October 27th The Road to Woldia.

We left Debark and the Simien Mountains today. Sadly we had to say goodbye to our favorite breakfast spot and the very hard working porter and mule drivers who we joined for our morning Ful (ground chickpeas with onions, hot peppers and spices) bread and shai (chai). Getting in the van, not one of us was looking forward to driving back over the road from Debark to Gondor. Imagine taking three and a half hours to drive a distance of 100km, in a van filled with dust bouncing so hard that your neck, back and shoulders lock into place, then realizing you have seven more hours to go. This time thankfully, we cut thru the center of the north on a newly constructed road. This road cuts around a mountain and thru another large canyon that looks as if Bob Ross had painted it. Most of the center section of this road is above 10k feet, which meant that even during the hottest part of the day we wore coats and sweaters when not in the van. We got into this kick of trying to photograph the local houses while speeding down the road. Not that easy when your moving over 120kph. After about an hour of this Dennis quipped that "how crazy would it be if an Ethiopian came to our home and started taking pictures of the houses?" He was right we were doing something totally ridiculous. An hour out of Woldia, our destination for the day, Bidi asked us if we wanted to stay at his grandmother's home instead of a hotel. Ethiopian hospitality. Of course we would Bidi. Dennis had this funny saying he used when telling us about their trek thru Nepal, "do you take the adventure or do you turn back?" So after nearly ten hours on the road, we stopped in Woldia for dinner. Bidi always ate with us but for some reason he bowed out of dinner opting for two macchiatos instead. This did worry me a bit because we had been eating the same foods and if he was getting sick then we surely would get sick. His grandmother's house is just thirty minutes from the restaurant so off we went. Arriving at her home we walk down a very dark path thru the "compound" comprised of five buildings and a small yard. Almost immediately after we arrive Bidi's family started setting the table and pouring the drinks. Not wanting to disrespect their incredible hospitality we forced ourselves to eat a second dinner. Delicious. Tired from a long day of travel our hosts noticed our need for sleep and started preparing our beds. We were shocked when grandma herself began leaving her bed for us. We tried to stop her but our protests fell upon deaf ears. Exhausted and not wanting to be rude we bedded down on the straw floor and in grandmas bed. Unbelievable Ethiopian hospitality again.