really feel sad n emotional almost for everything i saw today when i think of it all at once.i think some of u reading this would flat out cry as i almost 1.2 feel like it. maybe is reaction to antihistamine pills i just took. was .35 or 5 birr for 10 of em, made in india as i've had sniffles for 2 1/2 straight days and is driving me nuts. must be allergies. my god, yesterday i was trying to chat with laura when i had a huge sneeze and i could hear snot hit the floor. i was so embarrased , thankfully only locals in internet cafe and no -one looked up but they had to hear. i woulda been so grossed out if someone else did that while i was there. it is driving me nuts sniffeling every 8 seconds! hope these pills help. was only .35 cents i guess if they don't, but i am annoying myself with all this sniffeling. laura would freak out on me if she was here she would be soo annoyed
nice to see men hold hands while walking as well here and hug each other when freinds meet in public. i am watching it happen outside right now. the fruit juices r really good as well. i will be sad to leave my lil hotel. room is clean acttually i looked at walls, i did find a cockroach on 1 pillow the first night, which i squished dead then flippied over pillow, but none since then . i joke with the owner lady when i pay her and we try to talk with our hands to each other. i say SALAAM, SALAAM, SALAAM,(HELLOE, HELLO, HELLO) TO HER LOUDLY AND SHE SMILES THE WIDEST GRIN THAT IS IN SERIOUS NEED OF A DENTIST, BUT SHE IS SWEET oops caps. plus i feel my stuff is safe there and i see sheets constantly being washed n dried so it is clean run place. oh oh, guy across street just laid down, covvering self with blanket so unless i wake him maybe i won't be able to give a few birr. he'll prob is always there, that is his spot, his home, so i'll have another chance yet. i am sorry to say it again but i am almost ashamed to say how really poor maybe of the people i saw today were. i've been to soo many poor countries, but this is one step further. sorry i will try not to bring up again i just cannot get out of my mind, specially seeing it everytime i look out the doorway 20 feet from me, and such young innocent kid!
i do really like this county. people r so nice and i feel safe although at night i am cautious n stick close to hotel. the streets are so dim as hardly any stereetlights . well tomorro the ride is only 3 hrs, so that is nothing, after that the next town , ride will suck as i am unsure if i can even make it in 1 full day of riding, even if i start at 5:00 AM. travel is hard here.very hard as so many people lie to you about busses. today guy told me 7 hours to cap city, 3 days ago it took almost 12 in same minbus so know he was lying. and i get different stories from different people about which routes bus goes from town to town and times needed, as today i did study my map n trying to decide how far away to go, as everyday away i go, requires another day back to return! well sun is still kinda up so i may go for beer, ramblin here and getting too sappy bout the poverty. hope all is well with all i still got 8 gloriuos days here will make the best of them. then the worst flight itinerary home every! oh well if hot laur can do it, so can i. i just have 1 additional flight then spend a day in the craphole nairobi that i hate n think is dangerous!
tomorro, off to see an old assed castle, i hear it is beautiful! sadly bigger city but oh well...........n no more fresh fish. i'd better goget more tonight n have fish sandwich for breaky again
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