Awasa to Addis

On Wednesday we left the hotel around 8:30 and headed to the Lewi Cafe for breakfast. Dereje had injera with a tomato sauce, since Wednesday is a fasting day (so no meat allowed), T had a ham and cheese sandwich and I ordered a Spanish omelet; I had to wait a little longer for my dish, but it proved to be worth it in the end.
After breakfast, we checked out a relatively new and somewhat well-known orthodox cathedral in town, and then stopped by Lake Awasa where a few people were fishing offshore, out past the reeds. Before leaving Awasa, we stopped at a street stall selling leather goods where Dereje bought a new belt and T bought a new wallet and a coin pouch.
The drive back to Addis from Awasa is about 4 hours, so we stopped a few places on the way. The first stop was a resort that was sadly closed down earlier this year. The original owner grew up poor but became a successful hotel owner, running numerous places in the Rift Valley. Apparently he left the hotels to his children who ran them into the ground, and the hotel we stopped at was being auctioned off later that week for $9 million. Outside the hotel grounds, which takes up lakeside space with various cottages and a beach, complete with volleyball net, there were families that had make a living from the guests who would spend the day at the lake and then stay at cheaper accommodation nearby. Now that the hotel is closed and no customers will be coming, the place looked slightly deserted. One restaurant we passed was especially heart-breaking, with a sign out front that said Pizzaria, and a massive wood-burning pizza oven outdoors near some tables.
Dereje suggested we check out Sabana next, another resort hotel, but a new one that was looking prosperous already. During a walk through the grounds, we discovered an enclosed area with two giant tortoises and a baby, one which was kind enough to walk around very slowly for us. As we continued our walk, I noticed that even though it was the off-season, there were a dozen people staying there, some enjoying the lakeside beachfront. There was a park near the beach with a ping-pong table, which Dereje and I played on, and then we climbed the trees and posed for some pictures which T kindly took. After that, we headed up to the posh restaurant on the grounds that served excellent dishes, like the ricotta cheese & spinach stuffed pasta shells I had.
We left Sabana and drove another two hours before stopping in Debra Zeit at the Dreamland hotel for a drink in their outdoor cafe overlooking a huge caldera lake, formed long ago by volcanic activity. It was a fun way to end the day before getting back to Addis...just in time for dinner.