Six or seven hours on the road to Addis, and a sad good-bye to Damota Mountain.
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| view from the soccer stadium |
When I first came, this highway was not yet built, so it was a 12 hour trip with much more traffic to get from Soddo to Addis on the Hosanna Road. Main roads are asphalt, sometimes constructed by Chinese or Korean firms. Local roads are often made from cobblestones. Unskilled women and men chip the stones into squares for about 2 birr each. Right now, a birr is worth 19 cents. It's backbreaking work, done bending over, but I bet these roads will last longer than any asphalt highway.
I like looking at construction when we drive, especially of the round houses, which are much roomier inside than you might imagine. I lived in a house in France that was 300 years old, and built much the same way, only stones and mud rather than fast growing Eucalyptus trees and mud.
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| poles stacked against tree, awaiting construction |
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| laying out the poles |
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| base of house |
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| putting on the thatch |
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| prior to mud |
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| inside mud done, partially mudded outside |
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| finished mud with texture |
to be continued . . . .
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