November 18 (Day 35)

November 18

I wanted my moms and MIL to see the countryside while in Ethiopia since it is so pretty. We had heard another couple talk about the gorge and decided to go. The five of us went along with Jonathan our guesthouse manager and Solomon our driver.

We stopped to eat sambosas and get bananas before heading out as there wouldn't be anywhere to eat.

Carving in the side of the mountain

  View of the beautiful countryside

The kids were so young who were in charge of herding these animals.

My mom, Mother-in-law, Joanna, Venita, and me

Tons of people/kids trying to sell us stuff

Monkeys!! They were huge.

Monastery we went to

The rules of the monastery :)

The women's side

We went to visit a museum that was right beside the church to learn more about the church and history..my one and only museum visit while in Ethiopia. We had to use the bathroom really really bad and were sent to this place that had holes in the ground...I decided to hold it. We then went on a hike up the mountain to see where they got their holy water

This man was our guide up the mountain ...we tried to figure out why he had a rifle and whip with him...were there dangerous animals up there but never got an answer.

We finished the hike!!

You go inside this cave (warning you have to take your shoes off). The holy water is dripping from the mountain into these containers. Our driver Solomon tried to convince me to drink the holy water..but I decided not to.

After the hike to the holy water we went to a "resort" that had a trail to a portuguese bridge. It had amazing views and clean bathrooms!!

The Portuguese Bridge. You had to pay a small fee to cross over onto the bridge. 

One of our tour guides decided to dive into that waterfall.

Taking a break in this dung hut as it was so incredibly hot.

We finished up the day with a drive up to a spot on Entoto mountain and then ate at Serenade (amazing food but open weird hours)

November 17 (Day 34)

Our day started off pretty easy just hanging out with Sol. My moms (mom and mother in law) needed some birr so we headed to the souvenir shops so that they could exchange money and decided to do some shopping while we were there. There are tons of little shops along two streets (they almost all have the same stuff) but you have to do a lot of haggling...by this point I had gotten pretty good at it since our driver Solomon was such a good teacher. 

(souvenir shops near post office area..my moms trying their hand at haggling)

(Some views of the city while riding in the car)

We then had lunch at Top View...my moms first taste of food in ET

my mom Judy, me, mother in law Amy

me and Joanna

We then drove through the market. Our driver wouldn't let us get out as he said we would get pick pocketed. There are people everywhere!!

Then we went to Tomoca so that we could get some coffee to take home and got some baskets at a shop near by.

We were driving back to our guesthouse and saw this truck going by with loads of bubble wrap. We said how we wished we had some and our driver asked the people in the truck. They pulled over and gave us a huge roll of it so we could pack up our souvenirs. Just an example of how generous the people of Ethiopia are.

Then back to play with Solly!