Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More