This is a beautiful, yet harsh country. Once you move outside the city of Addis Ababa, the landscape changes to an amazing mountainous terrain, that sometimes seems unforgiving to the people who seek to cultivate it. 

Driving to some of the historic sites turned into the road trip from hell, since many of the roads are unfinished, and were literally being built as we drove, more often than not, alongside them.

The history of Ethiopia is rich and deep, and  a source of pride for most. But, there are some troubling areas of its past that a few Ethiopians I spoke to wished could be forgotten.  These are the politically-motivated killings over differences in ideas and ideology.

The result is a very cautious people, reluctant to voice any strong opinions about anything. My daughter lived in Addis for six months teaching.