a brief hello

so we just wanted to pass on greetings to everyone again. thanks so much for checking in on us and leaving your comments - we really do appreciate all your thoughts and prayers (especially all our unexpected readers...oh yes, that includes you jim london!)
we leave kenya tonight bound for uganda.
check back in soon again.
love and sunburns,
lars and matt.

living a dream: winter(?) wonderland

if ever there was a place that existed on the border of wake and sleep, it would be zanzibar. in the land of dreams it is easy to get lost even in the places that are most familiar to us. the same is true of stonetown: in 2 or 3 days you will know this place like the back of your hand - familiar people, distinct landmarks and unmistakable smells. but take care because the sun always sets on the familiar just like the most unexpected twist in the most common of dreams. the skinny alleys and white-wash stone buildings that made so much sense during the day shrink and shift at night making a maze hardly solvable. was it a right then a left, or a left then a right?

in dreamland tall palms sway on the whitest sand beaches. you can almost feel the cool sand between your toes...and it's finer than talcum powder. the water is so turquoise that it can't really exist outside of a dream. time somehow stands still even as the sun rises and sets again and again. but then it happens...you're suddenly roused from your mid-day hammock snooze (somewhat annoyed because of the beautiful dream you were in the middle of). you rub you eyes, look around slowly and smile. you smile because you've just realized that it wasn't a dream...or if it was, you're dream forgot to shut off when you woke up.

* snow(sand)man made by matt. location: paje beach, zanzibar

ps. our time with brandon was amazing. we look very much forward to our time with him in burundi. also, much love to patrick (the british wonder) - our new friend. all the best in pemba and in your travels back home.

lion couple: ngorogoro crater, tanzania

the friendly giant: jerome giraffe

hanging out at the giraffe center in nairobi.

up close and personal

a hungry hyena looking for some raw meat gets up in lars' grill in harar, ethiopia.

being a hyena-man is not for the faint of heart.

lars beating ethiopian kids at foosball

there was an outdoor community foosball table in every town we visited. over our 2 weeks in the country, rumour grew of a legendary new canadian who could not be beat

the beard is looking good...

matt, the envy of "thin-bearders" everywhere, is shown riding a truck through northern ethiopia (actually a very comfortable ride on those pipes!)

the big.........6?

a pleasant tuesday to you all.
we just wanted to check in to let you know that our mini-safari circuit yesterday and today was amazing. yesterday we were in ngorogoro crater, and today we visited lake manyara national park (we're in tanzania by the way).
along the way we picked up on a bit of safari lingo - mostly just that some animals are more important than others. specifically there are 5 animals that get the title "The Big 5". these include: elephant, water buffalo, lion, rhino and leopard. the other animals (i.e. giraffe, hippo, impala, zebra, wildebeest, etc.) are not very important to seasoned safari-goers. well, we are not seasoned, and so we soaked it all in (yes, even those fat-sack hippos got us pretty excited). anyway, we did see the big 5 (4 of the 5 at the crater, and our keen eyes picked out the leopard today). we really did have a lot of fun.
the other reason for the update is that we wanted to let everyone know that in a couple of days we will be making it "the big 6".....yes, that's right - we'll be hooking up with the big brandon thiessen in zanzibar for a week of paradise. we really can't wait to see brandon, and would choose no other place than zanzibar to spend our r&r time with him.
be jealous......be very jealous.
check back in a few.
love,
mambo and jambo

the narrow road

after travelling for 2 days from ethiopia's capital, we finally reached the kenyan border. how to describe the remaining 800 kms from the border to nairobi...
was it an excellent adventure? yes, one of the hardest and most unforgettable things we've done.
was the scenery nice? absolutely, an endless expanse of wilderness and desert...picture "the lion king" except real.
would we do it again? never! not if you paid us.
the trip is done on a giant cattle truck and the road (if you can call it that) is atrocious. the truck is packed full of supplies and people (many sitting up on those bars). we were in constant concentration and tightly gripped anything we could find as the truck bumped along. a few 'highlights':

9am: first of many police passport checks - money changes hands between the ethiopians on board and the armed guards - spirits are high

11am: the driver comes out and pours oil on the tarp we've been using as a seat(apparently sitting "spoils" the tarp...the oil is meant to keep us off) - it's now standing room only - spirits are lowered

1pm: we get bad sun burn

10pm: we are chilled to the bone

2am: an all out brawl erupts on the truck. people are yelling and fists are flying. after about 10 minutes the truck finally stops and things are sorted out. i remember canada with much fondness.

3:30am: i ask the guy beside me if we're close to the end - he just laughs and says no. matt hears the exchange and yells from his corner, "lars, there's no pain in memory!" the bruises on my butt and back disagree.

4am: i hear matt mumble, "oh man, lars, i would kill for your spot right now. it looks like you bounce less..." i eye matt suspiciously... (from my sweet spot)

5am: matt says, "i don't think i'll be able to walk again." i laugh - but it's a forced, nervous laughter

6am: we see some giraffe, antelope, zebras, and crazy birds as the sun rises. it almost makes the trip worth it

in the end, the trip took 22.5 hours (with only a few short breaks). we arrived at 7am in arusha and took a bus at 7:30am for a 5 hour bus ride to nairobi (...well, it would've been 5 hours except that our bus broke down...which is another story).
it's nice to be here in nairobi!

land of contrast

if i was asked to sum up my perception of ethiopia in one word for someone who had never been there, i'd say 'contrast.' this is a land of extreme contrast. in addis ababa (the capital), you can find a shoeless shepherd herding sheep and goats to the same stoplight that a mercedes suv waits at. beautiful people with their trendy jeans and shirts walk the dirty dilapidated sidewalks past brand new high-rises and broken down shacks; business men and beggars; ice-cream shops and garbage dumps. the massive compound of the stately UN building sits up on a hill overlooking a rusty old shanty-town. as we drove north from addis to bahar dar (through the blue nile valley), we were struck by the beauty of the mountains and the poverty of the villagers. farmers have all the land they could ever dream to have...but the soil is full of rocks; their fields are massive...but the land is parched. transportation is a slight peculiarity as well: to fly approx 200km (ie. bahar dar to lalibela) it would take just under a half hour. to drive that same distance (our mode of choice), it takes just shy of 15 hours.
dusty village roads are lined with locals crowding around foosball tables (yes, foosball tables by the hundreds). the most remote huts advertise for coca-cola. beautiful gardens and dried up scrub-lands. calls to prayer (both muslim and orthodox christian). electricity where it doesn't belong and no electricity (random shutdowns) where it clearly belongs. beauty and pain. love and hate. all of this lives in ethiopia.
contrast is everywhere, all the time, but somehow in ethiopia it slaps you in the face...and then again and again and again and........(you get the point).

ps. this post is in retrospect: we are now in kenya, but (as you know) we have been unable to post for the previous couple of weeks. we are now just trying to play a bit of catch-up.

Ethiopian censorship

hello everyone. due to some unforseen circumstances, we have not been able to access our blog to make any updates while here in ethiopia. our stay here has been unbelievable. we have some thoughts and stories that we want to pass on to you, but that'll have to wait another week or so when we head south into kenya (hopefully the kenyan censorship won't be so severe...haha). for now, we hope that you are all doing well.
lots of love,
lars and matt.

ps. thanks again to joseph for doing the dirty blog work for us......mucho appreciation!

An update from Lars...

this will be quick. the interent connection is so slow in ethiopia. we are in the east of the country right now in a town/city called harar. this city is walled and has packs of hyenas that come every night. we will be in the country about 3 more days...and then should be in kenya on our way to nairobi. ethiopia has been an amazing experience...