Day 165
Sleeping location: Semanya Hotel, Sodo, Ethiopia
Distance (km today/total): 73 / 11783
Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 87400
Human intensity: 11
Distance (km today/total): 73 / 11783
Estimated climb (m today/total): 800 / 87400
Human intensity: 11
Day in three words: Pockets of behaviour
Incessant mosquito whines and an inexplicably hot room made for a bad night’s sleep for both of us, so we woke up in a bit of a grump. This wasn’t helped by the breakfast in the hotel being confusing and time consuming, and we didn’t end up leaving until 11am. On the way out we stopped to get some restorative cakes from last night’s bakery, and when Rebecca was inside a huge crowd formed around me. Everyone was very nice though, and a man with some English relayed information to the appreciative crowd. I also got to wear one of their big straw hats for some pictures. A kid was wearing a phenomenal jumper which had a picture of a teddy bear and the following phrases dotted around it:
-Chocolate bear
-So basic gym
-7 days for you
-Soft simple
-Command attention
He certainly commanded my attention.
In Kulita we had turned onto a bigger road and there were way more people, who were also way more forward. Everything felt turned up to 11, but again there was very little aggression and most people were supportive (albeit in a very intense way). It feels like riding close to Rebecca is helping, it’s good to share the attention and she in particular is getting a lot less aggro from people. Whenever I pass someone who seems like they might cause trouble I stop to watch her safely past them; this seems to make the kids more shy, either because they’re scared of me or because they’re embarrassed that I feel like they can’t be trusted. There are weird pockets of different types of behaviour, for example a section with a lot of begging, followed by a section with heavy attention, followed by a section where everyone is really friendly. This area of Ethiopia is more tribal and culturally fragmented, so maybe we are seeing this in action. During one of the friendly sections at school kicking out time I high fived a kid and then faced a gauntlet of about fifty more kids desperate to get one too. Also of note: a donkey walking the road with a double mattress strapped to it, and a live chicken hanging off the whole ensemble by its feet.
Throughout the day we gradually moved from the plain to hills which became ever more rolling, and wheat gave way to trees. Towards the end we climbed for a while up to a pretty landscape of rolling green hills with views down to the valley way below. It was fun riding along the side of these hills into the surprisingly big town of Sodo, which we liked the look of and decided to stay in. We quickly found a pretty nice hotel* and decided to splash out to try and catch up on our mosquito-plagued sleep. The bed was comfy enough to make up for the violent winds that picked up around the time we went to bed. We had dinner at a place which did a superb “special juice” and a good (for Ethiopia) pizza, but the owner ruined it by charging the higher “new prices” that weren’t shown on the menu. Hmm. This sort of thing is so rare here, unlike in Jordan and Egypt, that it really sticks out when it does happen.
*Still less than a tenner
Incessant mosquito whines and an inexplicably hot room made for a bad night’s sleep for both of us, so we woke up in a bit of a grump. This wasn’t helped by the breakfast in the hotel being confusing and time consuming, and we didn’t end up leaving until 11am. On the way out we stopped to get some restorative cakes from last night’s bakery, and when Rebecca was inside a huge crowd formed around me. Everyone was very nice though, and a man with some English relayed information to the appreciative crowd. I also got to wear one of their big straw hats for some pictures. A kid was wearing a phenomenal jumper which had a picture of a teddy bear and the following phrases dotted around it:
-Chocolate bear
-So basic gym
-7 days for you
-Soft simple
-Command attention
He certainly commanded my attention.
In Kulita we had turned onto a bigger road and there were way more people, who were also way more forward. Everything felt turned up to 11, but again there was very little aggression and most people were supportive (albeit in a very intense way). It feels like riding close to Rebecca is helping, it’s good to share the attention and she in particular is getting a lot less aggro from people. Whenever I pass someone who seems like they might cause trouble I stop to watch her safely past them; this seems to make the kids more shy, either because they’re scared of me or because they’re embarrassed that I feel like they can’t be trusted. There are weird pockets of different types of behaviour, for example a section with a lot of begging, followed by a section with heavy attention, followed by a section where everyone is really friendly. This area of Ethiopia is more tribal and culturally fragmented, so maybe we are seeing this in action. During one of the friendly sections at school kicking out time I high fived a kid and then faced a gauntlet of about fifty more kids desperate to get one too. Also of note: a donkey walking the road with a double mattress strapped to it, and a live chicken hanging off the whole ensemble by its feet.
Throughout the day we gradually moved from the plain to hills which became ever more rolling, and wheat gave way to trees. Towards the end we climbed for a while up to a pretty landscape of rolling green hills with views down to the valley way below. It was fun riding along the side of these hills into the surprisingly big town of Sodo, which we liked the look of and decided to stay in. We quickly found a pretty nice hotel* and decided to splash out to try and catch up on our mosquito-plagued sleep. The bed was comfy enough to make up for the violent winds that picked up around the time we went to bed. We had dinner at a place which did a superb “special juice” and a good (for Ethiopia) pizza, but the owner ruined it by charging the higher “new prices” that weren’t shown on the menu. Hmm. This sort of thing is so rare here, unlike in Jordan and Egypt, that it really sticks out when it does happen.
*Still less than a tenner
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