Sabana Resort

We had lunch at a Beach Restaurant. It was a beautiful place the windows were opened and the view was spectacular. It looked like a Tiki Bar. There was even a tree growing in the center of the restaurant. Again with the food, Bill and Gretchen had kabobs and a dessert called Carmel cream. I had grilled chicken and Carmel cream. Actually Bill had a vanilla ice cream cone, boy was he daring. After lunch we walked down, down, down, down to the beach. I was going to count the steps on the way back up and I started to but by the time I reached a 100 I was more concerned in getting to the top than the number. I pushed my self too hard and if I didn't blow out the stents in the airport I am sure that I did on those steps. The beach area was very hot, the sand looked like tiny lava rocks, dark grey in color. The water was like fairly warm bath water and brown in color. But it was beautiful. In the distance were mountains. We sat at a table under a huge tree and rested for a while before heading up the cliff/steps and back to the van. While we were eating near us there was a table of American adults and Ethiopian boys. They went down to the beach too and enjoyed splashing in the water. It started to thunder and we headed back to the van. When we got back to the parking lot they were there too and we talked to them for a bit. There were 7 boys ages 8 to 17 1/2, one set of twins. The adults that were with them were sponsoring these boys and were taking them on a vacation. They were a part of a group from the US that sponsor many children, sending them through school, providing food and clothing, etc. Most of the boys were straight A students. In April this US based group will be adding a new house and will be able to serve another 100 children. On the way out of the Resort to the main road we raced, first us ahead, then them in 1st place, then us again. We thought that everyone was having fun but the other driver not Abeselom, got mad and basically cussed out our driver and gave him the HAND. People in the US give others the finger, in Ethiopia they use the whole hand in a exaggerated upward thrust, hanging halfway out of the drivers side window while doing so. This gesture was very common in Addis among drivers, when you got cut off or someone did a u turn. The little children were still trying to sell us things on the way out. Abeselom talked to them, we shut the windows, which was hard they are so needy but we were told not to give them anything. They didn't like what Abeselom said and one little girl cussed him out in Amheric and hit the back of the van. We have a very good driver, Abeselom, and so far we haven't had a fender bender, it seems funny to say that now that we are home, I'll tell that story later. He did pass another vehicle on a 2 land road at the top of a very steep hill, G and I caught our breaths, but we got around it just in time. Of course we had seen this happen with other drivers many, many times. He drives the speed that everyone else does, whipping in and out of traffic to get there as fast as possible. I think I told this story before but here it is again. Yohanna will have to get used to no horn honking in the US at least not like it is in Ethiopia. Most kids say vroom, vroom when they drive their toy cars, Ethiopian kids say beep, beep.

After thought. When we got into the van at our guest house we each had a small bag. Able and the driver asked "Is that all?" Emily and Terri had large suitcases on the top of the van and they were very heavy, full of donations. Emily commented that they liked us better because we traveled light. Sorry E and T but thanks for what you took to the orphanage.