Day Four - Farm Camp (aka Pineapple Camp) to ... Field Camp?

Distance: 106.22km
Ride time: 5:11
Climb: 2125m

Best thing: The whole day.
Worst thing: Day was too short.

Best shuffled song: None. But listened to John Williamson on repeat
for 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Today was the mando day. This is a pretty big hint that something is
afoot. So in the rider meeting when they said big climbs at 30km and
60km people should know that there is going to be some climbing.
Especially when they say "Pssst… Ethiopia is hilly."

The hills just made this day even better though. It felt like every
metre I went up, I was just saving that metre away in the altitude
bank for later. Hopefully, we'll be drawing down on that account
tomorrow for the ride into the rest day.

It rained overnight and most of the morning. Some people aren't keen
on riding in the rain, but I love it. Riding along with the rain
cooling me down, and the road spray smashing up around me is awesome.
I didn't go fast today, but it was definitely my favourite stage of
the tour. By far. Riding solo helped, instead of having to ride pace
with the group I could just ride along at my own slow pace.

Part of the awesomeness was the scenery. Because it was raining, the
green hills were cloaked in mist. The smoke from the cooking fires in
the houses filters up through the whole of the thatch roof. It is
crazy stuff. People with a better command of the English language have
described the scenery around here, so maybe check up on what they have
written.

The mist made the hills even better to climb up. The little huts and
plantations along with the mist and lush vegetation made it like
riding through Jurassic Park. Kind of like riding up through
Tallaganda National Park if the weather is wet. Even though there are
a few ranks of hills, only the one closest to us was vaguely visible -
all the other ones were just like dark clouds. Exactly like every
other visitor here has written.

While washing carrots for dinner yesterday, I was talking to Frans
about the kids in Ethiopia. It kind of made me realise that Ethiopia
is a pretty good mirror for yourself. If you let the kids make you
angry and you end up chasing them or hurling rocks, it really reflects
pretty poorly on you. Today, I tried to not let anything get to me. I
rode along saying "Salaam" and "Salaamno" to people, dipping my head
to the people carrying sticks or whatever, and always answering when
people asked "Where are you go?". I'm not sure if it was that, or the
fact that Ethiopians respect the crazed fervour of a guy grinning ear
to ear in the rain, with a face splattered in mud, but I had a much,
much better day with the kids today. The only low point was when I
stopped to take off my rain jacket and a bunch of people came up
around me. It was ok at first, one guy spoke some English (more
English than I speak Amharic) and I was trying to explain about riding
from Egypt to South Africa. Pretty soon though, they started with the
"Give me money!", etc. I just said "Ciao" (Italian influence here and
all) then rode off.

Apart from that, it was pretty nice to be riding along and feel like I
was getting along with people rather than being in some sort of
strange cold war with the locals. I was in such a good mood, that when
I saw a guy putting a fresh coat of mud on the outside of the his
house, I was really tempted to stop, help him out and learn a new
skill. I didn't though, because I was halfway up a fricking massive
hill.

In camp, I felt like drinking heaps of Pepsi. I tried negotiating with
Gizzy to clean her bike for 12 Pepsis, but she wanted a 24 hour
guarantee, and with the weather around here that basically means I
would be spending my rest day cleaning her bike for a second time.
Free. Anyways, I went to buy my own Pepsis. Me and the Pepsi man
counted out 12 Pepsis on the ground, then negotiated a discount,
instead of 12 x 4 Birr, I'd just pay 40 Birr. I paid the money and the
guy helped move the Pepsis to where I was cleaning my bike. 2 minutes
later the guy came back and told him that I still owed him money for
the last two drinks. I'm not really keen on renegotiating stuff after
I've already paid my money. After a few minutes of their baloney, I
told him to take back his Pepsi and give me back my money. He did
that, and wanted me to pay for 2 drinks. I ended up drinking 5 pepsis
for 8 Birr. These guys need to spend more time at school, or at least
be taught street math by Bubbles.

During the normal talking part after riding, Steph / Miss Poor Impulse
Control threw a pen at me. Maybe for a good reason, but even so,
throwing pens is a bit uncalled for. So, I confiscated the pen and
told her that I'd give it back to her only if she didn't get angry at
anyone. So, I guess that this story makes me sound like a real petty
despot retard. I think that I am just a product of the lawless society
that we have here. People are already discussing what the official TDA
prison shank would look like. I think that it would be a PVM bar with
a broken spoke gaffa taped to it.

Dan's Camping Tip from Someone that Knows Nothing of Camping: If
you're expecting to camp in wet weather, get a footprint for your
tent. This means that you can pack away your inner with your fly still
up and keep it dry. Don't. Repeat don't, just get a randomly sized
poncho / groundsheet. Unless you like having a constantly wet tent.