We were told we were just going to "walk around a lake", but our day turned out to be far greater than we could have imagined.
First off we drove 4 hours out of the city. After living on the outskirts of a smoggy, bustling city, it was nice to have a change of scenery and some fresh air. We drove through beautiful country side, past small huts, abandoned green houses, slowed for local traffic (donkeys, goats, horses) and through small towns. We stopped at a resort for breakfast, where we were terrorized by toast stealing monkeys but enjoyed powering up with some eggs and macchiatos.
Finally after some more driving (which included having to be dug out of the mud) we made it to the lake. The first site of it took our breath away. Nestled in the middle of some lush mountains was this bright lake. Because our driver said he thought we didn't have enough time, and we were so excited to have arrived, we pretty much ran down the mountain. Along the way we passed huts, and local villages. Donkeys and babies. We stopped every so often to take a photo and then continued on our way.
Finally at the bottom of the mountain we ran to the greenish blue water. Touching our toes in the cold water, we thought: "This is it! We did it! We made it to the lake!".
Little did we know, the adventure had just begun. We were quickly told we could take a boat.
So we took a boat...
...across the lake to a "400 year old monastery". After some time walking around, my friends and I ended up on bench where we shared a moment of prayer together. It was simple, but beautiful moment shared with new friends in an incredible place.
We took the boat back to the other side, and started walking again. What was incredible was that around every turn, the scenery changed. Wooded passage ways led to bamboo groves. Rocky paths turned to green pastures. Green pastures led along side cliffed mountains that opened to Narnia like valleys. Lush hills with goats and horses crazing on them. A 90 year old Orthodox monk (who knew that was a thing?), dressed in tradition clothes and crosses stood and shook our hands.
We passed a water mill.
And a small water fall.
Walked along a small stream and ended up in swampy fields of mud.
Mud on mud on mud.
But it's okay, because we washed off in the hot spring.
And finally, I knew that I was not going to be able to make it back up the mountain. I'm going to use the altitude as an excuse (but really, yo' girl is just not in shape).
So I hired a horse.
A scrawny little grey horse.
Although they made me still walk some of the steep parts, (and I bitterly started to think I was just paying for their walk home), I rode most of the way up the mountain. And it was so much fun and I was so grateful not to have to walk the whole way. It had been a very long time since I've ridden a horse, so it made me feel young again (am I old enough to say that yet?).
What made our day so amazing was that it just continued to exceed our expectations. Our walk turned into a boat ride, into a movie set scenery, into a horse ride.
Also, I will say the company was great and everyone had good attitudes the entire way. That doesn't always happen, so I was so thankful for everyone that came along with us.
The damp journey home was long, but Abby, Tess and I sat in the back of the van and just made each other laugh the entire way home. ... well until we hit stand still traffic back in Addis and it took us 2 hours to make it the final (what should be) 15 min home... We finally rolled into home at nearly midnight, having not eaten since we our monkey friends that morning. So hungry, so tired, but so so content.
I'm so grateful for unhindered adventure, and the opportunity to see new pieces of God's creativity and beauty. Never stop exploring friends!
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