Day 36 17 May 2018
Off again with our trio after the obligatory Ethiopian Handshake-which is a handshake plus right shoulder to right shoulder-men and woman alike. For the first part of the day the photos do the talking as each turn of the unmade road gives a different vista of the mountains. Rather than just mountains they are all kinds of shapes, which I guess is where the brochure description in the header comes from.
Along the way we saw troops of Gelada, which we looked at through better-informed eyes after the documentary of last night. Jeshua also took us to a lookout from where we could see Ibex, which like the Gerada are unique to this area. After a walk along the cliffs edge and more view points we headed back to a village just below the Lodge. On the road Mas shared part of his lunch with us-baked flat bread made from barley, which had a coffee flavour.
At the village Jeshua had arranged for us to join a family in their home for lunch. We were introduced to Masha and his, wife, daughter, new baby and mother.
We were presented with a huge plate of Injera and Shiro ( which is a homogeneous stew whose primary ingredient is powdered chickpeas or broad bean meal. It is often prepared with the addition of minced onions, garlic and, depending upon regional variation, ground ginger or chopped tomatoes and chili-peppers: source Wikipedia) and then watched as several batches were made in front of us .Grandmother roasted the coffee beans and made coffee which was delicious. Mel had a crack at making Injera much to the hilarity of the gathered assembly but received a warm round of applause when finished. During the lunch our host connected his phone by Bluetooth to a speaker and we were treated to Ethiopia greatest hits. The genre that particularly appealed to us was called Mahali.
Anyway lunch over; we headed back to the Lodge.
