19 April, Tuesday Gonder
The compound’s security guard wakes us up at 5:30. He is done with his shift, he is going to bed now and he needs his money for watching our car. Willie has been worried about the LandCruiser’s front brakes, because strange noises came from it every now and then. He decides to change the brake pads before we go any further. I hear tools clang and then a sick, thud and people calling out. He tried to jack up this extremely heavy vehicle, it slipped off the jack and toppled over to the left! He could have been seriously injured if he was under the car. It happens another time and a truck driver finally helps him to secure the wheels with rocks so that there is no movement as they jack it up.
The boys join him and all 3 of them are covered with grease by 7am. Marchit continues to call Andreas every 5 minutes and a growing audience gathers around the car. Willie finally finishes the job by 10:30. It was a very wise decision, because there was nothing left of the brake pads – it was metal scraping on metal.
After trying to clean as much as they can, we go for a breakfast of injera with another spicy sauce followed by a clear soup of some kind. We take pictures and head out for Gonder which is about 3 hours away. We check out 3 different places where we can camp and settle on the Fogera hotel. They allow us to pitch camp in their garden and we can use the bathroom in the hotel.
The hotel was built during the Italian occupation of Gonder and has a strong colonial feel to it: beautiful garden where one can sit under the shade of big trees. The first thing we do is to shower, because they have running warm water. It is a wonderful feeling and immediately adds quality to our state of being. We wander around in the garden with our binoculars and bird books; the boys go for a walk to the town and we have a proper plate of delicious food later in the evening.
The Ethiopian people are very friendly, helpful and welcoming. They have a fine bone structure and the women especially are beautiful. There is so much I do not know about the history of the country and I purpose to read more about it before we head to the highlands.
The compound’s security guard wakes us up at 5:30. He is done with his shift, he is going to bed now and he needs his money for watching our car. Willie has been worried about the LandCruiser’s front brakes, because strange noises came from it every now and then. He decides to change the brake pads before we go any further. I hear tools clang and then a sick, thud and people calling out. He tried to jack up this extremely heavy vehicle, it slipped off the jack and toppled over to the left! He could have been seriously injured if he was under the car. It happens another time and a truck driver finally helps him to secure the wheels with rocks so that there is no movement as they jack it up.
The boys join him and all 3 of them are covered with grease by 7am. Marchit continues to call Andreas every 5 minutes and a growing audience gathers around the car. Willie finally finishes the job by 10:30. It was a very wise decision, because there was nothing left of the brake pads – it was metal scraping on metal.
After trying to clean as much as they can, we go for a breakfast of injera with another spicy sauce followed by a clear soup of some kind. We take pictures and head out for Gonder which is about 3 hours away. We check out 3 different places where we can camp and settle on the Fogera hotel. They allow us to pitch camp in their garden and we can use the bathroom in the hotel.
The hotel was built during the Italian occupation of Gonder and has a strong colonial feel to it: beautiful garden where one can sit under the shade of big trees. The first thing we do is to shower, because they have running warm water. It is a wonderful feeling and immediately adds quality to our state of being. We wander around in the garden with our binoculars and bird books; the boys go for a walk to the town and we have a proper plate of delicious food later in the evening.
The Ethiopian people are very friendly, helpful and welcoming. They have a fine bone structure and the women especially are beautiful. There is so much I do not know about the history of the country and I purpose to read more about it before we head to the highlands.
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