Where did 2017 go?? Ethiopia and Holidaze time!

I spent December eating great food in Ethiopia, taking long bus rides, going on a safari, and attending the Kilifi New Years festival in the middle of a bush! Where did 2017 go?? At least one year closer to end of Trump's presidency...

So EAThiopia (get it??). I LOVE Ethiopian food. I've only had it a handful of times in America, but every. time. was. delicious. Plus I heard from my two travel mates they had beautiful women there. Ethiopia has a strong culture and history (first place to have grown coffee beans)- they pride themselves in not having not been colonized (woohoo! good job!). Also, religion has a strong presence here - Orthodox Ethiopian. People come here as pilgrimage and also it's been told the Arc of the Convenant is here. 

I'm very grateful for my last job (though I know all my former coworkers are like really?) but really I am cause even though I did not enjoy the work, I DEFINITELY enjoyed the perks. Since I flew enough to get status this year, I am definitely taking advantage while I can on the status perks. Mainly the international lounges! OHMIGOSH this is the way to travel. Free meals buffet style, free drinks (okurrrrrr). Nice bathrooms (with hotel level showers) and separate rooms for resting. Seriously, if I ever have a long layover and I don't have status, it's almost worth paying for a day pass since you eat relatively good food and did I mention unlimited drinks! And seeing as how expensive regular airport food is anyway..I can bring guests with me to the lounge so travel with me ;)

Hot buffet to the left (was mainly focused on capturing the booze hehe)

Airport Lounge Shower!

Ethiopia Night 1/Day 1:

First things first: Ethiopia is FREEZING!! Being over dramatic, but coming from coastal Kenya where I am perpetually wearing a thin moist layer of sweat, Ethiopia is cold - see my breath cold.

So we get there at night and we found a strange disco lounge place. It was empty with rows of empty seats with a homey looking band playing. As the night wore on, more and more people came and we were digging the music. Unfortunately we had to call an 'early' night cause we had to wake up at like 4am to catch a bus.

Side note: In Ethiopia (and maybe other African countries?), they start counting time from 6:00am. instead of 12:00midnight. So sometimes you have to clarify by saying 'International time' cause if we had to get on a bus at 4am international time, but they could think we're saying really 10 am (since 0 starts at 6am for them...get it?)

Day 1: we get up super early, go to their huge bus station arena, get on a bus and basically sleep all day to get to Gondar - basically a 12 hour ride. While the roads are better than the roads in Kenya, Ethiopia is very hilly so the roads are very windy. One thing nice I notice is that on these bus trips, they give you free water and a snack! That's never happened to me in America.

We get there and we have great food at a restaurant called Four Sisters and eat so much food. Compared to the beans and chipati I've been having in Kenya, Ethiopian food is so much better - so much spice!

Day 2:

Next day we wake up early again to hike the Simien Mountains. We were planning on hiking and spending the night and setting up camp. So when you hike the mountains - you have to hire two people 1. a guide and 2. a scout. Not sure what the differences are between the two but you have to pay them so the park lets you go through the mountains-mainly for safety and for money perhaps? Since we were in a time crunch - we were only in Ethiopia for a short period of time, plus the guys that I was traveling with (2 young college grads) basically travel the way I would if I was a tall caucasian male... fast (see the next thing and move on to see as much as possible) and social (talking to locals and such but I know I know as a girl it's not the same), the pace we took hiking.. most people do in two days. We did it in 3 hours! The guide and scout were not happy about our pace..but they got paid for two days worth of work.

Ignore my money belt..

Popular Ethiopian dish!! the bottom is spongey version of naan and eat it with the things on top like lentils, potatoes. So good!!!! MM miss it.

Day 3: Since we were ahead of schedule and finished all our hiking without having to set up camp and stay overnight (we were all a little relieved since it was so cold), the next day we took yet another bus (and another bus and another bus) to get to Lalibela (where the famous churches are buried underground). Another day spent on the bus. We got there at night and we went to a famous Tej house - their local honey wine or something. Very strong and dangerous cause it tastes sweet so you don't know how drunk you get.

Day 4: Early morning we hit the churches. Entrance fee is 50 USD and you get to see all 12 churches. Since we were walking early in the morning we accidentally walked into one but were escorted out. People still use it for prayer. Since we didn't want to pay that much, some locals 'found' us and decided to take us to see some of the churches without paying the full fifty but tip them.

After, we were done by midmorning (fast pace traveling). Since the guys were flying out a day later, I had to leave them and go back to Addis. Another day in a car! This time, I got lucky and got into a 'private' bus as opposed to the crowded matatus. The two other ladies on the bus were two cousins named Addis and Ethiopia (what a coincidence is that! traveling with two girls named after the country and the capitol!!). Ethiopia (the woman) is from houston and was getting intouch with your roots. They took me under their wing for the day since they knew the language. We ate lamb tibs 0so good!!!

Day 5:

Arrive in Addis late morning. Last full day in Ethiopia! So I walked around and went to the National Museum of Ethiopia - where Lucy the oldest skeleton - or used to be for the longest time. So I met the oldest human! Then walked on the street markets. Ethiopia is known for their white scarves looking thing and metal cross necklaces, and coffee of course. 

Day 6:

Departure. Had almost an 8 hour layover. Thankful for the lounge access (and red wine)!

Back in Kenya..

Got back at night and the next day back on a night bus from Mombasa (coast) to Nairobi - takes about 8-12 hours depending on traffic. A coworker was awesome and invited me to spend the holidays with her family in their upcountry home. It's common for people to leave the city during the holidays. So we went to Oloitokitok which is Masai land and bordering very close to Tanzania - I can see Mount Kilimanjaro from their back yard. I spent a week there relaxing and eating.

We each ate our own whole fish...They don't eat fish eyes!

They roast goat here- it's very popular meal to eat for celebrating.

And my first safari trip -going to Amboseli national park! We went with one of the neighbors trucks where the back was just a tarp over some metal frame bars - so the truck isn't the most secure. Since it was just us, and if you looked at all the safari vans pass by you can tell we weren't with a safari tour company. Like our truck looked pretty 'ghetto' in comparison and i think the park rangers felt bad for us so when we exited the park, they gave us our tickets back to come back the next day!

We spent some time looking for lions and we finally found them! So we see a line of safari vans parked a reasonable distance from the lions and people coming out of the van roof to take pictures. And our ghetto truck, with us in the truck bed with no protection against any animal, drives past this line of safari vans and get closer to the lions. Obviously people were saying to us to not get too close or we'll die. And then we were getting nervous like asking the driver to stop! It was pretty funny now that we made it out alive..

That's Mt Kilimanjaro in the back!

phone quality is bad, we were actually closer to the lions than it looks

After driving back to Nairobi, the next day I took a morning bus (another long bus ride) to go back to Mombasa in order to get to Kilifi for New Years. It was kinda stressful trying to get a bus back since seats were getting sold out and since it's Africa, they don't have the most reliable customer service hotline or online ordering system. After spending awhile on the phone I was able to get a ticket while I was in Oloitokitok. I wanted to get back to Kilifi for New Years in time. Kilifi New Years is a huge festival event in Kenya and I think Africa - at least for Expats. People travel over the country and Africa to attend the festival. The creator of the event was inspired by Burning Man and wanted to bring a version of it here and it as amazing! It was in the middle of the 'bush' (meaning no where) and filled with pretty lights, and art wire sculptures in the shape of animals like elephants and lions and praying mantis (?). It was also the first time I've seen this many expats in one place. So many white people and it made me wonder where they came from. If they also worked in Kenya or somewhere else in Africa and what they were doing.

2017 was full of surprises and adventure and I'm grateful for all that's happened and the people that has supported me on this crazy ride. What an amazing way to start 2018!