December 2 Addis Ababa

Early start today. Hired a driver to take us to Wonchi Lake, a lake in the bottom of a volcano. But along the way the driver found out that at Ambo there had been a demonstration by people wishing to separate. According to a couple of taxi drivers, our driver asked, there had been a lot of damage done to property. So we turned around. We stopped for a late breakfast at an old Ethiopian airline plane that had been converted into a restaurant. Very strange looking along the side of the highway.

We had another guy from the hotel with us, and he had a list of other interesting places to go. So we were heading to Tiya graves stones, a site with some 300 graves with head stones that have pictorial carvings. They are about 500 to 700 years old, or so it is believed. Not much is known about the people. The grave stones are 1 of 5 different groups of carvings which include animals, drums, plants. These the archaeologists believe that the spears are for the number of killings, most is 19, the cross maybe ribs the round dots, the breasts, and they are not sure about the banana tree. All very interesting.

Then onto Melka Kunture archaeology museum near Awash River. This is an amazing museum that is near some digs. Lucy was found nearby. Excellent descriptions of the evolution of man, the area, and plants. Disappointing that we not able to see any of the dig sites.

The drive through the country side was great.

 Many of the farmers are harvesting - a grain of some sort. They cut it by hand with a sickle, stack it, then haul it to a central area where they have cows walk on it to knock the grain out! We also saw many donkeys and people hauling the straw.

A long lot of driving today, we were on the road from shortly after 7 am to about 5 pm.


December 1 Addis Ababa Ethiopia

We hired a driver for the day. $25 US each. First stop was Entoto mountain. There is a church at the top, but today is a religious holiday, St Mary day so 1000s of people walking up the mountain to a church service and even more at the top and in the church. Amazing to see all the people dressed up to go to the church service. There is a palace just below the church with a bit of a view over the city. The palace was very basic, but did have 4 entrances for the different people.

Then to the National Museum This is the home of 'Lucy" the oldest homo sapien to walk upright. She is 3.2 million years old! She stood 105cm tall. They also have"Ardi" a 4.4million year old woman. But she walked on all 4s. The museum did a great job of displays for the evolution of man, animals and plants.
The 3 other floors had various displays of clothes, tools, and artifacts.

Lunch was at the Lucy restaurant. The museum had 3 large tortoises and the restaurant had 1 little one.
Then to the market. This is a huge market but we only did part of it. But once again you can get anything and everything! Lots of recycling going on..... there were lots of used car and machine parts as well as the miscellaneous nut and bolt guy! Also a huge metal recycle spot as well as lots of plastic bottles stacked up! You could also get live animals, chickens, goats, sheep and spices. We stopped at one stall that sold green coffee beans and shiro ( i have yet to figure out what spice this is, but tastes great). PS the Ethiopian coffee is excellent, they buy the green beans and roast it on the spot! Usually a fairly dark roast (really a frying of the beans).

Then to the St Michael s church mountain. Here it was a walk of about 1 hour to the top. Addis is about 2400 metres above sea level so the altitude is having an impact on walking. The hike up was not too bad, but did have to hire a guide. Once at the top there is a 1600 year old church that has been carved right in the rock! The entry is through a rock tunnel. Amazing!
Double time walk done and back to hotel for dinner. Fish tonight, excellent!