Setting sun over the beautiful coffee plantations of Kaffa, Ethiopia.

When words fail you! There simply are not enough adjectives to describe the beauty of the region.

Driving from Bonga to Tum: lush, green, tropical, raw and inviting. It’s a place you wish you had more time for before you even arrive. Time to dive into the fleeting landscape you glimpse from the road. Time to create just the perfect painting that matches the beauty your eye beholds.

Leaving the Kaffa area of Ethiopia is difficult. It is opulently green and beautiful, studded with the tea and coffee plantations. It pulls at the heartstrings that long for the full feeling a gorgeous place like this evokes.

Kaffa coffee land … sigh.

We are four painters in a truck, asking our driver to stop every couple of miles to take photos. As for me, I am sketching from the truck as long as my energy allows. All this beauty speaks to my soul, and I want to absorb it fully — to do what an artist does, filter the experience through our own unique creativity, and make art from the experience to the best of our ability.

Out my hotel window in Bonga, Ethiopia.

The drive is long — more than six hours by car — but the landscape so marvelous, you hardly notice. And so, following the setting sun, we find ourselves in Tum, a jumping-off point for Maji, where we will go with Jane Kurtz and her sister, Caroline. I’m honored to be along for this special homecoming. Besides, if today’s drive was any indication, we are in for a visual treat.

No one has to remind these guys how to have fun!

Selfies, it turns out, are a good way to prompt laughter.

Finding myself at the domestic flights terminal of the Bole International Airport, I am reminded of — and humbled by — the many gifts of travel.

Our team of eight is off to Jimma, Ethiopia. Then we went bump, bump, bump, in a truck all the way to Tum, our jumping-off point for Maji, Ethiopia. We are returning with two team members who grew up here, returning to the roots of why Ethiopia Reads was founded. The organization was co-founded acclaimed children’s book author, Jane Kurtz. The little girl of missionary parents, Jane grew up in Maji, Ethiopia, was raised by a mother who loved to read and raised children who love to read.

We spend the night in Bonga, near Kafffa, birth place of coffee. A lovely drive through lush (or in Ahmaric, “lum lum”) scenery. I’m itching to paint by now. But due to our late arrival, I’ll have to settle for photos. My team member and friend Troy Zaushny and I head off on foot to follow the sun. There are places whose beauty exceed one’s ability for words, and this place is one such place.

It is a magical experience, with the sun was setting over a magical and lush rolling landscape. The already exquisite vista is made even more beautiful by the setting sun.

As often happens in rural Ethiopia, the presence of foreigners soon attracts a group, and the sweet children follow us on our photo-taking adventure. They giggle with increasing animation as we walk along, holding hands, following the beauty of the setting sun.

That is the magic of Ethiopia: the people, the beauty, the simple pleasures. It leaves me longing to pull out my paints. And a plan is made for the four painters to do just that in the morning. Until tomorrow, I’ll lay my head down with the sweet memories of the day.

Their first selfie. Riotous joy!