After a really very average breakfast I move on. Its only about 250k to Addis but I've been told that it will take me 4-5 hours and it does. I stop to take pictures.
This valley is a big agricultural resource.. normal farming and a number of large green house establishments..
This looks like Wheat..in the background Maize .. wrong on both counts..
The wheat looking product is Teff.. Never heard of it? ..sure..and in the background Sorghum.. well I have heard of that. Teff is a grain that looks like grass and is used fot the staple diet - called Injera .. it's a sourdough type flat bread..
I tasted it with and without the sauce.. didn't like it at all.
Teff is grown everywhere in Ethiopia even at 11000ft above sea level in the Simien mountains.
The Ethiopians and Eritreans love it!
I head straight to the Sudanese embassy for my visa. You can only apply in the morning and then receive it the next afternoon. Tomorrow is a national holiday - Meskel, so I'm stuck in Addis for the weekend. I find a hotel and book in for 5 nights.
Meskel is an orthodox christian festival celebrated very widely in Ethiopia, where they
build a bonfire and burn a cross..with fireworks! Some fun.
It is celebrated because it was the finding of the "true cross" (by the Roman Empress
Helena 4th century) in Ethiopia. Leaves me stone cold.
As the cross burns, should the remains fall towards where you are standing.. you will have
good luck. Well one of the group I was with gave it some help and it fell our way.
I have already had my Good Luck on this journey.
This little show was put on by our hotel.. but there was a city organised cross burning festival with many tens of thousands attending.
The hotel also had a coffee ceremony with a few liqueurs in case you didn't like the coffee. This is the home of coffee.
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