hello Ethiopia…

23rd September 2018

As I’m am sitting here in the north of Ethiopia, enjoying the rising sun over the Ghiralta mountains, with the sounds of  Sunday prayers and plenty of bird song in the background, I know that I will be back in Ethiopia before long. Have just been here for 5 days and I have enjoyed (almost) every minute! 

But let me start from the beginning… 

19th September 2018

Landed in Addis Ababa early morning – immigration and visa sorted in a less chaotic manner than many African countries so had plenty of time to get to the domestic terminal (yes, two terminals!!) before the flight north to Lalibela.

Wait?! You might be thinking; what happened to Tanzania? Well, just taking a little holiday de-tour before TZ, will get there in the 3rd Oct. So my friend, Jamie, and I are enjoying a two week tour around parts of Ethiopia

Aaanyway, we successfully managed to get on the small plane after a snooze on the airport floor – and a quick 40 mins later we landed in Lalibela.

First impressions:

• Amazing landscapes
• Friendly and very beautiful/handsome people
• Hair! Both the women and men have some wonderful hair styles. Won’t be a paparazzi and take photos of random people’s hair, so you’ll just have to take my word for it – or use google!
• Too much begging from the children – will reflect more on that later
• Spicy food – am not being super brave with the local food in fear of the heat, but Jamie is loving it!
• Decent beer, research in progress

And then to something a little weird… here it is not 2018! 😳

Jamie and I had a little giggle at a sign at the airport saying happy new year 2011 but the guide in Lalibela then explained more!

Here they are not on the Gregorian calendar but instead the Julian calendar – didn’t even know that was a thing!

So when we landed it was the 29th September 2011 (as opposed to 19th Sep 2018) – and they had just been celebrating New Years the previous week – blew my mind a bit. But at least I can feel 7 years younger for a few weeks – RESULT!