The Gypsy Chronicles

Long, long ago in a land far, far away (ok maybe just in Jan 2011, and maybe just in JBay), destiny made two wandering spirits collide, and so, the Gypsies united union was formed.Princess Kakalethu (also known as Joy) and Togosile(also known as Emme), together with 5 other awesome individuals went on a journey to go where no one has gone before (ok maybe Explore Africa 2009 and 2010 and a few other people)

This has been a journey of great delight and magnificent sights, suffering and learning, laughter and tears. Ever so often Princess Kakalethu has had the urge to escape to Exile Island and wide open spaces and Togo has had the need to drink deeply of life's beauty. The gypsies learned to function within a team, learned unconditional love and to live  sometimes uncomfortably reigned in.But as the Global Guru Annemarie, wisely advised us "be like Paul and Silas, sing in the jail" So we grow and learn to make the desert our happy place.

We would like to interrupt this chapter of our chronicles to pay tribute to our incredible team who has taken up the challenge to understand us and has resolved to love us even when the need to escape makes thunder clouds hover above our heads.

Our team Leader Stofie gave gave our team the oppertunity to find our own way for a week.After God, complete freedom is probably the thing that moves us most. That is where we find ourselves currently, on a bus, travelling through the mountains of Ethiopia, COMPLETELY FREE!

So, at 5am we left the comfort of our EA nest and spread our wings. Now imagine an African bus station..luggage, people,goats and chicken. Then imagine: no English directions, prices or people (although we appreciate the squiggly Ethiopian alphabet, it is not very useful) But God smiled on us, gave us favor and before we knew it we were on our way ( an angel in the form of a medicine student with broken English, included)

Ethiopia is truly an astounding country, we realized as we watched the lush green landscape flash by through the puke splatters on our window. After driving for about 2 hours, the bus stopped and our new friend announced "Breakfast!", then introduced us to Ethiopian cinnamon tea. It truly changed our lives!The "toilet house" truly changed our lives too, but not in  good way. LOL. Through the mountains passes and the misty valleys a fellow traveler added few more puke splatters to the window. But as with life, if you look past the ugly stains that blurs your vision, you will find that there is so much beauty to behold.

The bus pulled in next to a combi loaded with complaining goats for our lunch stop. We exchanged anxious glances as "vegetables" were offered to us in a shady alley-way restaurant. It turned out to be an array of mushy vegetables (much like Purity baby food) served on a gigantic sour pancake. On EA we learned to swallow for the Gospel and this skill came in very handy as our enthusiastic friend cheered us on saying "Try! Again and again!".

Finally arriving in Bahr Dir we were welcomed with the chaotic hustle, bustle and hassling authentic to African bus stations. Two hours later we found ourselves sitting on a terrace, in the dark(African power cuts, baby!) soaking in the first thunder storm of the rainy season. So end the first chapter of the gypsy's great adventure, as we, while eating spagetti seasoned with raindrops, contentedly smile and sigh...

To be continued...