The South, Addis Ababa to Awassa
The highway to Awassa south of Addis drops in elevation quickly and
the countryside soon changes from the wet and cold to very dry. Looked
a bit desolate compared to the lush growth around the city.
The Rift escarpment runs either side of the road in the distance,
getting very obvious at Lake Langano.
Said lake happens to be a bit of a resort area, and Nick and I took
the chance to go for a swim.
By Awassa the countryside gets much greener.
Eventually the road passes through the junction town of Shashemene,
which our guidebook gives the all Ethiopia 'Fuck You' prize in reference
to a popular local manner of addressing visitors.
We kept on going to the much nicer town of Awassa by the lake
and the Lewi Hotel, which would be the closest thing we would have to a
home during our stay in Ethiopia.
Eventually we would get to know most of the staff and find it a comfortable
place to spend time.
The satellite tv, nice restaurant, and pool table all helped.
But for now it was nice to get the bags off the truck...
...have a wash...
...eat supper, ie some pasta, or in this case injera with kai wat
sauce...
...and spend the remainder of the evening sitting in the hotel room
in Ethiopia watching a South African satellite program in which Russian
chess players played a championship in Dubai, with a British announcer
giving an action-packed step by step commentary.