As we move further towards our next destination – Bale Mountains National Park – we discover a completely different Oromo. Same Ethiopia, even same federal region (Oromo), but our cycling experience changed with each kilometer we pedaled South. We took Adama – Dinsho highway that goes straight South via Asella town. It is a very good quality paved road. It’s elevation profile is much friendlier for cyclists than our previous route to Harar. You still get hills and plenty of climbing but as you cross the Rift Valley you also get stretches of flat(ish) riding via lush farmlands and some distant mountains in your side view. It reminded us pretty…

Captain’s thoughts We are little over two weeks in this unique country. First thing – cycling is really hard here. It is a very mountainous terrain. Every direction which is further than 100 km you will have to do some continuous climbing. On a loaded tandem bicycle climbing is always slow, on your lowest gear. This slow speed inevitably allows all the local children to not only run by your side but also to investigate what is in your panniers, or have a lot of fun while trying to provoke you for racing with them. If you happen to be sensitive to touching and constant attention, well, this might be…

1. Visa. We land from Istanbul on Monday, just around midnight, so it’s nearly Tuesday. We had 7th row seats so we’re pretty much the first to get off the plane and come to the visa-on-arrival windows. Well, guess what, we overlooked that Lithuanian passport is good for e-visa but not for one at the airport. We are nicely asked to fill out the electronic application using a great Wi-Fi at the airport. Then we are taken to their office to wait for approval. The problem is, it’s midnight and consular officers are asleep. After several call attempts to their main office, we’re being told it may take until 12…

After just two hours of sleep and eyes wide open you wander if the day has started already? It’s just a little bit after midnight. It’s pitch dark outside, most of your 17 million neighbors are still asleep. Do you follow their call for some quiet and rest? Should you tamper with almost uncontrollable flow of ruthless reciting of everything what happened yesterday, day before yesterday? Just 4 days ago you were kneeling on the Lake Shore Drive bike trail, looking closely at the bike’s crank arm and trying to figure out how to mount the pedal back. Kindness of the universe was already manifesting itself in newly acquired friend,…