Fruits of Ethiopia: coffee, khat, sugarcane and beautiful people

Here are a few videos that I’ve taken during the Run Across Ethiopia over the past week, which feature some of the best Ethiopia has to offer — and how to consume them.

First is a video of a woman outside the Aragesh Lodge roasting coffee beans over an open fire before serving us strong and delicious “black gold”.

Next, one of our interpreters, Sue Rafael (I’ve surely misspelled his name) teaches me how to prepare and then chew “khat”, the East African energy drug.

The entire world is no stranger to sugar, but have you ever chewed a stalk of fresh sugarcane? Interpreter Egga teaches us how.

Speaking of Egga, during Day 9 of the Run Across Ethiopia, we came across a commercial being filmed by the side of the road, featuring an Ethiopian model named Judy whose looks could send a lot of jaws dropping to the floor. Sure enough, Egga got out of the van, walked over and gave her a hug. Turns out, they were high school classmates.