Coffee, devil magic, baboons & small miracles (John)

Monday was a travel day back to Addis (oh by the way, sorry for the infrequent updates. strangely, internet isn't that reliable around here).

First we went to a market to get fresh (green) coffee beans. So we went down a sidestreet to an open air market with people everywhere. We of course stuck out like sore thumbs in the crowd but everyone was at least cordial. The atmosphere is chaotic and to get anywhere you need to push through people down narrow alleyways and to a small open area with the cofffee. Wendy bought some and as the transaction was taking place, there were some people behind us saying "devil magic" over and over. But nothing came of it and we left without incident.

We started north and stopped at Lake Lagano, a popular (?) tourist spot on another rift valley lake. There were very few people there so maybe it wasn't the busy season. We saw lots of cool colorful birds (for which Ethiopia is famous) and the lake was nice. As we left, someone in the back of the van said saw a monkey. So we stopped and it turned out to be a baboon. We got a bunch of photos and another one showed up. I was so pumped because (other than getting our daughter) all I wanted to see were hippos and monkeys. Incredible!

We then stopped for a quick couple of pictures in Blen's grandfather's hometown of Arsi Negale. We drove the rest of the way without getting killed on the road which feels like a small miracle when you get to your destination.