Bio-briquettes finished product.Drying as it hails outside. 

Mud home tucked into a highland valley

Bale highlands, hiking into the park

Hobbit like hidden waterfall valley

Ethiopian Wolf hunting Giant Mole Rats

Locals headed out to their distant home 

Another happy wet local

Nature nerd fun

Saturday May 4th, 2013

Wow what a week. The roller coaster continues this time I’m at a peak. Monday started off with a big tree planting organized by the Agriculture office in a rural area to try to protect a big hillside from eroding. It was neat to see some women from the office trekking up the hill in their skirts and little plastic shoes to plant the trees. When we first arrived the men of the surrounding community were chanting a song to help them dig the holes for the trees. Planting went quick and I hope some of the 4,000 seedlings we planted survive. Afterwards we were invited into the community leaders home to eat cultural food- gunfo (a sticky paste made of ground flour with melted local butter-kinda gross), chicko (a different paste made of barley-kinda tasty), and irgo (chunky sour milk- very gross). But it was a lot of fun and I made a complete mess of myself trying to juggle all the food that was handed to me.

Wednesday I hoped on a minibus to Dinsho a town about 45 minutes away to help Matt, another PCV, experiment with making fuel briquettes out of local materials. The aim is to make a briquette that uses all local, free materials that can be easily made and work as a substitute to charcoal or wood taken from the few remaining forests. We made different batches using leaves from the Koso and Eucalyptus tree, wood chips, and paper. The trick is making them compact enough to hold together while allowing enough air to keep them burning. We used a press that had been made following a model used in other developing countries that makes hockey puck sized donuts. It will take a few weeks to dry then will be the fun part of burning them. While making the briquettes a huge hailstorm poured down making the water in the mixture freezing cold. Our hands were numb by lunch and we sloppily tried to eat our lunch of byaynat- injera with a mix of different wats (lentil, potato, beet sauces). Oh the challenges of eating with your hands!

Friday I again hoped a minibus to Dinsho, 10 birr and a pretty ride, this time to go hiking up into the national park. Following a dirt track that went up the valley past several cow dung mud hut homes and chunkily plowed fields we slowly ascended into another world. Spikey “Fire Poker’s” were just starting to send up their long red flower and the landscape turned into an open valley surrounded by big rocky cliffs. A dark cloud hovered above sprinkling rain which added to the mystery. (Yay for being raised in the NW and having rain gear!).  After about 10km we entered a huge open field that was pockmarked with mole holes- homes of the endemic Giant Mole Rat (about the size of a large fuzzy guinea pig).  At the edge of the field Matt spotted our objective- the endemic Ethiopian Wolf- the most endangered canine in the world, an estimated 400 are left. Although technically a wolf they look more like a fox with long legs and reddish fur. Very beautiful. They primarily hunt the giant mole rat and perched from a rock overlooking the valley we watched a wolf stalk then pounce on several plump rats. So fun!

Sadly a storm came in with bone chilling wind so we had to hit the trail back to Dinsho. Hiking in the park was a beautiful inspiring day of seeing all sorts of exotic plants and birds. It made me excited to come back and explore more. It also made me realize I need to hike more- I was plum tuckered after hiking at least 20km in one day. After the minibus ride back to Goba I hobbled to my home and immediately went to sleep. Dreaming of course of Giant mole rats and Ethiopian wolves.

PS- I was also thinking of my family especially Mom and Rachael, and my dear friend Heather on their birthdays! Hugs to all!

Small steps

Tuesday April 23, 2013

Yay for small successes! Today was the 2^nd week of the High School English club with two classes of about 25 students each. In honor of Earth Day I gave it an environment theme. (Emily was gone so I did it all solo-eeek). Thank goodness we decided to limit the number of students. I don’t know how the teachers here do it with class sizes of roughly 50 students. On a side note I also learned that the classes are only 40 minutes so I can only imagine how hard it is to teach and learn like that. Although I guess it has been a while since I was in high school so I forget how long my classes were….

Anyway I asked the students three questions; 1) What is your favorite thing about the environment, 2) What is important to you about the environment and 3) What idea’s do you have for protecting the environment. I then gave them time to write and decorate their paper with markers and colored pencils. Next came the scary part- they had to present to the class and read aloud in English what they had written. For many this was the first time they have ever had to speak in front of their peers in English (or Amharic for all I know). I felt kind of bad because some were really scared but they all did it and did it very well.

I was very impressed by their knowledge about the environment and the problems they face in their community. Trees and deforestation were the big topic and I was happy to hear many of them talk about the value of planting a diversity of trees. “If you cut a tree down you must plant two in its place” was the motto. This makes me excited to help start a tree nursery and tree planting projects with the students. Another reoccurring topic was how important nature is for their peace of mind. As one girl said “if you are angry you can go into the forest and then you wont be so angry”.  This also makes me want to help establish more parks within Goba and to lead some nature hikes. In fact yesterday I discovered a sort of park where there is a building for preparing food and buna ceremonies that overlooks the river. I intend to find out who owns this and help increase its use and to make it even more beautiful. Fun!

So in a way teaching this class was a selfish success because I was able to learn some of the local views and knowledge on the surrounding environment. Good inspiration which is helpful because working with the Agriculture office is quite the opposite. I had buna with my friend Mihret this weekend and got some confirmation on my suspicions about government work from her husband. He was the head of the land and water department for five years but left because he was discouraged with the lack of motivation and the constant waste of time in political meetings. At work I have noticed that people are either always in meetings or “out in the field”, which mostly means BSing with farmers. Sigh. So much potential, but so many obstacles. As I’ve been told it’s all about finding the right motivated people. Which I think I am starting to meet so I have hope that things will unfold.

Well at least I can work with the students on some level…

Cheerily signing out from a dark rainy Goba (power is out again). Chao!

Side trip enchantment

Buzu (many in Amharic) baboons along the river

Erik walking among the giants

Enchanted forest

On top of the cliffs, inside a new level of the enchanted forest

Enchanted animals (aka warthogs and Mountain Nyala)

Back to the "Grind"

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! 

A sample of the travel photos

Fasilidas Bath (currently a little dry), Gondar

Painted Ceiling- Diebre Salassie Church, Gondar

Erik on top of the Simien Mountains

Castles of Gondar

Mighty Gelada baboon

Rural kids selling trinkets, Simien Mountains

Lovely Lobelia

Terrific touristy travels

Phew, wow, yay, awe! I’ve just had two incredibly wonderful weeks travelling around the main tourist spots with my love Erik. After spending two weeks in Addis in training I was more than ready to get out of the big city. We hopped a short Ethiopian Airlines flight up to the old city of Gondar known for its ancient castles. It was a lovely city and we wondered around imagining the time when it was full of royalty and nobles. Fasilada’s pool was a beautiful castle area with a deep reflecting pool, currently dry but I could imagine how beautiful it could be during the Timket holiday celebrations. We sat for a long time there in the shade of the huge ficus like trees watching cool exotic birds. Another great place in Gondar was the Diebre Selassie church on a hill that had beautiful wall and ceiling paintings of angels and saints.

Next we headed to the Simien Mountains where we met a nice young German couple Lassa and Leonora, who were medical students on a short break. We combined funds and headed into the mountains with our gunned scout Bazih. It was expensive with the silly park fees, scout, mule, mule driver, lodging and transport but worked out to be about 3,000 birr for the both of us, way better than the 200$ per person scam posed to us in Gondar. Hiking in the Simien Mountains was awesome- gnarly crazy steep drop offs, open high plateaus with grass and Dr. Seuss like lobelia. The first day we drove up to Sankobar then hurriedly hiked up to the remote village of Geech Staying in a little “lodge” felt like being in the Himalaya minus the snowcapped peaks. Erik had fun sharing his harmonica with the village boys and quickly got swarmed by their enthusiasm. Hiking up just past a Grand Canyon esk waterfall canyon we bought some great tribal worn hats with funny antenna tops. At night it was cold and clear as we devoured our peanut ginger veggie pasta.

The next day after some route clarification we decided to stay another night at Geech and do a day hike out to the belly dropping Emet Gogo cliffs. It felt like Kauai with crazy steep cliffs dripping in green. Often we saw the massive 9ft wing span bone breaking Lammergeier bird soaring overhead and we fed our leftover lunch bits to the big bold thick billed ravens. Occasionally we heard the bickering’s of Gelada baboons and in Chenneck watched the hairy red chested animals eat, play and be social. So cool! The hiking was tiring at 3,000 meters and the sun was intense but the scenery was breathtaking it keep us all trekking along. I would love to go back after the rains when it is all green. We even saw Ras Dashen (the highest peak in Ethiopia) with some snow on it.

The ride out was a confusing frenzy of convincing Bazih we wanted to take the “illegal” local transit rather than contracting a ridiculous 2,000 birr minivan. Squished in among many rural local people we drove out passing many treacherous drop offs and cliffs. Along the hike our kind German friends were treating people by applying antibiotics to a nasty leg wound on our mule driver, and saline solution to the infected eye of a boy- both preventing serious ailments with simple medicine. Mind boggling to think what a few simple medicines can do for so many people.

Back in Gondar we bought plane tickets and hopped on a plane to Lalibela the next day. Lalibela is the “must visit” destination for Ethiopian travelers- ancient stone churches carved out of rock. It was a lovely little town perched on a steep hill surrounded by more big cliffy mountains in the distance. After getting feisty bartering for a taxi ride (and hanging out with rural village kids while we waited), we drank juices at a peaceful green garden café. At the airport we met a fun New Zealander guy so our group grew, still hanging out with the Germans. The next day we forked over a ridiculous 50$ each to enter the stone churches and spent a long beautiful day exploring the ancients (along with our dud of a guide). The churches were beautiful, spiritual and awe inspiring- all hand carved out of red rock. I loved how it is still totally vibrant and active with lots of priests, nuns and elderly locals praying, singing, circumnambulating around the churches. It had a peaceful ancient feel. It was interesting that they are still a mystery of exactly when and how they were built. Local legend say’s by one person assisted by angels….

Erik and I had fun spending the next two days exploring the outer walls and passageways convinced there were additional hidden caverns and rooms. Next to the churches were old and still used tukuls- circular stone and mud houses. Another ancient feel as people were still living in them. Lalibela was a great town but sadly the kids have become pests in their smart English skills, eventually asking for money, books and clothes. Hard to know if it was a genuine need or not.

Back in Addis, after a nice short plane ride, we did a little shopping and ate dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant. The next day we took a bus down to my favorite city Hawasa and splurged on a nice hotel along the lake. For a full day we had a lot of fun taking photos of birds – there are so many funky beautiful birds along the lake shore- and eating good food. That night we took a boat ride out to see the hippos and watched them bob in the water as the sun set in the distance. Ah tropical paradise. Finally we took one more bus back up into the Bale mountains to my home in Goba. It is nice being home showing Erik around (and showing him off to the Ethiopian men that I am not available). The rains have returned which means great storms in the afternoon and lovely sunshine in the morning. Beautiful and green. Ah I love my home.