Exhausted on all counts

Today we ate Ethiopian breakfast buffet. Our guide is a character-always encouraging us to try new things- raw meat was today's dish- 3 of us tried it (not me). John is now wondering why he may have GI issues. Our guide asks me nutrition questions often incl American favorite of "how can I lose weight?". At every meal I tend to eat ~ 1/2 my food -portions here are larger than in America! He asks us every 2-3 hrs if we're hungry/ready for a drink. How can we say no? But when he notices I am finished eating he says always, "you not eat enough, need more food! You like it? must eat." I have been trying to teach him "Intuitive Eating" even the 'plate method' . He's not buying it.

Next was all 8 of us sharing small fishing boat to travel Lake Awaasa and view hippos. We lingered ~50 ft from 6 hippos for nearly 20 min. We took 1 or 2 pictures. As is our experience in most places so far, the 'guides' were very friendly and joked with us. We have rarely encountered an unpleasant local. Oh, have I mentioned EVERYONE is beautiful? We sit outside in cafe and marvel at the beautiful people. All dressed stylish, hair gorgeous. we've eaten outside for ~ half of our meals. Weather remains gorgeous.

I will not say much about following hours...we drove back to Blen's 1st orphanage (same as yesterday) b/f they transfered her to the city near the courts. The purpose was for John and I to meet birth mother. I had lists of questions to ask her. Made it through 1 before sobbing, but I somehow found strength to continue talking. John wrote down answers. Two of adopted guys we are traveling we took video and pictures. I hugged her at least four times. Best way to describe experience - I thanked her and she then thanked me. Both for completely different reasons.

On return trip to Awassa we stopped at private coffee plantation. Learned about how they make, harvest and prepare beans. The owner was kind man-our guide had never been there before, just stopped car and asked if group of Americans could view his home & business. At least 15 children came to us from the area. They wanted us to take pictures of them, then view result on our digital screen. Always laughter. We spent ~ 30min total each taking pictures of them. The owner of platation lives in large thatch hut, ceiling at least 20 feet high. It was very nice and pleasant, he invited us all inside for tour. That kind of welcoming into home and time to explain his work, another example of the kindness and grace in this country.

Next drinks at cafe on roof of highest building in city. More Ethiopian Lager - "St. George" continues to be our favorite. Then we traveled for ~ 5 minutes to have supper. It was 8:00pm at this point. we were all exhausted. I was served the largest portion of lasagna I'd ever seen -thankfully our guide sat at opposite end of table and could not observe the portion remaining on my plate.

By the way, John had coffee for first time last Friday. Ethiopian coffee is VERY strong and bit bitter. He has since ordered (and drunk) it twice. We are all so blessed we can experience this culture, meet amazing people, laugh for hours at meals with no rush by waitstaff or somewhere we "need" to be. Tomorrow is first of 2 market days. we all have 'burr' burning a hole in our pockets! $1 is 13 birr. We all are so in love with this country we joke we will 'reverse-barter' at the markets.

Time to return to bed. we awoke to watch Superbowl, but it is not available in hotel lobby. John was certain they would have it because, "they always comment how it is being watch in over 100 countries throughout the world". Now, if it was a soccer championship, not only would it be on, the entire city would be awake and cheering.