Arba Minch - Awassa - January 28

Another mosquito massacre this morning in the bathroom.
This time, I won. 6-0.

I could not get out of the that room fast enough. Last night was another sleepless night of heat, buzzing mosquitos, drunk party guests, cats yowling and people walking around, right near my cabin. I was packed and ready to go within minutes.

On the way towards Awassa, we passed through many different communities. We could tell because of the hats. We passed briefly through a Rastafarian community and bought mangos. A man there was wearing a Haile Selassie cap. Another was a Muslim town. The men there wore these very unique striped top hats. We also saw more of the painted houses, but we didn't stop, which was a shame. I think everyone is getting tired and wants to get the heck out of here. Lots of talk of diet cokes (oddly enough, they don't have diet products here in Ethiopia - go figure), how much driving we've been doing and so on.

We stopped in Awassa for lunch. As we drove onto the city, all I could see were hundreds of giant storks everywhere. On the top of phone poles, four to six hunched up in the tops of tress, three to four at a time walking on the side of the street. It was crazy. Like "The Birds" - but BIGGER. It actually creeped me out. They are huge birds. The wing span must be 7 to 8 feet minimum, they are ugly as sin, and there body is the size of a human's torso. They cover this town and the lake that it sits on, the aptly named Lake Awassa.

It is the smallest in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, set in ancient volcanic caldera. It is fresh water, and has a reedy shoreline. Awassa is kind of like a small resort city for wealthier Ethiopians. There are some impressive gates, with some presumably impressive homes behind them. The weather is consistently nice, there are hotels and restaurants, and nightclubs. And these giant-ass storks.

We walked along a little promenade type thing on the lakeshore and these birds were everywhere. So were some others, of course, but these overshadowed them all. Very surreal.

We arrived at our last lodge style hotel and the individual bungalows are giant baskets. I'm enjoying an over abundance of space, with four twin beds to my particular basket.

I opened the wooden shutters to my bungalow and closed the glass partitions, only to hear tapping on the glass. When I turned back to look, there were two horn bills sitting on the sill, looking in at me. Then they started tap, tap, tapping at my window again. I shooed them off, and shut the wood shutters.

We saw the traditional coffee ceremony. Apparently all Ethiopian women are trained in the art of the ceremony - or should be, according to our male guide.

Grass is laid out on the ground or the floor. A small charcoal fire is made, and the coffee beans are roasted over it on a metal plate. Everyone gets a whiff of the roasted beans, which the woman then pounds into grounds using a big stick. Water is then brought to a boil, incense lit, and popcorn passed around (I know, that last bit is really strange, but we've seen it everywhere), the coffee brewed, then poured into small tea cups and passed around on a tray.

This ceremony was a little different due to the presence of vultures and a hyena. Those are not traditionally seen at these events.

It turns out that this place is owned by a man who is part Greek, and his mother was the one who opened it. At night, the family and the workers come near the woods and throw out food for the vultures...who know this and are quick to come flocking. I have to say, I'm a big vulture fan. They are perfectly adapted to do what they do, with heads denuded of feathers so guts don't stick to them, and an immune system that anyone would be damn envious of. They are perfect.

In Iran, there was a place called The Tower of Silence, where Zoroastrians would take the bodies of their dead and leave them on top of a hill, uncovered in a small open air arena. The vultures should come and strip the bodies of any tissue, the Zoroastrians would gather up the bones and throw them into a bit. It was the perfect balance. The dead weren't supposed to contaminate the earth or the air, so what do you do with them? Can't bury them or burn them. Let the vultures do their job.

The hyena needed a bit more temptation, though. The guide here at the lodge took a bucket of (for lack of a better word) chum, and went into the forest and called the hyena, banging on the bucket. As he came up the hill towards us, and the hyena tentatively followed, he threw out some meat and the vultures were on it in seconds, then the hyena was on them, sending them scattering.

It was so incredibly beautiful. The shape of the head, the sloping back, and the markings on the coat were just gorgeous. I know it is wrong to set animals up like this, basically fishing for a look, but I'm so grateful that I got to see this animal up close like this.

I sat quietly on my front steps before dinner. The power was out (thanks, Ethiopia!), so the light was better outside. As I watched, about 30 monkeys made the trek from one tree, running just below my cabin, and up another tree. Monkeys on parade. It made me insanely happy. I love any place that I can sit on my front stoop and watch monkeys. There were baby ones, and ones that paused to play with each other...it was the perfect moment when you forget everything you are worried about, every stress, and are just there, in that moment.

In Ethiopia, watching the monkeys.