Febraury 9, 2008 (Journal Entry) Jinka-Arba Minch

Last night at about midnight I woke to what I thought was Dylan's voice outside of our room. The design of the place that we are staying at has rooms that are in a horse shoe shape. So, Dylan and Colton stayed across the parking area from us (the opposite end of the horse shoe). The doors open to the outside with bars on the windows. We had our windows open because it was so hot and by now I have been bit by multiple bugs-so what is another few bites at this point? It was Dylan's voice, he was asking Colton if he remembered what room we were staying in. I woke Lance and he opened our door to find the two boys terrified. I guess Dylan and Colton had been awake all night; fighting over who would get Colton's shoes so that they could come and get us (Dylan didn't need his shoes as he has been sleeping fully dressed since Konzo). I guess they were laying in bed, ready to fall asleep, when they heard some thing crawling along the ceiling and walls? Since the power went out hours ago and they left their flashlight in the jeep they could not see what this mystery critter was. (The power at every town we have been to goes out at between 7-9pm- not street lights-no lights at all). So, there Lance is looking for the "big flashlight" in our suitcase to protect themselves from this "wild animal" that they thought was in their room-usually I would think that the boys were over reacting, but there was a deer under our table @ lunch the other day and this is Africa (I have to keep reminding myself) @ this point anything can happen. Lance didn't find anything; we gave the boys the heavy flashlight and we all went back to bed. Dylan did not sleep the entire night-Colton on the other hand convinced himself that the bar that was at the hotel stored their empty beer bottles on the roof, so he did sleep? It is questionable at this point whether I slept or not; I think I dozed off and on worried about the boys.

We are now eating breakfast outside and I think we have figured out what was crawling on the walls last night. As we sit here, we see large and I mean extremely large, actually the largest rats that I have ever seen run across the power lines to the roof of the hotel. All we can do at this point is laugh; that is minus Dylan- he is irritable and doesn't seem to find humor in the fact that LARGE rats were running around his room (they are the size of a small cat).
We ate bananas and bread for breakfast. Homemade bread is given at most meals -and we ate a whole loaf this morning. -Just as a side note as to how cheap everything is here; dinner last night was only $30 and we each had a beer, we had a bottle of wine, a full 2 course meal, dessert, and after dinner drinks for 5 adults (and 1 of those adults an Ethiopian male-I have never seen anyone eat as much).

Today we left Jinka, headed for Arba Minch. Our guide some how got our vehicle fixed while we were in Jinka; I just hope that it doesn't break down again- only 3 days until I meet Simret. We stopped at Konzo for lunch and met up with our guide that showed us the Konzo village-we got his address so that we can send him stuff from time to time when we return.

our Konzo guide

We did make it to our hotel in Arba Minch. It is breathtaking here. Our hotel is perched on the edge of a cliff that over looks the two lakes and the National Forrest. It is the most amazing view-indescribable really! Earlier there were 2 baboons on our porch eating the bananas that we threw to them.
Now all four of us are sitting on the porch, after the best shower of my life (again) looking out over the cliff, watching the wildlife (mainly birds) and drinking a cold beer before dinner-life couldn't be better. This view is the Africa that I daydreamed about when planning our trip...but even more mystic and beautiful. An inner peace fell over me; as I sit here with my family. This is probably the first time during this whole trip that I have felt grounded.

Our hotel in Arba Minch

yoga on the cliff
Tonight we will go into to town to eat. In the morning we fly from here to Addis. We will then have the opportunity to meet Danielle and Tommie (another family adopting from our agency). It is funny how Danielle and I have only had friendship over phone and email, but I feel like we have been friends a lifetime-it will be interesting to meet her. Jocelyn will arrive a day later-I look forward to meeting her in person as well; she is sort of famous in the ET adoption world. Only 3 days until I meet my daughter-Wow-that feels weird to say "daughter".

Lance after a shower in Arba Minch, Ethiopia

writing in my journal on the cliff over looking the National Forrest
Family photo-preSimret

family photo with our guide, Mesfin. Behind us is the National Forest and the two lakes.

Sunset from the porch of our hotel room, Arba Minch
The funny event of the day: Lance and I went to go get beers and we were almost to our hotel's restaurant and we came upon two men slaughtering a goat or some beast. I guess it was more weird than funny-we were just walking along this beautiful forested path and there they were covered in blood with large knifes.