Ethiopia!

Ethiopia begins…. December 27th or so, 2010


Where to start, where to start….

Side note: This morning my first stop was to a travel agency in Hargeisa. My folks are coming to visit me, in Victoria Falls, in April. Everything is planned, except my and K’s plane ticket. Between work and sickness, booking the ticket has been lingering for about a month. Per my mom, the flights are getting full and I should book asap. I get to the travel agency and no less than three times they confirmed it was for April. Then, they told me to come back in a month, minimum. I left the flight desirables and my contact info, just in case a good deal popped up, but they essentially laughed me out of there. When in Africa….

Bigger insights??: It is hard to know just how impoverished or ‘repressed’ someplace is until you have something to compare it too. Reverse culture shock in many ways. I know it in theory and first hand in various ways. But Somaliland v. Ethiopia. In many ways, Somaliland is my comfort zone. And the ‘third gender’ syndrome in Somaliland is more apparent being here (Ethiopia) where that is not an issue. Seeing women being women, couples holding hands, there being a national pride complete with ‘Rasta’ colors, music playing, and people working hard to for something, it is nice.

What is that something that Ethiopians have that it seems like Somalianders are, very generally, missing? Why work for it? There is such a hard, steep road between hands-to-mouth needs being met and the over consuming-US norm. In so many ways, the simplicity and acceptance of life as it is in Somaliland is lovely (post-war syndrome I am told). What is missing in the very subdued, status-quo society of Somaliland? Anything? In many ways I feel more comfortable there- I know what to expect and have some experience with what will cause a reaction, the language, and the culture. But, being here, the cultural void is more apparent there.

I hear stories of before the war in Somaliland when people were uncovered and life was happening all around- even the wine was flowing; now there is a more conservative reform sweeping the nation where ‘traditional’ roles are more the accepted. This is not the true repression that I hear of in one or two other Arab/ Muslim countries, where women are truly forbidden to be seen in public, but there is a noticeable separation of genders and of physical/ fashion conservatism in Somaliland. Does it stem from a fear of something being taken away? What makes the people as a whole ‘unmotivated,’ for lack of a better word, to really work hard and make life ‘better’ for themselves. What does better even mean?

The people of Somaliland seem bonded and really united in their national pride, in providing a safe place and welcoming place for K and myself. I do not feel that people are trying to rip us off or use us, but they want to embrace us. Here, there are more white people, more street thieves, more aggression, more confidence, more ‘life.’ Most people in Somaliland are very peaceful and calming in what is. Yet, there is also a progressive movement happening in Somliland. If I may stereotype, they are the well educated ‘hippies’ of the late sixties and seventies. Very smart people who studied abroad, did well for themselves, raised families abroad and are now coming back to Somaliland to lend their experience and perspective, and who truly want to raise the status quo of Somaliland. They are thinkers with means and connections. Admitting my own nativity in all of this, I do feel as though Somliland is at a crossroads and on the brink of something. Acknowledging my very outsider status on most levels, I am grateful for every new insight I get into this phenomena. Taking myself out of it, even just for a few days now, brings new perspective.

These are merely my thoughts. I am no expert; just one spectator working through my observations and thoughts. Please, do not take anything more than one person’s perspective from anything I write.

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Now, Ethiopia. Day one: Crossing the border. The border towns on both sides are very developed! Lots of restaurants and shops. Muslim is the overarching culture still. And it is the typical, plastic and garbage ridden Somaliland look on both immediate sides. The process to cross the border was to stamp our passport out of Somaliland, then walk past a singular rope across a street, then figure out immigration on the Ethiopia side, stamp the passport and find the bus. Nothing is labeled, and this very important offices look exactly like the other store fronts, but thanks to our trusty-been-here-before guide, Ode (another teacher), we made it. The Somaliland person was fabulously personable too as I took pictures and Kenai stamped his own passport. For those counting, this is the second country that has let a six year old make the official stamp on his passport- UAE being the first. This child….

I packed (very relatively) light for this trip: One small roller, and one medium backpack. Plus a purse, and K had a little backpack. However, as we are tucking from one border town to the next, the roller, and even my mid-sized pack was out of place. If the color of my skin did not draw enough attention, my armfuls of luggage did the trick. It was very manageable, but the roller clanked along the dirt road, bringing stares and harmless entertainment for locals.

Next stop, bus depot. There are four seats across, which means we can squeeze five full-grown butts. The bus was old and dirty, but only five across did not seem too bad. Weather is mild right now, so all in all, it was bearable. I was highly impressed with the 10 year old that was running the show. He was articulate (in Somali), assertive, and methodical in his placement of people on the bus and about collecting the cash. Truly, what a waste of a very intelligent individual- manning the front door of the bus. I wish I had Abaarso flyers to hand to him/ to recruit him with.

In short, the ride was fine. Roads got considerably better as we headed further from the boarder. I was shocked at lovely scenery! Green hills, mountains, the evolution of ‘poor’ huts and towns, water (lots of pics- check it out)! Again, never realized how much I missed seeing bodies of water until I saw them again (there are none in Somaliland). The family next to me took great pleasure in my very broken and very limited Somali (“Enough!” “Go go!” as my patience ran out as we waited for the mini bus to leave), and we had about four check points in the six hours where every non-white person (the four in our group were the only whites) piled off the bus and showed their papers. Overall, it was long, warm, dirty, cheap and exciting.

Around 6pm, Herrar!! Tired and starved we quickly adapted to all of the people wanting to help us (in an aggressive, I-hope-to-get-something-from-you way) and made our way to our $4 a night hotel room. Yikes. That may have been a new low for me, though it was minimally maintained and for the most part sanitary, but old and old-dirty. This was way worse than the Motel 6 my folks ‘made’ me and my sister stay at during one our family vacations. The story goes Beth and I had our own room and freaked out when there was a roach on the wall. If my folks and sister could see me now…

We quickly dropped our luggage and headed out to dinner. Ready? The best part of the post is coming up. I had a beer. COLD BEER!! First one in about 4 months (even pregnant I did not go that long!). It was the best thing I ever tasted. The fact that it cost about $.30 made it that much better. And there was pizza. Fabulous ‘fasting’ pizza- grilled onions, lots of other veggies and no cheese. It was amazing! Fasting = vegetarian. I learned that word quickly. I had two beers that night. Kenai asked me if I wanted another one. I said no, two was going to be enough for that first night. He said, ‘Yeah. You probably should switch to wine now.’

Other highlights of Herrar include a real beer garden. REAL BEER GARDEN!! Tables with umbrellas and palm trees to look at. DARK BEER!! I hope ya’ll reading this understand just how happy I was to be there. Even now, a month later writing about, I still get gitty. Ahhh. Avocado smoothies- who knew!?! Avocado smashed up with some lime- fabulous. Another food highlight was egg-chapatti fried goodness with some tomatoes or chillis. It could have used more hot sauce, and possible a dollop of sour cream, but yum. So tasty!

Do not worry, I am not going to spell out every detail of the trip. Mostly because much of the above was written six (now closer to 9) weeks ago as it was happening. From here on out, just an over view with a few stories.



Sight-seeing in Harar was great. Then we went to Dire Dawa. Bini is a friend of mine from the university that I taught at in Hargeisa. He now lives back in Dire Dawa and was our amazing host. That city was very green and he thoroughly entertained Kenai- taking him to parks where he played when he was a kid, going a carriage ride together while the ladies shopped for scarves, and buying him the great Ethiopia hat that is seen in many pictures. It was nice to be cared for so well.



From there, K and I took an overnight bus to Addis (leaving the rest of the crew behind). The drivers and handlers were a little sketchy. K and I were in the front seat and there were quite a few transactions that happened that I’m pretty sure were not legit. But, the others in the car were well-dressed, seemingly mid-upper class people. Adult families and couples. They made me feel like we were going to be okay. And we were. Arriving at the station at like 4:30a, we ‘slept’ in the van for a few more hours before heading to the Addis airport to get Brian, a friend from California.



Brian, oh Brian. Not surprisingly, he was about the last person off his plane. Shy me asked every American-looking person where they were coming from. Two hours after I found the first person from his flight, we found him. It was really, really nice to see someone from the US. I love everyone here, and do a decent job of keeping in touch, but it was good to see a familiar face.



In Addis, we splurged for a fancy room- two beds, a toilet AND hot water in our room, with an extra chair. The B&B was very nice and in the ‘little Italy’ area of Addis. Young. Sassy. And reasonably priced. We got these luxury accommodations for a whole $14. Pricey! Brian was pretty tired so we laid low that day. Next morning we toured around a bit. Met some guys who helped us navigate the city, got my phone stolen outside the zoo, and ate cake. Lots of cake. Who knew I liked cake so much! More beer too. It was good. There were three tiers of transportation in Addis- taxis, public buses, and public mini buses. We took mini buses most places. For about $.10 each, we could get from neighborhood to neighborhood. I guess we could take the public buses for less, but even the locals did not do that. It was only for the poorest of folks.

Back at the room that day, I was headed to my room when I hear ‘Christine.’ Low and behold, one of the other teachers was staying at the B&B too! Not one of the ones I left with/ was traveling with for the first few nights, but a different one. We just cannot stay away from each other.  Making friends with his friends, Brian crashed that night, K watched movies, and I grabbed a drink with them. It was also very nice to see that familiar face when on the road too.

Where are we, about day 5? Between cities, we mostly took mini buses to get from A to B. They were fine. Not luxury, but not miserable. Think full size van. One butt per seat if I paid for Kenai, he on my lap if I didn’t. It was about 50/50 when I paid and when I didn’t. They made meal and potty stops. Twice I had someone else on the bus buy my meal. As you will read, the next two cities were not the finest, but the generosity of many made up for the manipulative few.

Bahir Dar. Some local ‘friends’ in Addis helped us with our transportation to Dahir Dar. The Addis crew was nice. Educated (I believe them), but out of work. They helped us see the sites around Addis in exchange for a meal. Long story short, we did give them a few Ethiopian dollars because my phone was stolen and we never met up for dinner. One of these guy’s cousins ran a tourist business in Bahir Dar. This is when I let my guard down and became a typical western tourist. Sigh.

The cousin carted us off to a reasonable hotel. About $5 a night for two beds and a nice, though communal bathroom. Perfect! He arranged three days of tours for us and we pre-paid. It was more than it should have been, but to have everything, including our transportation, taken care of- heck, we are on vacation.

That night we had fish for dinner. Sparing the details, for the next 36-48 hours, all three of us were sicker than I had been in as long as I could remember. We cancelled the pre-paid day of tours (the day that cost the most because it was a day trip to another city). That afternoon, I asked K if he wanted to go see hippos in the wild, he said no he wanted to go to bed. I knew he was really not feeling well if he passed on a chance to see wild animals. It was not fun. Thankfully, our $5 a night place had sitting toilets in addition to pit toilets. The poor cleaning people who had to clean the stalls the next day. ..

After sickness, we were well enough to get out of bed. Lake Tana, the beginning of the Nile. We took a ‘speed boat’ to islands that housed 11th century? 12th century? monasteries. They were pretty neat. Round structures. The chapel was in the middle. Only clergy could go in, and the doors were only opened during mass times. The outside was painted floor to ceiling with natural inks depicting scenes from the Bible. It was impressive. I wish I had a greater understanding or knowledge of the Bible so I could appreciate and follow the stories more. It was still great. There are a bunch of pictures posted below.

Other highlights from that morning include paying way too much for coffee beans because I was still too sick to think straight or negotiate, and the hippos. They were in a cove in the lake and Kenai was very excited to see them- Brian and I were too. There were about three or four adults and a mom. Despite being responsible for more deaths than any other animal in Africa (they are vegetarians, but will charge to defend their territory), there were communities living right near the hippos. I asked about the hippos charging at people; they laughed at me. Hhhmmmm.

That afternoon- Blue Nile Waterfall. The Great Rift Valley. Gorgeous! How the area around the waterfall is not more built up is beyond me. Im glad, as it is gorgeous without it, but talk about prime real estate! We happen to be there during sugar cane harvest time. Im not sure how long this season is, but we hit it! The canes were being loaded off boats, onto the banks, and then they were carried away. Never fear, Kenai was the recipient of some of this sugar cane before it disappeared. It was SO GOOD! His words and mine. Then, a short hike to the falls. The pictures speak for themselves I think.

Travel day to Lalibela- one of the original five Christian civilizations. It was Christmas in Ethiopia by this time. They are on a different calendar. In fact, it is only 2003 there. Kenai took great pleasure in announcing that he was not even born yet in Ethiopia while we were there. There were millions of people there, all wearing white blankets/ scarves. Awesome! Again, the pics speak for themselves. Brian also made friends with a kid. The kid guided us around the town a little, we went to his place for some coffee where is landlord’s baby peed on me, he gave us crosses, and we bought him a book in exchange for this. Will he actually read the book? Is he going to return it for some cash? I wonder. ‘Street rat’ undoubtly, yet still a seemingly good kid. I wish I could know where is story goes and how it ends.

One church was particularly memorable. This was the day we decided to venture without a guide. Ha! We should have known….. We get in line for what we presume is another church. We are relatively near the front, but the line is moving VERY slowly. After a bit, the guard up front sees us. ‘Forengie, forengie!’ We get ushered to the front. Its just Brian, Kenai and myself. We have relatively few items with us, but there are no shoes allowed in there. And we have a water bottle, probably a jacket or two too. Of course, I left our bag in the hotel room. I take the stuff, and Brian takes Kenai. We enter a tunnel. It is very dark. Kenai gets a little whiny, as people are pushing and we cannot see. ‘Just a little more Kenai. I’m sure this will open up soon.’ Little did I know…. Turns out, the church was a tunnel. We were packed like sardines in this tunnel. People smelled. It was warm, but not overly hot. People groped. Kenai was not happy. There was a lot of chanting and praying happening. And why not? We were in purgatory praying our way to heaven! I do not know how long the tunnel/cave/church was, nor how long we were down there. I am guessing it was about 1km and it took us 20 minutes. On the one hand, it was awesome! I wish I knew what I was doing before heading in instead of reading about it after the fact. The chanting was great and it was very meditative to just move with the waves of people. On the other hand, K was not happy, and I was carrying a bunch of stuff, and fending off hands in inappropriate places. Alone would have been better. Now, whenever K and I are fighting, the new line is ‘would you rather be in a dark, crowded cave in Ethiopia?’

In our efforts to save money (Lalibela was relatively expensive, and we lost money on the cancelled tours the city before), we hitched a ride back to Addis with these two girls. They had a rented a driver and they generously offered us a ride back. Brian in the trunk with the luggage, the two girls sprawled in the back, and K and I in the front with the driver. We were told we were leaving in the morning. I figured 6 or 7 o’clock. Nope. The girls thought 9 would be good. And by 9, they meant get up at 9, leisurely eat breakfast, finish packing, pick up souvenirs, grab some water, then go to the bathroom one last time before hitting the road. 1pm we were on the road. Aye caramba!

The girls were a hoot. To say they were 180 degrees from me would be an understatement! Money was no object, and neither was time. They were on vacation and not going to be rushed! Super generous, they treated for most of the meals, and we plenty of party favors for the ride. I am not sure I want to hear Kenai retell that ride. What should have been an 8 hour drive took a good two days. A fun two days, but not the way I originally anticipated spending the second day. To add to the girls’ generosity, we stayed with one of their friends that evening to save on a hotel room, and that friend stayed with Kenai so we could really go out that evening. Auntie Dee took us to the best restaurants in town for the next day and a half, helped us arrange travel back to where we needed to go, and showed us a very different side of Addis. We ended with dinner at the Sheraton. It is one of the top 2? 5? nicest hotels in all of Africa. We had happy hour at the Hilton- that was fancy, but the Sheraton really is in a class above that. I would NEVER have gone without a huge nudge and a lot of peer pressure, but man, was that a fabulous meal. I never realized how many foods I am missing here until that meal! All sorts of nuts, blue cheese, basil (basil I knew I missed), desserts- it was amazing. Thanks Auntie Dee for suggesting it!

Almost done.  The last day was a travel day from Addis all the way back to Abaarso. It was a good 17+ hours overland from door to door. K is a trooper! The man next to us on the longest bus ride bought us lunch and literally walked us from one bus to the next to make sure we arrived safely. The last bus before the border ran out of gas less than one km from the border. Figures! People on the bus helped carry our luggage (we were fully loaded at this point, as Brian brought a suitcase of treats/ clothes for us from the states). Border was uneventful, though our driver was very late picking us up. Nothing is worse than waiting for a ride for an hour and a half when all you want to do is get home after a long trip and a 15 hour day of travel. Aye. I called to confirm the pick-up time, but the last people were late, so he presumed we would be too. Nevertheless, we made it home around 10:30p. Safe and sound, and within budget. For me and Kenai, the total door-to-door price was $526. Not bad for 14 or 15 days!

All in all, it was amazing. Many great people, some people scammed us. Lots of great food, and a little poisoning. Great sites filled with lots of history and scenery, great wildlife, made new friends, and really enjoyed spending time with an old friend. Lovely!! And a much needed break. Someday I do want to tour Southern Ethiopia. The south is more of the ‘cultural’ experience- people with plates in their lips. If I stay another year, it will happen.

Up next, a very different trip- Zimbabwe and Botswana to see Victoria Falls with my folks, site-seeing in Nairobi with a student, and a mother-and-son safari in the Serengeti. That trip will not be just over $500 for the two of us….