Every Day is Sunday

After touring the incredible churches at Lalibela, we headed out to the Ethiopian highlands for a three-day trek.  By day, we trekked through villages and walked along escarpments with 3,000 foot drops.  By night, we drank warm beers and told stories around the fire with our new friends from the UK (Gabe and Richard were an impressive comedy duo) and slept in Tukols in local villages. 

We spent the night in the second Tukol -- the first Tukol in the picture is the outhouse

Women carrying water from river to their tukols

The group

Jeff:  It was our second day of the hike when we came across about 300 villagers working on irrigation channels in the fields.  I guessed that they didn’t have too much experience with white people because as soon as they saw us they stopped their work and stared at us.  Because of the language barrier, we couldn’t do anything but stare back.  Our staring contest was getting a little awkward, and so I did the only thing I could think of to break the ice: I picked up three rocks and started to juggle.  The kids in the group rushed to the front and started oohing and aahing.  I think it was the first time they had seen anyone juggling.

Erin: The kids may have been oohing and aahing, but the adults were just staring in bewilderment.  The look on their faces seemed to say “why is that crazy feringie throwing rocks in the air?”  When he finished juggling everyone stood there silent until somebody started clapping and eventually they all broke out into applause.  The kids walked with us for an hour waiting for Jeff to juggle some more.

Jeff:  And I did juggle until my hands were full of cuts from the rocks.  Hey, I didn’t mind being the center of attention for a while.  After all, it was my birthday!

Erin: So Jeff’s not big on celebrating his birthday but I wanted to do something fun.  My options were a bit limited by the fact that we were staying in villages without electricity or running water.  I spoke with some of the locals about it, and they all agreed on the best gift a man could get on his birthday.  So I bought Jeff a SHEEP!

Jeff:  I was sitting on a bench overlooking the valleys reading my book when all of a sudden this guy from the village walks up to me and presents me with a sheep.  It took me a second to realize that the sheep was actually for me.  I thought briefly about sending it to the States for my parents to keep until we got back, but ultimately we decided to have it for dinner.

Erin: I was genuinely excited about buying Jeff a sheep but there was NO way I was watching them kill the poor thing.

Jeff:  It was cool watching the locals slaughter, skin, and carve the meat from the sheep.  When you only shop in supermarkets and buy meat in cellophane, it’s easy to forget that meat actually comes from a living, breathing animal.  It made me appreciate the strong connection that local people have with their animals.   

Erin:  It was disgusting.  I need more degrees of separation from my food.

Jeff:  Every part of the sheep had a purpose.  After they removed all the meat, they were careful to clear the intestines so they could use them for casings.  In an unforgettable exchange, Gabe asks, “What is he doing?”  Richard replies in his erudite British monotone, “Well, it appears he’s blowing in its arse to make an air sausage.”

Erin:  When it was all finished. I looked at all the meat (in the bowl) and realized that this sheep would feed about 25-30 people.  That’s a whole lot of mutton for just 6 trekkers.  So we asked our guide to invite some of the villagers to share in the meal.

Jeff:  It was great to have the villagers come to the party and share in the feast.  They were so grateful for the rare treat that they came up to me individually to wish me a happy birthday.  Two of the villagers brought a bamboo flute and drum and we stayed up late singing and learning how to shoulder-dance in the Ethiopian style.  

Erin: The sheep was by far our best purchase of the trip – the party was fun and the food deeelicious.

Jeff: It was definitely one of my most memorable birthdays.