October 2010

After the Gorilla's worked our way towards Nairobi. Spent a few nights at lake Bunyonyi which was a very relaxing stay. Stayed up late every day hanging out with the SAFA brothers Hendrik and Robert. They are joining the overland in Nairobi. We just randomly met them at the lake. Hung out with Michelle who is a Maui born girl. Nice to kick it with a local. Hung out till the early morning hours with SAFA bro's Michelle and Nada. Great times at Lake Bunyonyi. Next stop was at Jinja where we spent 2 nights hanging out. Pat and Yoichi went Bungee jumping. One of these days I'll get the courage to do it. It wasn't here though. Spent AK's birthday at a very cool backpackers in Kenya. I was planning on shaving my head so I told AK to think of a hair cut. I told him anything. So he gave me the Krusty Cut. Lets say that I got some priceless looks from people. Most of the time people thought I was wearing a wig or something. Spent a week in Nairobi. I spent the first part of it trying to organize money into my bank accounts then trying to get my Sudan visa. So through my travels I have had little trouble with being an American citizen. Most of the time its just paying higher fee's or more questions. But for my Sudanese Visa I needed a letter from the US embassy saying I am who my passport says I am. But my first problem was with the US embassy who said that my passport is proof enough(while every other nationality represented on the trip was able to get one from their embassy) the second problem was when the lady at the Sudanese Embassy said it would take a month or longer to process my visa and that I should have gotten it when I was in the US. Oh yeah thats because 8 months ago I knew I was going to be going to Sudan. lol. So as stressful as it was I put it out of my mind. I still had one more chance to get my visa in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia. So everyone else on the truck was able to get their visas here. It cost them less then mine would cost. $100 instead of the $200 I would have to pay. I found it sad that the US Embassy can't concede to the wishes of another embassy. It is just a small effort. Anyways went and saw the Orphan elephant Refuge in Nairobi and helped set up our new truck. Ruby is being decommissioned. Getting a bigger truck. We left Nairobi and Bush camped on our way up to Ethiopia. My birthday was coming up. On the 22nd I was able to get my Sudanese visa with in 8 hours for $200. Which I'm glad I got. Other wise I would have had to fly to Aswan, Egypt and meet with the truck then. I spent the day before my b-day with two guys from Shashamane. They were Rasta's. Though I didn't smoke with them I did Khat which is a leaf plant that I guess gives you a buzz I dont know though since I never felt anything. It was very bitter and not my thing. But the Cinnamon tea that we had with it was amazing. That night had a few 20 cent beers or how ever much they cost. Then went to a club for my b-day. Had drinks and hung out. It was a good time. Left Addis and went to Bahir Dar where we saw some old Monasteries on Lake Tana. Took a trip from Bahir Dar to go and see the Stone churches of Lalibela. These churches are built into the surrounding mountains. It is an UNESCO world heritage site. Got to see the start of the Blue Nile and the Blue Nile Falls at Bahir Dar. Last stop in Ethiopia was in Gondar. Where we got to see part of the Simien Mountains. I'll tell you this, if I am ever in Ethiopia again a trek in the Simien Mountains is onthe top of my list. They are beautiful. The only spoiler of Ethiopia was when we were eating lunch at a restaurant in Gondar.When we got our bill they had added an extra 5 birr to every item. Which is about 30 cents but to every item on our tab was close to $6. Which now seems like very little but when we asked about the up charge the guy had no explanation. Nothing said it on the menu the guy had no reason to add it. There was gratuity on the bottom to. He tried to say that we had an old menu but all the menu's said the same thing. We called this up charge the "white tax" since this tax is only added if you are a tourist. But all together I loved Ethiopia. The people for the most part were very nice. Had a great time at the Dashen Brewery where they had the most state of the art equipment. Everything from the brewing to the bottling. Next stop Sudan.Pictures:

From top to Bottom

Sunset on Lake Bunyonyi.

Me showing off AK's handy work.

Baby Elephants at the orphanage.

Canes and a drum in one of the Manesteries at Lake Tana.

Church at Lalibela.

Blue Nile falls.

Me at Simien Mountains.

Monk outside church.

Me with another of the Lalibela churches.

Dashen Bar outside their brewery.