Yoyo-ing in Halloweenland

TDA - Days 46-49 (Still Ethiopia)

We left Addis Ababa and Arba Minch behind and are heading towards Moyale and the border to Kenya on a new route.

It's Halloween country. The termite hills are standing in the most bizarre shapes. Tall drunken men; fat seated men; old crooked women; little naughty baby ghosts. The range of shapes varies as much as the size. And so does the colouring. The figures are mostly red, the rust red reminding me of other remote and fascinating places like the American Southwest. But the white limestone hills are just the large size materialization of any possibly imagined Halloween ghost character. Or maybe they are the fabulous sandcastle artworks of a local artist.

The road is a thin straight line cutting through the thornful bushland. It goes up and down the hills and disappears somewhere on the horizon line. Between the water stations on top of the hills we yoyo on wheels. Sometimes the momentum is wasted as you need to slow down or stop and let the cows, camels or donkeys cross the road at their convenience. At other times it is the headwind that brakes your enthusiastic ride down. And all this under the watchful eyes of the termite hill ghosts, looking benign during the day yet fairly spooky at dusk and in the dark.