Ago 26 2014 The boy who saved me from the rain

• madre_opt

  https://www.viajesalpasado.com/wp-content/uploads/madre_opt.jpg

  The trip by Ethiopia motorcycle was being the opposite of what I had imagined. Instead of finding the desert, refugee camps, children with swollen tummies by hunger and high poverty, I found myself in a country of high mountains and green.

• kids blanket 2_opt

  https://www.viajesalpasado.com/wp-content/uploads/niños-manta-2_opt.jpg

  The trip by Ethiopia motorcycle was being the opposite of what I had imagined. Instead of finding the desert, refugee camps, children with swollen tummies by hunger and high poverty, I found myself in a country of high mountains and green.

• Alice and the Ethiopian Family_opt

  https://www.viajesalpasado.com/wp-content/uploads/Alicia-y-la-familia-etíope_opt.jpg

  The trip by Ethiopia motorcycle was being the opposite of what I had imagined. Instead of finding the desert, refugee camps, children with swollen tummies by hunger and high poverty, I found myself in a country of high mountains and green.

• animal shed_opt

  https://www.viajesalpasado.com/wp-content/uploads/cobertizo-para-animales_opt.jpg

  The trip by Ethiopia motorcycle was being the opposite of what I had imagined. Instead of finding the desert, refugee camps, children with swollen tummies by hunger and high poverty, I found myself in a country of high mountains and green.

The trip by Ethiopia motorcycle was being the opposite of what I had imagined. Instead of finding the desert, refugee camps, children with swollen tummies by hunger and high poverty, I found myself in a country of high mountains and green. Infinite fields of pea cultivation, pepper, broad bean and barley reminiscent of the patchword blankets that my mother puts in the house in the sierra. The first step, looked like the African Stelvio, endless curves and counter curves through the green mountain to crown its peak at more than 3.000 meters. The clouds were getting closer to the passing of my BMW, baptized as Discovered, in honor of Captain Malaespina and one of the caravels with which he reached the coast of Alaska.

I had had a bad time in Sudan with the omnipresent sand and now it was my turn to learn to drive the loaded BMW on mud

The asphalt ran out when the harbor ended. To reach the small towns or medium-sized cities the road turned into a strip of reddish earth and the nines continued to lurk. I had had a bad time in Sudan with the omnipresent sand and now it was my turn to learn to drive the loaded BMW on mud. The roads in this part of northern Ethiopia are adorned with huge trees, the biggest i have seen on my trip. Give shade, but in this case, shelter from the rain. And so it was, it started to rain non-stop. The red dirt floor was starting to get muddy, transformed into dangerous orange chocolate even with the knobby tires. The best thing was to leave the motorcycles there, in the middle of the road and try to hang out under one of the gigantic fig trees that lined the road.

And so it was. Under the fig tree the waiting began. Soon or after, a group of children with plastic on their heads approached the fig tree. In front of them a herd of cows and oxen, with long antlers, they began to squeeze next to us. It was scary, or respect, being around such herbivores, that they pushed you without regard. So I started to sing, total, it was already raining. The four skinny kids, they looked at me between surprised and scared. They didn't understand a thing about a little woman, disguised as an astronaut (I hadn't even taken off my helmet yet), singing and making hand gestures. It stopped raining and again on the bikes we did more than 100 km. The rain came back, but on that narrow road, muddy from before, there were no big trees. The water began to flow as if through a stream we were. Again we had to stop and there in the middle and leave the motorcycles. But then the best of the Ethiopia trip happened: a little boy of about eight years old came out to meet us from among some bushes. I was barefoot (like most Ethiopians) her body was covered with a pink and red blanket. He was looking at me with wide open eyes and spotless little white teeth.. He held out his hand to me and I took it. So, pulling me gently he led me to his house.

He held out his hand to me and I took it. So, pulling me gently he led me to his house.

Everything was full of mud mixed with excrement of some donkey or cow. He wanted me to enter his hut, it was circular, made with horizontally laid woods and adobe. The thatched roof under which the corrugated iron could be seen. He wanted me to enter through the back door, small and that overlooked a corral next to the house. There was a small dog lying there, half wet also the one who kicked. Some chicks chirped looking for their mother. This small covered patio communicated with the house through a small door. A woman's voice came out of it and made the little boy take my hand again and lead me to the front door.

The round house had a compacted earth floor and was perfectly clean, smelled of spices and sheepskin, the adobe walls were adorned with fabrics, nails and some metal pieces, copper or silver. A “brick” bench served as a sofa. The small windows let in the little light that the storm clouds allowed. Everything was in order. In front of me two other children, smaller and a woman. She looked at me and smiled at me. We don't need words, I understood everything, She too. The smallest child, about three years, i was scared. I've never seen anyone like us.

The smallest child, about three years, i was scared. I've never seen anyone like us.

We turned to look at each other smile on our lips, by signs, they offered us something to eat. The eight-year-old was playing host. The kitchen had a wood-burning oven that served as a wall with another room, this one with three cots in which they and their mother were presumably sleeping. There was no sign that there was a man in that house.

The chicks wandered around the room chirping. I walked over to her and took her hands. He squeezed them and looked me in the eye as we tried to say something to each other.. I wanted to ask about her age, for his life there, for their children. She probably wanted to ask me if my partner was accompanying me, if i had children, my age…

I have never felt so sorry for not being a polyglot, I would have loved to chat even more. The rain, incessant and strong, it hit the corrugated board of the ceiling making the noise make us even quieter. I took out the camera and the children ran away. I did not imagine that in this century there were still human beings who did not know what a camera is. It's the magic of some remote places, where the tourist does not pass and where the innocence of the human being remains intact.

I did not imagine that in this century there were still human beings who did not know what a camera is.

Spend an hour, two, three ... I thought of some universal game: hideout. And so, playing in a space of less than twenty square meters, I ended up playing and laughing with those kids. I know his mother thanked him, I entertained three energetic little ones for a few hours, children are children everywhere, go barefoot or covered with an anorak. The rain stopped. We say goodbye by giving a pen and some sheets to the smallest. She hugged me. I was thin, but very pretty and she looked brave, a great woman. We looked into each other's eyes for the last time. Thanks, I said. She told me something too.

So, inside a small hut in the middle of Ethiopia I understood many more things about the human being, of family and unconditional love. I left crying under the helmet, I missed my family.