Back to “Normal”, with a tinish side adventure
April 20, 2013
Ah the comforts of home and the joys of freedom. Today I
awoke to the continuing drizzle of rain on the metal roof wondering when my
clothes would ever dry at this rate. I spent the day dinking around my home,
mouse proofing the hole in the door (yay for duct tape and cardboard), cleaning
and writing letters. It was thoroughly enjoyable to not leave the house and to
have minimal human interactions. It gave me a chance to get things back in
order and prepare for a new chapter in my Peace Corps experience- attempting to
do some sort of project work. So far the ideas have swirled around my head yet
to formulate into something attainable. And who knows if even when I have a
“plan” if it will actually happen. But I had a chance to do a little brain
storming and research and have settled on starting with the basics- composting
and gardening… well duh that’s what I’m supposed to be doing according to Peace
Corps. Anyway I had fun doing some more research so I can feel like I know what
I’m talking about when doing a demonstration garden. Now that Erik is gone I
guess it’s time to get back to “work”.
Yep on Thursday he left on a bus for Addis and now is in
London eating amazing eggs Benedict. Ahh the wonders of travel and pleasures of western food. I can only drool... For the past
two weeks Erik and I have been having fun exploring Goba and relaxing at home.
It truly is amazing how exhausting just interacting with people and walking
around in the tropical high elevation sun can be. A few hours and I’m whooped!
Erik got to see some of the challenges I face (slow work ethic, language
confusion, people shouting “you you you”), and meet some of the people in my
life (great coworkers, kind neighbors, fun Peace Corps friends). It was really
great showing him around and talking about project ideas, which seem to be
endless.
After we recovered from our previous travels and gazing up at
the mountains we were eager to go explore in them so we headed to Dinsho where
there is the easiest access. We stayed at the old lodge and while we waited for
the manager to get back from lunch so we could get a room we had fun taking
photos of the warthogs and Mountain Nyala living in the surrounding
forests. Amazing how as soon as you
enter the protected national park the animals appear everywhere. Spying on the
warthogs we learned that they make a funny humming bird like whirr sound to
warn others of danger. We also learned that baby warthogs are super cute!
The next day we walked up into the mountains towards some
cliffs and found a mystical stream tumbling down the hill hidden beneath
massive boulders. At the top we climbed through stunted “Lord Of the Rings”
trees and popped out into a different world. Short scraggly dense bushes hid
the grazing Nyala as we wove our way through their pathways. A dark cloud
quickly surrounded the mountain and we hid under a tree as it poured rain for a
few minutes. Moments later the sun came out and it felt like a sauna as steam
rose off the rocks and all the raindrops glistened on the branches. Beautiful!
Hiking in the Bale Mountains is always incredible with the huge diversity of
unique (and often endemic) plants and animals. If only they were easier to
reach from Goba….
This week is Earth Day and Arbor Day so I’m going to teach
something environmental to the high school English classes and maybe start a
garden if all goes well. Happy Earth Day
everyone! Get out and enjoy the beauty in your neck of the world!
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