En route to Nazaret

On Wednesday we decided to rent a car for the remainder of the trip instead of paying for a taxi. It cost about $20 a day to rent a car, the same amount it cost to pay a driver for two hours. Again, this was something we wouldn't have been able to do without Jonathan. His cousin's friend rented the car under his name and his cousin's were in charge of driving it. One used to be able to drive with an American license in Ethiopia but they just recently changed that law. This gave us the freedom to do more that we wanted and more freedom for Jonathan as well. So we planned to drive to Nazaret, a small town to the west of Addis. We were told it was one of the favorite towns to visit. It also had a resort area that we planned to visit. They picked up the car on Tuesday night. It was a little nerve wracking as his cousin has only ever driven big trucks. He stalled several times in the car unable to get it started again. Was this what our whole drive would look like?

So we got going pretty early and made the hour and a half drive. After a lot of failed attempts, Jonathan took over the driving for his cousin. Technically it was illegal but Jonathan was willing to take the risk. We got out of the city and Jonathan hopped in the driver's seat. It was a pretty scary ride for me. Jonathan had never driven in Ethiopia before and it is so different than driving here in the US. There are basically no traffic rules. There are guidelines but nothing is enforced. People swerve and drift into the different lanes, honk when they want by, people and animals walk in the middle of the road, children are not in car seats, and drivers go when they think they can make it. Jonathan was going pretty fast and seemed a bit distracted. Then it happened...he had just finished telling us that if you hit a someone's cow you will have to pay them a hefty sum of money because it is their livelihood...and then Jonathan hit a donkey. He was trying to help his cousin adjust a mirror. We saw it coming and tried to tell him, but it didn't register in time. He finally looked up, slammed on the brakes, and skidded for several seconds. We stopped the car and Jonathan talked to the owner of the donkey. The donkey had just walked off almost as if nothing had happened. Jonathan offered the money but the man decided to take down the license plate and call if need be. The hood of the car was dented and the headlight pushed in. We were all in shock. Jonathan felt really bad and was pretty tense. We finally took off again hoping to figure out the damage when we got to our destination.

We arrived at the friend's home and were invited in. As with the other house we visited, it was well kept up and relatively nice inside. We were served food, I. and I being very careful to eat only what we thought safe but still trying to show appreciation. We had more coffee. We stayed quite a while as Jonathan had lots of talking to do. A woman at the house ended up being his mom's best friend from long ago. She remembered Jonathan as a child and confirmed some of his earliest memories. It was incredible. It was a very relaxing environment, quiet, and enjoyable. I. said he could see us living in a place like that. I, however, was stressed out trying to take care of Ashe and get him to sleep. I was thankful for the time spent but glad when we were headed back. We ended up not having time for visiting the resort. We got back that evening and crashed.

We don't actually know yet what happened with the car situation. They were able to move the headlight back but the dent was still pretty evident. When we left they still had the car so...at least it wasn't under our name. :)