Happy valentines day! this is me embracing the world with love in the windy highland town of gondar (also called the camelot of ethiopia), internet connection is terrible, so I can't post more pictures at this moment.

I have survived sudan and am considerable well after some hard days of disease and disastrous travel from desolated, hot and dry sudanese nuba mountains to civilized and windy western highlands of etiopia.

acclimazation to africa takes time but is an unavoidable result of everyday surprices. I hope that the chock of returning back to europe won't be devastation but delighful. There is a lot of things I ('you') miss here, knowing what the 'western' world have to offer.

With still 3 days left on antibiotics partying has been keept low. But refreshing beer in the shade is again an daily routine.

Our usual luck revealed to us that ethiopa started a 2 months fast the same day we entered the country, which means that local people stay clear of meat for the whole time and this beeing the lowseason we struggle to get steaks (or other meat).

Ethiopia seems to be a disiplined food culture similar to sudan in the sence that food (except for some 'for foreign designed' restuarants) is limited to a few basic dishes. the traditional 'poridge stuff on breadplate', spagetti with hot tomato sauce (a heritage from the italians during ww2) and if your lucky soup. Snackfood on the street doesn't seem to exist, but probably does in addis abeba. People here a use to tourist, which means more on offer but also lots of begging and husteling.

After leaving Khartoum I didn't se another white person (except of course the two icelandic represants accompanying me) until we hit gondar about 2 weeks later. It was great. but occational extreme cultural chocks in form imposible understanding were exhausting. for example the offen encountered 'it is not right' comment from an upset encounter for peaceful activities like hiking a hill or putting up a tent without the local tribe elders aproval. Other more delighful cultural changes includes beeing greeted ' peace be with you stranger!', everybody (even if a group of 50) wanting to shake your hand. Unfortuanatly the is a disease called 'melagnitis' or sothing in the whole of africa that you are supposed to get vaccined agains and that you get from close contact with local people. I am not complaining but you would be supriced how dirty some people here can be. And we even once (from a train) spotted a guy squatting by a bush a splashing his as with the 'forbidden hand' (the right hand, which is used for eating, shaking hands aso.The left is only supposed to be 'toilet paper', it remains a debated issue is our group of 3 whether you are supposed to 'stroke the lama' with the right or left hand... You are also asked all the time -what tribe you are from? The expected aswer is Khartoum, which for the nuba people represents everything foreign to them. they know nothing of europe, america, or a world outside the desert of southern sudan, there Khartoum is a place far in the distance where strange people come from but where nobody have been. Another great question we were asked on a marked in the mouintains was, -is that you? by a local possitive that One of us had been there 2 years erlier. even though rebuking he insistedon having seen a person just as white as us 2 yers earlier.

The local mountain people have although not undestanding our cause proven very hospitable providing us with loging with everything from the SPLF (sudanese people libaration front) to the bussdrivers own house. Some parts of the nuba mountains (ex. heiban. kauda0 are home of many aid organisation and mayor UN support (and some obviosly scared people) after the war and slaghtering going on here a couple of years ago. As recent as for one year ago govenmetaly supported militia sneaked into villages slashing peoples thoat in their sleep because they were 'supporting' the 'liberation fronts' with supplies. An ugly history of which exact thruth I don't know.

As a result of permanently lost appetite (I blame the terrible fuul, the sudanese beans), the bones (instead of meat in meat dishes) beeing tiresome to suck the nutricion from and white bread lacking nutricion together with having the worst 'shits' I ever experienced after bold and stupidly trying to adapt to the local bacteria culture by 'unknowingly' drinking mudpool water in backwater roadstop of 'el rashad' just before entering the mountains I have possitively lost a couple of kilos.

I think I have gained some patience though. The local people have impressive amounts of it and simply doesn't get pissed of. It is for example considerade normal to arrive at the bussstop at 8 in the morning, waiting for the buss that probably gets there for lunchtime and hopefully leaves in the afternoon. I reality this means one transport per day. If you have to change buss for example add an extra day to the shedule. I have also experienced the worst transport in my life so far, a 2 + 6 hour 'lorry' trip leaving the nuba mountains on tracks I still claim isn't sutable for anything with wheels. A lorry is a big open air bedford truck of english ww2 model, donated after beeing defined as useless for scrap metal rusting away at some army yard on the queens estate. It is in my mind not even deseant for animal transportation. This is what people in countryside sub sahara africa relly of for tranport though. luckily every truck comes with a mecanic assisting the driver, so when it brakes down (which it does) a skilled enginer or a monkey (depending on luck) will try to change suspensions or whatever that wears out just to offen because of inamaginable road conditions. Hitchhiking has been the model in the mountains, when the sun has proven to hot to walk under. unfortunatly very few vehicles were present. but both donkey carts, traktors, UN police jeeps and wfp (world food program) trucks have been helpful in our (sometimes futile feeling) atemt to leave the mountains we thought we entered on the back road to take the easy way out. Miraculously we were clear from the mountains just less than 3 days after starting to leave, of course ending up taking a diferent route since trafic were 'say' sporadic.

This is just fragments of our 2 week experiense in the south of sudan. There were never any camels with our mark but we hade a great time. At least it feels great now, with a cold beer at an etiopina bar. There might be camels in ereitrea (the land of plenty...). until next time

peace be with you! / landstalker 070214 Gonder, Etiopia