Chapter 897 Stealth
Classmate Le Xiao is most interested in pottery from all ethnic groups in Ethiopia. He goes shopping just to buy some unique pottery.
Due to the geographical environment of the Ethiopian region, the soil is fine and the pottery is particularly strong. Even if it looks rough, it is rare for a piece to have blisters.
Undoubtedly, that kind of ceramic is the good tool for filling medicine she is looking for. Whether it is ointment or concoction, it is better to put it in pottery than in containers made of gold, silver and other materials.
Unless it is a special item that must be loaded with special products, it can generally be said that pottery and stone containers are universal containers. After all, the ancestors of mankind originally used stone tools and pottery, and jade containers are also stone tools.
In order to buy more things, Le Yun went to a store on her way to the market to buy a luggage bag with wheels that could be used as a suitcase, and then rushed to the market to search for treasures.
It is said to be a market, but it is actually an open-air trading place with reddish-brown soil exposed. It is located in a corner of the suburbs. Most of the stalls selling goods are villagers from the suburbs, and some are suburban residents.
There are a dazzling array of items on the stalls, including knitted products, pottery products for daily use, fruits, cattle and sheep, etc. Everyone is doing small business to exchange some money for daily necessities.
It was probably a little late when she arrived, and she missed the busiest period of the market, but the people setting up stalls did not disperse. There were local ethnic groups and a small number of tourists experiencing the local customs,
Tigray State is dominated by the Amhara and Tigrayan ethnic groups, and there are relatively few other tribes. Therefore, among the men and women in the trading market, there are no naked women, naked men, or colorfully painted tribal men and women.
Every item in the market is bid casually by the seller, and the price of each stall is different. It may be one birr here, and two birr at the next stall. If you don’t want to waste money, you can bargain.
After the disguise, Le Xiao’s skin is close to that of an Ethiopian. Unfortunately, she can’t pass herself off as a local because she doesn’t speak Amharic. However, no one will mistake her for an Asian. They will all think that she is a European or American. .
Le Yun, pretending to be a European and American, happily went shopping to buy pottery while dragging her wheeled luggage bag. Because she didn’t understand the local language, it was difficult to negotiate the price. After going to several places, she found a girl with a little girl about seven or eight years old. I chatted a few words with the little boy and the children next to the women selling groceries. I found that the two children knew English. I smiled and gave the children a European English story, a writing notebook and a lead, and then asked for advice. They speak Amharic.
Ethiopia's manufacturing industry is weak, and printed matter mainly depends on imports. Paper books are very expensive. The two children were very happy to receive small gifts and taught Amharic to foreign friends. Their mother also assisted the children in teaching when there was no business.
Leyun imitated the locals, and sat on the ground regardless of whether the ground was mud or gray. She took out the English and Amharic reference book she bought to ask for advice, so as to remember the pronunciation of each word. Her learning ability was excellent. , teach it once and you will remember it all, study for half an hour, and learn the simplest sentences in Amharic to ask for price, eat, drink, stay, walk, etc.
She learned happily, and the mother and son taught happily. The stall owner nearby would occasionally join in the fun and teach a few words. Some children also sat close together, chattering like sparrows in a meeting. It was so lively and even attractive. Tourists came to take pictures, and then they attracted a European and German man who was teaching locally. The man knew Amharic. He probably thought that teaching children was not very professional, so he enthusiastically became a free teacher.
After learning the language for two hours, Leyun immediately learned and used it. She picked a few items at the women's stall, bought a few kilograms of coffee beans at the coffee bean stall next door, and negotiated prices with them in Amharic. After more than ten minutes, the deal was concluded. She couldn't help but smile, and the stall owners also smiled shyly.
The German gentleman gave thumbs up repeatedly and waited for the girl to pay. He enthusiastically accompanied the girl shopping and taught her the official language of Ethiopia. In addition to bargaining for shopping, they mostly talked about the Oktoberfest in country D and the Oktoberfest in country F. red wine and truffles.
It has to be said that Mr. Germany is also a foodie, so Le Yun had a very good chat with him. They walked along the street from one end to the other and there was almost nothing to find. In order to thank Mr. Germany, she invited him to a coffee shop for coffee. , chatted for more than an hour, and then parted ways.
After separating from the German gentleman whom she met unexpectedly, Le Yun went shopping again, specifically visiting unique handicraft stores, buying all kinds of clay pots, clay pots, and clay coffee cups.
I bought four handmade camels in a specialty store. The camels were carrying things, carrying boxes, carpets and other belongings on their backs. They were also hung with cute little jars, jars and baskets. of small objects.
There are too many things to fit in the duffel bag, so buy another bag specifically for camel crafts. Move some distance away to a safe corner and move some things into the space, leaving some of them to drag around.
After wandering around until noon, I first looked for a place to eat. After I was full, I went to a motorcycle shop to buy a motorcycle. The motorcycle I bought was a Chinese brand Lifan motorcycle, and it still had a brand.
A complete set of motorcycles, helmets, and gas costs hundreds of dollars.
Lexiao, who bought his own national brand car, did not worry about money. He tied his luggage bag to the back seat, bought drinking water and necessities, went shopping, bought all the items, and rode his motorcycle towards his destination. Set off.
When leaving the city along the highway, it is not the road to Danakil and the active volcano at first. Instead, there is a section of the road to the border city close to the border with Ecuador. Therefore, no matter what kind of car you drive on the road, no one can I don’t know where I’m going, and it’s even harder to tell whether I’m a tourist or a local on a motorcycle.
Le Yun took advantage of a small opportunity and rode her motorcycle as fast as she could on the road. After running for a while, she turned onto the road to the Danakil Depression. There were Ethiopian guards guarding her at a close distance. If you want to go to the volcanic depression, you must pass through a small village. Park in a safe place, leave your car behind, and go on foot to avoid the small village.
The place guarded by Ethiopian government soldiers is a necessary place for a road. The small village is located on the plain between the plateau mountains. If you want to take a detour, you have to go around the mountains of the plateau, which is very far away.
As a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner who either runs in the mountains or thinks about getting into them, Le Xiao’s classmate is not afraid of high mountains, long roads and deep pits. He puts on a mask, packs lightly and climbs into the mountains from the plain side. Climb the mountain, pick some plants along the way, and water some plants that are extremely short of water.
Of course, what is being poured is water that has been replaced from the water shortage. Due to excessive use of space well water, the recovery speed is very slow. It is necessary to save water sources. Although the water replaced from the water tank has few nutrients left, for Ethiopia For the land in the north where there is chronic drought and little rain, a drop of rain is also as expensive as oil.
In fact, Xiao Le had not climbed very far when dusk fell. She did not return to space until she could no longer see the ground. She first sorted out the items she had bought in the city before taking care of the medicinal plants and watering several flower beds. , those newly-opened flower beds have not seen water for who knows how many years. They have been watered with well water for several days, but the soil is still dry.
After finishing the work, I sat down to process the thorns of the cactus. Some of the cacti were collected from Socotra Island, and some were collected from Ethiopia. There are many varieties of cacti all over Ethiopia. Ethiopian people only use them as free fruit trees, picking fruits in exchange for some money, or eating some for themselves, without making full use of them reasonably.
There are many types of cacti, including fan-shaped, spherical or rod-shaped cacti, cactus sticks, etc., all of which belong to the Cactaceae family.
Cactus has many functions, but the native Africans do not pay attention to it. Leyun did not waste resources and collected a large number of them. Not only did she dig up seedlings of various varieties and plant them in flower pots, she also collected a large number of wild cactus palms and fruits. When she has time, she can To pick out the thorns, pick out the thorns on the cactus surface and put them in a large basin. The thorns are also medicinal materials, and the fleshy palms are put in a bamboo sieve or piled on the ground.
After a busy night, I found room to cross the mountains again at dawn the next day. It took a whole day to cross a series of mountains, far beyond the village where the Ethiopian guards were stationed, and rested again.
On the third day, Leyun decided to run to the active volcano in the depression. On the way, she heard the vibration of a convoy driving behind her in the distance. She looked for a place to avoid it. After seven or eight minutes, she saw a group of station wagons passing by. A total of eleven off-road vehicles, carrying large and small bags of water, fuel, and food, lined up in a long line to go to the depression.
At this moment, she instantly became happy and rode her motorcycle to follow far behind, saving her from having to find her own way. She kept a distance of about two kilometers. She knew the team, but the team did not know her.
In the middle of the morning, the road reaches its end, and the rest is the transitional section from the Huangsha Plateau to the volcanic lava landform. The so-called road is the road trodden by the drivers of the tourist bus and the camel team. It is often blown by strong winds and a long sandstorm. Blocking out the sky and the sun, it is easy for people who are not familiar with it to get lost.
On the desolate land, there is little vegetation, the sun is even more scorching, and there is a lot of wind that day, with frequent sandstorms.
Following the convoy on the wild road in the desert, Le Yun slowed down the car so as not to be caught too close to the convoy as she was running too fast. Not long after entering the desert, she was hit by a gust of wind and the whole world was covered in gray. She simply stopped and waited. The gust of wind stopped, and the whole body and car were covered with dust.
At first, the visible range was not wide, and we were walking slowly. When the dust in the air slowly fell to the ground, the desert returned to its empty, desolate, and endless appearance.
The convoy had already traveled an unknown distance. Little Le Xiao was not in a hurry and followed the tracks of the wheels until noon. He put away the car again and walked alone along the wasteland to a point where the traveling vehicles rested on the road, and then continued.
Passing through a wasteland of volcanic lava landforms, you enter the Danakil Desert, that is, you really reach the Danakil Depression, the most famous lava lake volcano in Ethiopia - Erta Ale volcano, and the geothermal volcano that forms a hydrochloric acid lake - Da. The Lohr volcano and the huge salt pools of the Afar region are located in the Danakil Desert.
The average daily temperature in the desert is 34 degrees Celsius. When it is hot, the daytime temperature reaches over 50 degrees Celsius. Near the active volcano crater, the highest daytime temperature reaches 70 degrees Celsius. It is the hottest place in the world and is known as the "least suitable place to live". "The Gates of Hell".
On the edge of the desert, it is far away from the volcano and you can't see where it is. Without a guide or guide, it is easy to lose your way in the desert. If you don't bring enough water and food, you will be dead.
Others might get lost, but Le Yun wouldn't. Her nose was too sensitive. Even if she couldn't see the car marks on the ground, she could still accurately find the volcano based on the faint volcanic smell in the air.
Being too far away from the volcano, she didn't have to worry about being discovered. She followed the traces left by the convoy in the desert. She rode for a long time and collected a lot of desert soil during her break. She planted plants that like sandy soil in the space.
There are also sand mountains and desert plants in the wild desert, which bring life to the desert. Despite the harsh climate conditions, there are actually a small number of residents in the desert. They are the strong Afar people who make a living by digging salt.
It also takes several hours for an off-road vehicle to drive in the desert, and a motorcycle is slower. Toward the evening, Leyun saw the active volcano emitting black smoke in the distance - the Erta Ale volcano, with lava surging in the crater. Heat will form and there will always be flame smoke overhead.
After seeing the outline of the volcano, she could no longer follow the traces of the convoy and took a detour by herself, far away from the secluded dormitory area of the travel agency. There were government guards stationed there to protect tourists who came to watch the volcano. group.
We took a long detour and got close to the active volcano. In order to prevent the sound of the motorcycle from alerting the travel agency and the guards, we put the car away and walked towards the volcano on foot, collecting plants as we walked, even ordinary ones. I didn't spare any shrubs or weeds. I collected some of them every time I saw one.
The camp set up by the travel agency at the foot of the active volcano is very simple, with stone walls, no quilts, and simple beds. Tourists can put their sleeping bags on the simple beds to sleep on.
The foot of the mountain is still far from the top. The tour guides and government guards took the tourists from the camp after 6:30 to climb the volcano. When the sky got dark, everyone used flashlights or headlamps. From a distance, it looked like a fiery dragon. We are walking towards the red-red mountain top.
Le Yun was digging plant roots, but it was already dark before she reached the foot of the mountain. She saw the mountain climbing team in the distance, rolled her eyes, ran wildly, and ran to the safest climbing path that the travel agency had discovered. I also followed the mountain climbing. In order to illuminate the road, I tied a flashlight to a stick and moved it close to the ground. I could see the road myself and not let others see the light.
The temperature of the volcano is so high and the environment is so harsh. However, there are still plants on the volcano. Those plants grow in the gaps between the volcanic magma deposits. Even if the land is barren, they still insist on surviving unyieldingly and tenaciously. This is shocking enough. , lamenting the tenacity and tenacity of life.
The group of tourists who climbed the mountain took a break every hour. After climbing for three and a half hours, they climbed to the active crater. They first rested at a campsite near the active crater, and then were accompanied by tour guides and guards to see the crater.
Mr. Le was very fast, and he was not far from the tour group in less than half an hour. He could only sit and wait for others to go away before climbing up. He climbed not far from the top of the mountain, quietly detoured, and carried the direction of the tourists into the space. Meditate and prepare to go out and dig plants until early in the morning.
(End of chapter)