Day Three in Ethiopia

 

Today we toured the Blue Nile Gorge, Debre Libanos Monastery and went to a rural farmer's market. Each day is more amazing than the one before it!


I wish I had been braver and taken more pictures of the people. We had been warned by our agency though that many Ethiopians do not like having their pictures taken, and it has lead to problems such as the photographer being arrested, fined or risking having the camera taken away. I most would have loved to have taken pictures of the children. They all rush to the car in droves, waving and smiling, without an adult in sight. There was one little girl who couldn't have been more than six or seven years old with a tiny baby tied to her back. They were both adorable, and I'll bet the picture would have looked like a cover of "Life" magazine. Oh well, hindsight provides 20/20 vision, doesn't it?

There are lots of beggars in Addis, but in the rural areas, the children all beg for pens. Apparently the country is trying to provide an education countrywide, and there is a shortage of pens and pencils in the rural areas. Having their own pen is a status symbol for these children because they are so anxious to learn. I wish so badly I had brought boxes of pens and pencils with me to hand out. We get handfuls of pens practically everyday as advertisements that mean nothing to us, and these children would have been so grateful.

Going to the farmer's market was an experience. We were taken there so we could taste the local "home brew", but I think it was really so the tour guide could laugh at our reaction!  I think he was disappointed in his southern hick customers. We've tasted moonshine before, so it was no shock to us.

The farmer's market was absolutely packed, and we were definitely the center of attention. Each time we would stop to talk to a farmer and to look at his products, we would look up to see that a massive circle of people had formed around us. It wasn't just the children. The adults followed us around and stared at us too. I was nervous at first that we would be pickpocketed, but our tour guide assured that there were tentative but polite hands reaching out to touch us just because they wanted to see how our white skin felt. I was definitely touched more than Ben. I guess my pale, freckled skin, reddish hair and green eyes was more interesting than Ben's darker skin and dark brown hair and eyes.


We also went to a field overlooking the Blue Nile Gorge filled with hundreds and hundreds of monkeys called Geladas. They have long manes like a lion and blood-red chests. We walked around in the middle of their herd, and they weren't disturbed by us at all. Later in the day we saw a large Baboon. We took a picture through our rolled-down window. We didn't want to get out of the car and mess with him!