Everybody Must Get Stoned

Rest Day-Bahir Dar, Ethiopia- A funky little town on Lake Tanna, the source of the Blue Nile. Palm trees and triple layered juices fill my belly with goodness and my body with the break that my body so desperately needs. The juices have truly changed my life and I will dream of these forever after leaving this country. They consist of Avocado juice, Mango Juice, Papaya Juice and Pineapple Juice Layered in a pint glass. This would cost you at least $20 to make on your own and they sell them for under a dollar. I have had three today, making my daily fruit intake probably in the neighborhood of 30 servings. I haven’t caught the “Ethiopian Flu” yet (Terrible diarrhea which everyone apparently comes down with here) but the juices might help guide me in that direction. Several riders have spent the last two days from Gondor on the bus with flu like symptoms and terrible GI issues. I must have taken my unluckiness in flat tires as I have not been sick yet…. Knock on wood. We have had a delightful two days of riding 117km followed by 61km today, our shortest day yet! We arrived in Bahir Dar at 10am so we almost have two days off! We are getting a lot of rest because we have a long 5 day stretch ahead of us including the famous Blue Nile Gorge, which for the racers will be a time trial, 20km down, 20km up… 10% grades…. We will arrive in Addis Ababa the third highest capital in the world on February 22 and then will be taking a one day shorter route to Northern Kenya due to our truck breaking down North of Gondor. They are having to get a new engine sent from Nairobi so plans have had to change a bit. Instead of riding through Arba Minch, we will ride through Yebello.

Ethiopia has taught us how to be quick witted while riding uphill in the altitude. At any moment in time, no matter where you are you can be ambused by several children. They begin by screaming “YOU YOU YOU YOU” Evidently the only English word they know. Sometimes it is followed by “MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY”… Then other times it is followed by “Where are you go” which we have learned means “Where are you from”… This is often followed by the children moving into the street, making it difficult to predict if you are going to be able to avoid them at the speeds we are biking. The children will have huge smiles on their faces, seeming excited to see you and just as you pass, you get the final treat…Large stones lobbed at you, your bike or anything they can hit. It is a lesson in patience, a lesson in understanding and an extremely frustrating stressful thing to add to the fact you are biking long distances in the heat uphill. I have been hit several times. They are extremely accurate. Being in Gondor the other day actually helped me to understand this phenomenon a little better, they do not reserve throwing rocks for foreigners alone. In fact… Everyone throws rocks at each other. I saw two men get into an argument at a store and as the other man walked away the first man picked up a stone and threw it at the back of the first man’s head knocking him out. I saw a small boy (under 10 years old) get into an argument with his mom and as he walked away he picked up a rock and threw it at her face. It is a learned behavior. In fact the times that adults see the children throw rocks at us as we ride by, they often pick up a rock and throw it at the kids, to “teach them a lesson?”. Pretty scary. The people are great when you are not riding by. We had several hundred “mountain people” surround our camp last night watching very intensely our every move… ready at any chance we were not looking to zip in and steal whatever is lying around. Theft is actually a big problem here and we lock up our bikes at night and put everything into our tents. Something we have not had to worry about in the past. So far I think riders have been pretty lucky. Not losing too many things. We have to continue to be on guard to protect our things though.