Ethiopia is not an easy country to travel in and it's not for the faint of heart. It requires an adventurous spirit for there were very long car trips, in fact we spent almost eight hours a day in the first week touring the different tribes in the south with a total for the week of 1500 miles.

Our guide was absolutely wonderful. His name was Gabi always cheerful, always helpful, and friendly to so many people along the way and we were in a very nice Sequoia Toyota Diesel SUV that got us through mud, chuck holes, ruts and floods comfortably. Yes floods. It did rain several days in the south and it was so green and beautiful. It caused flash floods and at one point we were crossing a riverbed. Just as I was about to get out of the vehicle in that wash to take a photo, Gabi looked upriver and quickly said: "the water is coming." I jumped back in the car and not two seconds after we pulled out of the riverbed, a flash flood tore through. It was raging. Frightening to think we could have been taken out but exciting to see Mother Nature that way. We took many photos and stood for a long time gaping with our mouths open at what rushed by us and what could have been. It was a thrilling show.

It is truly remarkable to witness the ancient peoples of the Omo Valley in the south of Ethiopia. The native tribes still maintain their customs, ceremonies and traditional dress. We were privileged to mingle with many of them and take photographs. They have caught on to the price they can get for having their photos taken. We didn't mind paying for its a way for them to earn extra money. We are thrilled with the photos we got and doubly thrilled by the privilege of witnessing a bull jumping ceremony from the Hammer people. To see this, we forged a swift moving muddy river on foot in water up to our thighs. This just added to the adventure. I hope their way of life is preserved.

The history in the north was quite a different experience. The 100-year-old rock hewn churches of Lalibella are remarkable and the priests are colorfully dressed in ancient robes with metal crowns and holy scepters. Some of the arches and ceilings in the churches are beautifully painted. We enjoyed mass on Easter Sunday. The chanting, the holy robes, and umbrellas they hold, and the seekers swathed in white robes are a biblical scene to remember. I would like to return to see Timket in January.

Many of the hotels were very charming lodges—round tukul huts like the Paradise Lodge in Arba Minch with an unbelievable view of Lake Chambo where we saw or nearly swam with the hippos, crocodiles and pelicans. The Tukul Hotel in Lalibela had a nice deck with a view of the mountain and the rooms were very charming round private huts. The next night we moved to the Mountain View Lodge with unbelievable views that were breathtaking. It is an African owned glass and stone hotel with an incredible story about how it got started through a huge donation to an African family by a wealthy American man traveling in the country. We were also grateful for the Sheraton Hotel in Addis Ababa. It was a beautiful oasis and the food fantastic.

Thanks to all of Logan's (Stine) great work for the arrangements and for keeping track of us. Our last in-country flight could have been a disaster but for the agent from Cox & Kings. Our luggage was left in Arba Minch and since our flight left for the US the next morning, we would have had to leave without it. The agent jumped in his car, picked up our luggage and drove it overnight to our hotel and we went home with all our belongings.

I will never forget this trip and we are SOOOO happy we saw Ethiopia before the invasion of the tourist industry, chain hotels and hosts and hosts of traveling caravans of tourists. A truly fascinating country.

Mary