Welcome to Kutaber, Amhara. Approximately 3200m up you find a completely different scene than most of the country, which is either luscious and green or vacantly (yet occupied) barren. There are mountains that surround the town, stretching from several hundred meters up to several kilometers wide.
I enjoy hiking with local children because of their immense curiosity and interest to see the world. There aren't any structured paths to get to the top of the mountain and yet they love the adventure of going through bushels of weeds, rocks, and the occasional steep incline that'll scare most into turning back.
I can't forget the many farm animals that farmers take up to the mountain to graze due to the abundance of green fields and luscious land. From sheep and goats to horses, they graze happily at the top.
I often get asked whether people live in huts or shacks and I do my best to educate those by telling them that many live in mud houses, which they build themselves (as most villagers do). Yet there are still many homes that are build out of sement, plaster, and other material i'm not familiar with.
The diffuculty of climbing down, every day, to get to town, is an obstacle that many mountain dwellers don't think twice about. As you would imagine, going down was much more difficult than climbing up. Therefore, when it was time to descend back down not only did I have to watch my step carefully, but I also had to keep myself in check in fear of fainting from the steepness. Remember...there are no true paths, atleast none that I would trust on a rainy day.
