East Africa

Excuse me for not updating, this is where I’ve been :

The Simien Mountains.

We made our way to Gonder to plan our 3 day hike in the Simien Mountains. Our way there was an event of its own, and planning it, not so much.

We arrived at the minibus station in Bahir Dar to make our way to Gonder. We were instantly surrounded by minimum 10 young men yelling “where you go? Where you go?” The crowd of them was pretty intimidating. We kept asking them to back off but off course, at the chance of getting commission, why would they. We finally just sat down on the side of the bus station amongst the locals for them to tire out.

Once back at it, Jack and I found our way to a minibus going to Gonder, as we wanted, still with the crowd yelling at us that we were in the wrong one, this one is full, we need to get off right away… All because we managed to get in on our own, pay the 65 birr like everyone else, and no commission for them. And off we went! 4 hours in a minibus (more like 3 row mini van) along with everything you can think of – coca cola bottle, khat leaves (they chew on it for a high), and a man’s bag of something that he refused to move. I spent the trip with my backpack on one knee because the other leg had to be up on the seat in front since there was no space for my leg against the ground. Good times though! Lol.

On arrival, the reason I said planning the hike was easy is in Ethiopia (or any country like this), the locals call each other when there’s white people somewhere for them to sell to. We weren’t even off the bus when our, now friend Guyamo (no clue how to spell it), came onto the bus to chat with us. While he walked us to different hotels (he has commission at) he talked about us joining the group for the hike leaving the next day (that being the 14th). So we book a room for the night, he even takes us to dinner (we paid our own don’t worry) and by sundown we were booked to leave in the morning for an all inclusive 3 days 2 nights hike in the Siemens Mountains.

Everything went incredibly smooth during the hike. For 165$US we slept in the lodges at camp instead of tents, which means Jack and I needed to share a single bed the first night due to lack of space.

The sad part is, it’s so cold at the camps (about 3500m high) and yet we needed to keep the “just friends” act – no body warmth. Both of us in separate sleeping bags, side by side, trying to warm up without the comfort of your partner. It’s incredible how you spend time side by side, and yet miss each other.

There were so many incredible view points that I can’t even explain in words how beautiful it was.

Because of the height, temperatures hut 1-3 degrees celsius at night, so dinner and breakfast were 1quite chilly!

For those who would say they know me well, then you are aware of my love for all primates. Well along the way, I almost became disenchanted – oh, more monkeys. There were baboon families (a good 50 of them) that travelled together a little everywhere in the park. Apparently, according to our guide, there were over 40 000 of these baboons in the mountains. We actually got to sit amongst them for a little while. It was a group that were being followed by americains for research, so they were used to people being close. I sat within 2 feet from these wonderful creature, just doing their old thing. Not in an enclosure of any kind, not trained to entertain crowds. Just eating grass, eating each others flees, play fighting, and every once in a while fighting for their women.

This last video was actually taken at a view point where we went to see the sunset. The view was ridiculous, sunset not so much… The distant fog and clouds covered the sun before it could set behind the mountains. Still, incredible.

Along they way, we passed very few small villages from afar and just before finding camp the second night, we passed through Geesh village, where we were offered a “coffee ceremony”. We sat down about 15 feet from the group of villagers who were just waiting for more tourist to come by to sell their tiny little woven baskets. While we were waiting for our slightly slower hiking companion Bart to meet up with us, the entire group (maybe 3 women and 15 children) got up and came to sit facing Jack and I at about 3 feet distance. This is where all the world vision commercials come to mind with some Sarah McLaughlin in the back ground… All of them silent, starring at us, with an impressive amount of flies on their faces. None in ours. One kid, I swear about 20 flies just walking about in his face, believe it or not – mouth open. It was quite the site. With all this starring, we chose against the coffee ceremony.

A relaxing, beautiful and peaceful experiences.

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Back in Gonder, our friend Guyamo keeps meeting us everywhere we go. I feel like there’s a gps on us that we’re unaware of… On the road back to town from the hike (now 16th), he called us on the cook’s phone to say the hotels were getting packed so he made a reservation for us in a room. This was funny to me. We said we wanted to stay at L Shape hotel because that’s where our new hiking friend Bart, from Poland, was staying but he said they were full so we’re better off with his reservation. Off course they weren’t but it turns out the room he got us was cheaper, better, and smaller which is always nice.

Finally we get to close the door and have some level of intimacy. This next part isn’t for parents or the prude – it has been a challenge, to say the least, to try and find a way to remain partners, lovers, in a place where you have to make a conscience effort to keep a distance. Even behind closed doors, even with the door locked, and the drapes shut, there’s always that voice in the back of your mind – what if someone comes in? What if they can see us? Do they detain us right away? Do they just bring us to the airport to make our way out of the country? Can we even go to the next country on our list if we’ve just been kicked out for the same reasons the next country would kick us out?

I guess we’ll just have to stay as confident as we’ve always been that despite our physical distance, we love and appreciate every minute of this as partners.Read more