Voyage Sagas

Ascending the Alps … A peaceful night passed, and the morning sang new beginnings. I am not much of a football (soccer) fanatic nowadays, but I love the sport very much. I wasn’t the type to support my local team, but whoever played the most captivating game with flair at the time captured my heart. For those uncertain about where I’m going with this, I’ll spill the beans and say Milano is home to two giants of world football. They are competing rivals and sworn enemies that ironically share a home. This derby can sometimes spiral out of control and require authority intervention. The A.C. Milan stars were like superheroes to me. I couldn’t believe the day had come when I could visit my dream pitch. The plan was to start driving after lunch. We hurried and grabbed our luggage because this was also our last day in Italy. We parked our car at a train station parking lot and took the metro to the San Siro . The previous UEFA Champions’ League Final had taken place here, and the remnants w...

Ankober to Debre Sina (Part 2) … After a quick breakfast and a slightly late start, we hiked down the face of the same mountain we had climbed the previous day. There was growing confidence following the last challenge. Team chemistry was also helping lift our spirits as we learned more about each other. Temperatures rose as soon as the sun peeked at us from above the nearest peak. You would expect the landscape to become familiar after a while, but it is quite the contrary. Every twist and turn reveals more spectacles that overwhelm the eyes in their varied transitioning beauty. There was such varied terrain it looked like a mosaic of patched fields with a charming off-set order. It sometimes looks like the rice paddy fields of Indonesia or tea fields in Sri Lanka. Cattle herders and shepherds, along with their livestock, enjoyed their boundless resting and grazing spots. It was something out of a fairytale as we continued our quest for hours, seeing multiple streams, small churches, ...

Ankober to Debre Sina (Part 1) Backpacking is a physically demanding activity involving hiking and carrying necessary gear, sometimes food, for an extended trip. This would be my first time backpacking, and I was last to board the bus after being picked up near the northern A2 highway exit via Legetafo. I requested the van’s passenger seat, and it was saved for me. I hopped in and began to take in the distant views of the countryside just beyond the city area. It was a beautiful Friday morning, the perfect time to escape the city chaos. We passed by plenty of schoolchildren and workers heading into the city while we went in the opposite direction. We drove by the old settlement of Sendafa, then Aleltu and Sheno, crossing multiple checkpoints (both reasonable and unreasonable), with officers inquiring about our intentions and destination. We started to get a grip of the landscape beyond here and ventured further into Northern Shewa. The pace of life began to slow down the longer we drov...