Stuck in Civilisation at Bahir Dar

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You spend days waiting for simple things like a tarmac road and a larger town where you can actually get some decent supplies, and then you get stuck in one and it isn't that much fun.



We headed off early in the knowledge of making Bahir Dar on the lake and having a lazy day catching-up, doing washing, replacing the blown tyre and re-supplying. We were on good tarmac roads and the going was good as we approached the outskirts and saw a Toyota service centre and dealership. Since the steering was a little off (likely due to all the bumps) we decided to stop in and get the steering aligned. They were very friendly and said it would take 30 minutes, well it didn't.



After an hour they explained some of the bolts they needed to adjust were quite stiff so they needed more time, then it was lunchtime so they took an hour off. At this point James and Alain headed into town with a broken wheel to find a new one and i decided since we were waiting to do our clothes washing in the grounds of the dealership. I was lucky enough to get the female members of the office wanting to come out and have photos with me, not sure if it was my dashing good looks or the fact they don't see many foreigners.



Anyway it was at this point they sheared off one of the bolts in the front steering and of course they didn't have a spare, it would need to be shipped from Addis Ababa. It being Friday afternoon it was unlikely to make it to us on Saturday (when they work a half day) and most likely to mean we have to wait until Monday for them to fix it. Extremely frustrating and leaves us stranded as the truck was on a ramp 10 foot in the air with no front wheels.



So we had to grad a few things and head in to Bahir Dar for a few days to kill time. Thankfully it is a beautiful city on a lake with a few nearby sites to see. We found a hotel with clean rooms and showers and went for a walk along the lake and saw at least 10 other tourists as well as a number of locals wanting to speak to us in English, it seems we have hit the main tourist trial.



We're all a bit annoyed but trying to make the most of the dead time, will update when more news.

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