Safe and sound.

There will be significantly more radio silence from here on out. I’ve made it to Konso, started my Permaculture Design Course, which is the training for my internship, am working hard, and my head might be on the verge of exploding from all the incredible things I’ve been learning.

On the voyage down, some kind soul decided to relieve me of my most financially valuable possessions, helping me on the journey to unattachment to physical things and being a Buddha, but also leaving me without a laptop on which to compose blog posts for uploading whenever I get the chance. On top of that, there is one lone internet café within two hours of travel, and there’s a decent chance the power won’t be working whenever I make the trek up. First worlder problems in a third world country.

All that being said, I am glad to be here, and totally stoked to be settling in and learning lots. It is definitely a different experience than anything or anywhere else I have ever been, even here in Ethiopia. The basis of permaculture is sustainability and being able to take care of yourself no matter what, and they are well on there way down here. There is no connection to the power grid (apparently local politics have a lot to do with that one), so we use solar power and to charge anything, you take a stroll down to the reception and plug it in there because there are no outlets in the sleeping areas.

The sleeping areas are traditional tukuls with grass thatched roofs and mud composite walls. Right now I’m in the dorm and share that with three of the other participants, including the older Somali man who provides most of the entertainment for the group, as well as a few nightly wake ups, courtesy of his snoring.

Hopefully at some point I’ll get the chance to share some more stories from the travels down here, as well as keeping my super-interested audience up to date with the hip happenings of Konso, but if I don’t, just know there were lots of buses, museums, a few Rastafarians, Ethiopian parliamentarians as well as late night and early morning police station trips! Bundles of fun!

 

 

 

This lovely tukul is my home for the next little while.

 

And this is one of the beautiful views I get to appreciate every day. I'm a lucky girl.