One thing I didn't expect about Ethiopia

was the countryside. it is high plateau, with some hills and "mounts." not quite mountains, but more than hills. especially when you're already starting at several thousand feet. addis ababa, the capital, is the third highest capital in the world, at over 7000ft above sea level. most of what we saw in ethiopia was what you might call "high desert." it reminded me a lot of idaho. rolling hills, tough grass, rugged trees. all in natural colors. i know that probably sounds dumb to say - calling the outdoors natural colors - but i think you get what i mean. every thing was shades of brown, and ochre, and such. i didn't expect ethiopia to look like idaho. but i hadn't expected idaho to look like idaho, either. and i really liked them both. i felt right at home in that countryside. another thing they have in common is "teff." teff is the local grain the ethiopians use to make their very special bread - injera. they eat everything with injera, which is a kind of mildly fermented bread pancake. apparently, teff grows real well in idaho, too. i'm not surprised. anyway, that's my africa update for tonight.