Road to Awasa

According to the iPad GPS, we travelled 168 miles in 7 hours, including a stop for lunch, a visit to an orphanage, and an encounter with some camel drivers.

We left Addis this morning with our driver Ephraim. He is an awesome driver. You have to be around here. Here are our wheels. Let me tell you that Ephraim is one with this van, and knows exactly how long the front end is, and exactly what turning radius it has, and makes use of both frequently.

So I'll post a few pictures of the typical sights along the highway...

The normal construction technique around here. Huge scaffolding of poles, supporting concrete forms. Also, miles and miles of corrugated steel. Not sure where they get it all, but it is everywhere.





Bags and bags of charcoal. It appears that the vast majority of heating and cooking is done with charcoal. The air quality attests to this as well.





Speaking of air quality, this kind of thing doesn't help. Our driver said it was some kind of concrete plant. Also note the donkeys. I think we probably saw several hundred along the roadside.





A traditional toukul of a farmer. Lots and lots of these once we got out of the city.





Cows. Lots and lots of cows. Frequently on the side of the road, frequently in the middle. Knowing the exact length of the nose of your van comes in very handy here.





Many roadside stands selling vegetables.





People. I've never seen so many people in my life. There are just people everywhere. It's mind blowing. The same in Addis. The streets are constantly filled with people. I mean... filled. Again, intimate knowledge of your vehicle, and liberal use of the horn, are key to navigation of the streets.





Ok, so the camel story. At one point in the drive, Paige dozed off for a second. During which, I spotted some camels. I pointed this out when she woke up, and she instructed me that next time I better tell her, because she wanted to see them. A few miles down the road, I holler out "CAMELS!" Ephraim nails the brakes and pulls the van off the road. We are all checking out the camels out the left side of the car, taking pictures. All of a sudden some dude sneaks up to my open window (behind me) and starts yelling in the car (not in English.) I've got no clue where this guy came from. He and Ephraim are talking loudly, with me in the middle, this guy practically inside my window. Another guy on a bike rides up, stops in front of the van, and joins in the conversation. Some kid wanders up looking like he just walked out of the bush and starts practicing his English. Pretty soon it is determined that the first guy owns the camels, and we need to pay 10 birr for the pictures. So I pay the man, who then insists I must get out of the car and take many, many pictures of his camels.
















A little ways down the road we saw the rest of his camels. We didn't even slow down for these though, figuring we would draw a crowd of hundreds from who knows where insisting we take many pictures of their camels.





Saw way too many kids without pants wandering along the side of the road.






And too many people washing in dirty, dirty water.





And lots of people riding lots of miles in lots of donkey carts, just to haul a few gallons of water from the tap in town back to their home.