Blue Nile Falls - check.
After meeting in various places, a group of nine has formed, moving from place to place in a swarm of white faces. This has proven helpful for getting discounts on hotels and renting entire minibuses to ourselves.
It also creates something of a spectacle everywhere we go, which backfires sometimes.
Case in point - this morning.
In years past, the Blue Nile Falls was this incredible wall of water, one of the most impressive waterfalls in Africa. Today, the falls are still impressive but tamed somewhat by the construction of a new dam to feed electricity to Ethiopia and Sudan.
Our swarm of white faces arrived at the bus station looking for transportation to the falls. The bus station is just a parking lot full of buses with the names of the buses written in Amharic script.
Touts love the confusion and we were mobbed. After telling them we didn't believe their story that we missed the bus and wouldn't find another one and that the only way was by their personal car for a small fortune, we climbed onto the bus.
The bus windows were covered by thick, dusty curtains. It was dark and stuffy. We found seats and waited.
In Ethiopia, as a "ferengi", it's important to know that 90 percent of the time you are paying a different price than the locals. You can try to fight it or you can accept it. And there are times for both.
Someone in our group decided to fight to price of the bus ticket. (Locals were paying about 70 cents. We were charged twice that.)
He argued and refused to pay and soon there was yelling and fist shaking and then someone came on board with a stick. And then all the foreigners were kicked off the bus.
Imagine the screaming match that continued outside the bus and the growing amused crowd. There was no winning this one.
I saw an old woman sitting on a log at the edge of the lot. I walked over to her, put my hand on my heart and gave her a quick head nod. She patted the log beside her and I sat down. She had a shaved head and a small blue cross tattooed on her forehead between her eyes.
We watched.
Once both sides had calmed down, our swarm walked out of the bus park to a nearby cafe. There were five of us that morning and I just learned the word for "five." I was able to order for us in Amharic. Not sure why something so simple makes me so happy, but it does.
The more words I use each day, the more I learn.
We did finally end up at the falls.
The guy at the ticket office said we had two choices - take a right and take a boat across the river to the falls or take a left and walk about 25 minutes (when an Ethiopian tells you walking time - triple it).
He said, "Take your first gra," laughing because I know the word for "left."
We took a gra.
One of the guys - an Irishman - seemed to collect children as he walked. He was surrounded on all sides with barely enough room to put one foot in front of the other.
On the walk, we saw:
* Huge old fig trees, kumquat, lots and lots of coffee trees and bushes of chat - some (mostly the very poor) eat the leaves as a stimulant and appetite suppressant.
* One guy bought a Pepsi from a woman on the side of the trail. He drank half and handed the other half to a child. Her mother grabbed it out of her hand and poured it into a new bottle and capped it.
* Children were selling little lunch boxes made of goat skin, selling white hand-woven scarves and small silver crosses.
* Saw one woman spooling newly spun wool onto a skein made of sticks.
* And, of course, the Blue Nile Falls!! It was hot and I was covered in sweat. I walked over the muddy rocks as close as I could handle to the base of the falls. There are no fences or guard rails or signs separating you from the crashing Nile. I was soaked in seconds from the spray. Probably a dozen or so Ethiopians were doing the same - the men stripped to their underwear, the women - like me - taking a shower fully clothed. And everyone was laughing. It felt great.
Came home dirty and exhausted, always a sign of a good day.
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