OK, first of all, I'm sorry about these huge delays in between posts. I have been busy but that's no excuse!
Anyway, back to the Hot Springs.
As we drove into the resort area, I noticed that it was beautifully situated with profusions of exotic flowers everywhere. It was like a calming oasis in the middle of a red, sun-baked wilderness. After the long, dusty and hot bus ride, it was a welcome relief to stagger out and head into the restaurant for lunch.
There was a traditional dining area set behind screens and an open, more informal area (where we ate) at the front, overlooking a small pool and lovely gardens.
This is the traditional dining room. In the corner, it was all set up for a coffee ceremony with rushes spread on the floor.
Here is Ayana sat at the big table with a menu...she ended up eating some injera dipped in various sauces from our plates.
After the meal which was really good and a lovely long g
lass of chilled Mirinda, (Ethiopia's equivalent to Orange Crush which is totally addicting) we piled back in the van and headed off to the actual pools fed by the Hot Springs.
En route, we made a little stop to look at and feed a troop of monkeys that were (literally) hanging out beside the road.
As we went into the bathing area, we noticed that there was a beautiful, large pool complete with diving boards and a tiny shallow area that was cordoned off. It was similar to a little kids pool attached to an adult pool here in Canada. The big, spacious pool had about ten people in it, all hanging onto the side. There were a couple of adults swimming lengths. The tiny, shallow pool was completely full of people, adults and children, so crowded that they were basically all standing still as there was no room to even breathe.
We went to the side, found some chairs in the shade, and then the braver members of our group emerged from the changing rooms and stood looking at the two pools...mmmm...tiny pool crowded with people OR a lovely big empty pool with diving boards. My son could not believe his luck as he ran with joy and dove into the big pool, hauled himself out and ran over to the diving boards. He climbed up and waited behind three big Ethiopian teenagers. He waited and waited as they just stood and stared at the water and then he asked if he could go past them. They looked at him in complete shock and moved aside. As he jumped off with a loud "YEAH", they covered their mouths with their hands, their eyes as big as dinner plates. I'm still not sure whether they were scared for Joshua or horrified that his mother was at the side cheering her son on in this madness. (Of course, my camera battery ran out at this point so I can not show pictures.)
We then realised that the Ethiopian people were scared of water...of course not all are...but we asked Deb and she confirmed that most Ethiopian people do not have the chance to go swimming and the rivers etc are often crocodile infested. Remember that the Hot Springs are for the wealthy only, and it is a rare thing to go swimming as a recreational activity. Hence, everybody crowded into a shallow little pool and almost had a heart attack when a little 9 yr old boy calmly jumped off the high diving board.
Soon Joshua had a little fan club going, with a line up of teenage boys all hanging onto the side and cheering as he jumped into the water. Joshua LOVES to perform so he was doing starfish jumps and flips to the awe of his followers. Selemnah had accompanied us and he was not scared of the water, jumping in with Josh and having a great time.
It was actually quite relaxing for me, which is not often the case at a swimming pool. Usually, I am constantly scanning the water to make sure that I can see my kids the whole time. Here, I just sat and could easily spot my little blonde son and my daughters in the middle of crowds of Ethiopian people!
Ayana went into the water with Erin and Megan and loved it, but Moses sat out with me and did one of his famous exploding diapers. He was covered from head to foot and so was the stroller. I will say no more on this other than it is truly a unique African experience to change an awful diaper with one hand and to swat clouds of flies off with the other hand.
The drive home was wonderful until we hit Addis. There was a huge traffic jam and major congestion throughout the whole city because people had heard that gas prices were going up the next day...so every taxi, bus and car was out filling up at the lower price. We crawled through Addis with a bus load of very tired, hungry and fed up children adding an extra TWO HOURS onto the already long and hot trip. We loved the day but were so relieved to see the guest house, and the food we ordered in tasted extra special that night!
