My 35th Birthday

On my 35th birthday we flew from Axum to Gondar. The day before, Josh, Emma and I had taken a nice walk up to some hilltop monasteries and then gone out to the ancient quarry where the stelae rocks were carved from. While we were up there, a small boy was trying to sell me an amethyst geode. He wanted 400 birr, about 23 dollars. It was the most beautiful rock I've seen in a long time! I knew the bank machine in Axum didn't work and I was afraid of running short of cash so I decided to leave the rock behind. When we got back to town I couldn't stop thinking about it. The rock wasn't over priced, in fact it was dirt cheap for it's size. I felt like I was supposed to pay the kid. ( 400 birr goes along way in the country) I made a joke about getting a tuc-tuc back to the quarry to get it but my friends convinced me that was stupid and that I would never find the kid again. So, I went with Andrea to a gift shop where she had seen other geodes for sale.

The next day, we arrived in Gondar to our 4 star hotel( What luck! Nicest place we've stayed on the whole trip!) Josh and Emma surprised me big time with my Geode! Turns out while I was shopping with Andrea, Emma, Josh and Garrett had gone back out to the quarry to find my rock! Sometimes, people just surprise you in the most amazing ways! How thoughtful and amazing! I think these are 4 really wonderful people! Later in the evening when the truck met us, we had cake and enjoyed the luxury and good food of our new hotel.