Ethiopia Part 2
Ethiopia Trip Letter Part 2
I like the Dire Dar and Harrar area. It has a rural feel to it, lots of farm land, less crowds and pollution, and the sky seems bluer. Tourists travel to this spot to see the walled city of Harrar, supposedly the 4th holiest Muslim city after Makkah, Madinah and Jerusalem, to walk around and get lost along the many alleys and streets (all 362 of them). The Lonely Planet says, “Harrar is a must see. At the crossroads of Christian and Islamic cultures, it’s an awesome repository of culture and heritage”. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough or my guide didn’t work hard enough to uncover this convergence. Guide books comment on the colorful market outside one of the 5 gates leading into the city which I think I walked by with my guide but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary or maybe I have been jaded by the colorful ones in India, Malaysia, and Morocco.
Another reason to come to Harrar is to feed hyenas. No sooner than I purchased my airline ticket for this trip I read an article saying if you don’t like wild dogs running around then you certainly won’t like Harrar with the wild hyenas running free. I don’t like wild dogs and would I really see the hyenas roaming around like wild dogs? I hope not. If so, I would be spending a lot of time in the hotel.
I came to Harrar for these reasons too. My home base was at the Tewodros Hotel. Friendly staff greeted me right away and within the first ten minutes I had a guide lined up to take me around after lunch and joined a small group planning to attend the Kulubi celebration. Icing on the cake was my room. I was very happy to have a room with big windows to let the light in because at the Baro Hotel in Addis I had a dark and dingy room. Even with the light on it was still dark and dingy. I think the whole country uses only 40 watt bulbs.
With my planning out of the way, I was ready to start my walled city tour with Dedemous. Dedemous is a student, around 18 years of age, and has a love for country music. The tour was more like a chaperoned walk with him fending off any annoying behaviors like an old man yelling something at me, kids running up selling things, and idle young guys who want to talk with an occasional stop to mention a fact or a figure. We walked around half of the walled city before entering a gate in the rear to make our way back to the front. We pass through the butcher area and I notice the many big birds (vultures and falcons) sitting above waiting for an easy snack. Next we pass a donkey train carrying in firewood. Deforestation is a big problem in Ethiopia with many people still cooking on wood fires and the country being drought prone. As a side note, recently I read an article in the New York Times magazine titled, “The Price of Climate Change” about how three economists discovered that one of the most reliable predicators of civil war is lack of rain. Is Ethiopia far behind?
Behind the butcher area sits a very distinctive house on a slight rise. This house, some resources call it a palace, belonged to the French poet, Arthur Rimbaud (1854 – 1891). The house was truly lovely, inside and out, with the built in bookcases, fine wood carvings on the doors, walls, and ceilings, and frescos. The upper floor has big windows to catch the breeze and to offer excellent views of the area. This floor also housed an informative art gallery with photos and paintings during his stay. The first floor has a collection of his poetry and drawings. His poetic days ended by the time he was twenty to be replaced with commercial trading of coffee, perfume, gold, and ivory. He came to Ethiopia via Yemen for the coffee trade. It was nice to sit, read, and to escape the afternoon heat.
The next stop was a surprise and a delight for me. I am sure this is not part of a typical tour. Dedemous suggested we go to his mother’s house to listen to country music since it was on the way back. While he rested I wrote:
3:20pm Dec 26 Harrar
If you were here with me you would be sitting in a single room house belonging to my guide Dedemous, his mother, and maybe a brother or sister. The place is small with one single bed, a mattress on the floor, a TV with stereo in the cornercurrently playing Shania Twain, a few night stands piled high with stuff, a corner dedicated to kitchen things, and another corner with trunks and blankets. The mom sits on the floor by the door chewing tchat – the green leaves – and Dedemous lies on the mattress tapping out the music with his foot. I can tell this is his escape. To image a whole life, a whole family packed into a 15 ft by 10 ft space.
Before calling it quits for part one of the tour, we stop at a coffee roasting company and did it smell heavenly! Inside was a new and highly automated roasting machine sitting next to the dinosaur. Progress is even reaching Harrar.
Part two was going to see the hyenas. At dusk we set out to walk to the back area of the walled city where the hyenas gather to be fed. A man comes with baskets of meat and a stick. He sits on the ground in the light from a pickup truck’s headlights. Having a running motor was annoying but I guess the light is needed for taking photos. The man spears the meat with the stick and then calls out a name. A hyena approaches and quickly snatches the meat from the stick. The man does it again but this time he holds the stick in his mouth. Another hyena comes and snatches the morsel. I counted ten hyenas some pacing some lying down. I counted twelve tourists some standing, some sitting, some apprehensive, some feeding the hyenas. The stick in the mouth method looked like it would make a better story after the hospital visit but I decided to play it safe and hold the stick the old fashion way – by hand. It was over before I knew it and no hospital visit – I was happy.
Safe and sound back at the hotel I watch from the safety of the balcony hyenas sprinting across the vacant lot. Where could they be running to? After a more careful inspection of the lot I notice a drainage ditch running behind the hotel and this drainage ditch is also a massive garbage dump, a perfect hangout for the hyenas. People staying on the lot side of the hotel were blessed with wild hyena calls all night long. It appears they make a lot of noise.
The last agenda item for the day is to plan the next day’s trip to Kulubi to witness and partake in St Gabriel’s celebration where huge crowds arrive to pray for their health, for a new baby, for a special favor, for a good harvest or to give thanks for wishes already granted. At the table was Nabir, the guide, two French couples Sofi and Flo and Vibona and Patrick and me. We ironed out the details and the costs, well, there were still a few wrinkles at the end when Nabir forgot to mention his transport and food would be paid by us in addition to his guide fees. The extra charge was minimal but there always seemed like something was not included and more money was needed. We also had to pay for the night at the Tewodros Hotel when we would be away in Kulubi to secure the room upon our return. The trip in a nutshell included driving, walking, staying at someone’s house in Kulubi, and joining the masses to do just that – join them. We adjourned with a departure time of 9am the next morning. With minor delays we left at 9:30am and the next thirty hours was a true travel experience.
Crowded transportation, a walk through terraced fields, nice views, a huge outdoor market selling colorful umbrellas and very long crude candles used as offerings for the church, makeshift tents for food and drink, blaring religious music from vans, boys and men walking around selling trinkets, just about everyone wearing white, part of their religious protocol, and walking around the church was only half of it.
From Harrar we took a local transport van to Kulubi some 68 km away. After reaching the checkpoint at Kulubi we decided to walk through the fields stopping along the way to rest and to give alms to waiting pilgrims. We arrived at the back of the church and had some time there to walk around and take photos. I thought the place was crowded then but that was nothing compared to the next day. People were already camping out by the church sitting on blankets under makeshift shade reading bibles. Piles of the colorful cloth umbrellas and candles were piling up by the front door to the church. People are blessed by a priest after making an offering. From the front of the church there is a long stone staircase of about 200 – 300 steps leading to the bottom of the hill. From here the market starts and continues along the road into the town of Kulubi. Picture a two lane road made smaller by people and livestock walking, buses, jeeps, and cars creeping along honking their horns and the air choked with smoke from the cooking fires and exhaust under a scorching sun.
My eyes kept darting back and forth trying to take in everything as we walked by. All the colorful cloth, blankets, traditional clothes, umbrellas, crosses, slaughtered meat, and religious posters are a feast for the eyes. However, this was not the time to stroll along and window shop. If I asked about a small cross or music to buy Nabir would say, “later, too expensive now”. Reaching town, we stopped at a place to drink something cold and to rest. We watched the continuous flow of traffic including vehicles, people, and livestock. To me this was like a huge outdoor concert something similar to Woodstock or a Dead concert.
We walk up a side alley to the house where we would spend the night. We had a few hours to kill before heading back to watch the night time vigil. We passed the hours away lying down in the sitting room with drinking tea, chewing tchat, drinking goat milk, and talking tchat induced nonsense. An outhouse break revealed a family mongrel dog guarding the path to the outhouse half-sleeping, half growling at any newcomer. At least he wasn’t a hyena.
Another tourist and guide from the Tewodros Hotel joined us for the evening excursion back to the church. We walked holding long candles like the rest of the crowd, we sat, we listened to a priest wearing chains, we drank local beer and Vibona decided to eat something at the beer/food tent and did she paid the price for this later. Shall we say she had a miserable night keeping the guard dog on alert as she ran back and forth to the outhouse.
The next morning after some tasty home cooked food we set off again to the church to view the arc of the covenant. The guides told us the day before this takes place at about 6am so I am not surprised it is 8am and we are still putzing around the place. One tourist is getting antsy and tells his guide he is paying him to see the covenant and not to be sitting around. The guide’s advice, as well as the local police we talked with, is, it is best if we don’t split up; safety in numbers and all. There are about 10 of us tourists to about 50,000 pilgrims.
All I can say is the crowd was thick. Most of us managed to stay together until we reached the top of the stairs. It was here I felt I couldn’t catch my breath with all the people closing in on me. People pushing from all sides and people from the back trying to forge their way forward but with no where to go. People sitting on the ground made it worse because you could not tell they were there until you fell over them. How they managed not to get trampled on in this dense throng of people is a miracle in itself. On the verge of panicking and I tell myself I have to make a move and get out of the crowd irregardless if I lose my group of not. I ended up getting separated for about 1 hour but eventually reconnected with them – they were at a beer tent downing beers instead of braving the maddening crowd. Good thing I didn’t read this blurb until after my return, “Kulibi or more specifically St Gabriel's Church, 68 km from Dire Dawa in the East of Ethiopia, could be a target for bomb attacks by ethnic Somali Ethiopian opponents according to a source in the Ethiopian opposition.”
By mid morning most of the crowd was heading back down the hill into town to start their journey back home. We rested another hour then waited another hour to flag down an empty van to take us back to Harrar. By 3pm I was back at the hotel taking a cold shower ready to explore the walled city one more time. This time I ended up with two small boys leading me around to traditional homes, tourist shops, and walking me back to the wrong gate. After a beer with the other tourists at the hotel it was time to pack and get ready for my early morning departure to Dire Dar. By the way, I did not get any music or crosses at the festival. Lesson learned; don’t ask the guide just buy it.
Yigeremu picks me up right on time to do more site seeing before flying back to Addis. We stop at a very large tchat market and this is one busy place – picture the hustle and bustle of the NY stock exchange but outside with people selling and buying tchat and you got the idea. Yigeremu takes a picture of me with local sellers as a souvenir. We pass a large lake with many types of birds making it an ideal site for bird watchers. Yigeremu takes me to the old market place in Dire Dar and I thought this is a colorful place with the mounds of spices, coffee pots, fruits and veggies, cats, people, and lots of chili. Next was a macchiato on him before going to the airport. Too bad the flight decided to be 5 hours late. Good thing Vibona and Patrick showed up to head back into town to relax at an outdoor café rather than the stifling airport.
Again, despite my flight being late, Danny, my taxi driver friend, was there at the airport to greet me with a big smile as the sun was setting. He took me back to the Baro where it was like a homecoming. I had a fellow traveler trying to hunt me down as well as a hotel manager from Lalibela meeting me to plan my trek from Lalibela while I was visiting with guests I met at the Baro previously. Twelve hours later I was back at the airport ready to start my northern leg.
Stay tuned for:
Part 3
- Desta
- the big island
- a New Year’s date with Liyew
- columus monkey, great horn bill
- 80 painted angel faces
- the two day trek
Part 4
- Lalibela
- a low point
- Denver St
- Morning vigil
- Crosses
- The long of the short journey back
Related links:
http://www.gondarlink.org.uk/travellers_guide/east_to_harar/harar.shtml
http://www.joshuacogan.com/ - he was on the two day trek and is a photographer from the DC area
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200105/arthur.rimbaud.coffee.trader.htm
I like the Dire Dar and Harrar area. It has a rural feel to it, lots of farm land, less crowds and pollution, and the sky seems bluer. Tourists travel to this spot to see the walled city of Harrar, supposedly the 4th holiest Muslim city after Makkah, Madinah and Jerusalem, to walk around and get lost along the many alleys and streets (all 362 of them). The Lonely Planet says, “Harrar is a must see. At the crossroads of Christian and Islamic cultures, it’s an awesome repository of culture and heritage”. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough or my guide didn’t work hard enough to uncover this convergence. Guide books comment on the colorful market outside one of the 5 gates leading into the city which I think I walked by with my guide but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary or maybe I have been jaded by the colorful ones in India, Malaysia, and Morocco.
Another reason to come to Harrar is to feed hyenas. No sooner than I purchased my airline ticket for this trip I read an article saying if you don’t like wild dogs running around then you certainly won’t like Harrar with the wild hyenas running free. I don’t like wild dogs and would I really see the hyenas roaming around like wild dogs? I hope not. If so, I would be spending a lot of time in the hotel.
I came to Harrar for these reasons too. My home base was at the Tewodros Hotel. Friendly staff greeted me right away and within the first ten minutes I had a guide lined up to take me around after lunch and joined a small group planning to attend the Kulubi celebration. Icing on the cake was my room. I was very happy to have a room with big windows to let the light in because at the Baro Hotel in Addis I had a dark and dingy room. Even with the light on it was still dark and dingy. I think the whole country uses only 40 watt bulbs.
With my planning out of the way, I was ready to start my walled city tour with Dedemous. Dedemous is a student, around 18 years of age, and has a love for country music. The tour was more like a chaperoned walk with him fending off any annoying behaviors like an old man yelling something at me, kids running up selling things, and idle young guys who want to talk with an occasional stop to mention a fact or a figure. We walked around half of the walled city before entering a gate in the rear to make our way back to the front. We pass through the butcher area and I notice the many big birds (vultures and falcons) sitting above waiting for an easy snack. Next we pass a donkey train carrying in firewood. Deforestation is a big problem in Ethiopia with many people still cooking on wood fires and the country being drought prone. As a side note, recently I read an article in the New York Times magazine titled, “The Price of Climate Change” about how three economists discovered that one of the most reliable predicators of civil war is lack of rain. Is Ethiopia far behind?
Behind the butcher area sits a very distinctive house on a slight rise. This house, some resources call it a palace, belonged to the French poet, Arthur Rimbaud (1854 – 1891). The house was truly lovely, inside and out, with the built in bookcases, fine wood carvings on the doors, walls, and ceilings, and frescos. The upper floor has big windows to catch the breeze and to offer excellent views of the area. This floor also housed an informative art gallery with photos and paintings during his stay. The first floor has a collection of his poetry and drawings. His poetic days ended by the time he was twenty to be replaced with commercial trading of coffee, perfume, gold, and ivory. He came to Ethiopia via Yemen for the coffee trade. It was nice to sit, read, and to escape the afternoon heat.
The next stop was a surprise and a delight for me. I am sure this is not part of a typical tour. Dedemous suggested we go to his mother’s house to listen to country music since it was on the way back. While he rested I wrote:
3:20pm Dec 26 Harrar
If you were here with me you would be sitting in a single room house belonging to my guide Dedemous, his mother, and maybe a brother or sister. The place is small with one single bed, a mattress on the floor, a TV with stereo in the cornercurrently playing Shania Twain, a few night stands piled high with stuff, a corner dedicated to kitchen things, and another corner with trunks and blankets. The mom sits on the floor by the door chewing tchat – the green leaves – and Dedemous lies on the mattress tapping out the music with his foot. I can tell this is his escape. To image a whole life, a whole family packed into a 15 ft by 10 ft space.
Before calling it quits for part one of the tour, we stop at a coffee roasting company and did it smell heavenly! Inside was a new and highly automated roasting machine sitting next to the dinosaur. Progress is even reaching Harrar.
Part two was going to see the hyenas. At dusk we set out to walk to the back area of the walled city where the hyenas gather to be fed. A man comes with baskets of meat and a stick. He sits on the ground in the light from a pickup truck’s headlights. Having a running motor was annoying but I guess the light is needed for taking photos. The man spears the meat with the stick and then calls out a name. A hyena approaches and quickly snatches the meat from the stick. The man does it again but this time he holds the stick in his mouth. Another hyena comes and snatches the morsel. I counted ten hyenas some pacing some lying down. I counted twelve tourists some standing, some sitting, some apprehensive, some feeding the hyenas. The stick in the mouth method looked like it would make a better story after the hospital visit but I decided to play it safe and hold the stick the old fashion way – by hand. It was over before I knew it and no hospital visit – I was happy.
Safe and sound back at the hotel I watch from the safety of the balcony hyenas sprinting across the vacant lot. Where could they be running to? After a more careful inspection of the lot I notice a drainage ditch running behind the hotel and this drainage ditch is also a massive garbage dump, a perfect hangout for the hyenas. People staying on the lot side of the hotel were blessed with wild hyena calls all night long. It appears they make a lot of noise.
The last agenda item for the day is to plan the next day’s trip to Kulubi to witness and partake in St Gabriel’s celebration where huge crowds arrive to pray for their health, for a new baby, for a special favor, for a good harvest or to give thanks for wishes already granted. At the table was Nabir, the guide, two French couples Sofi and Flo and Vibona and Patrick and me. We ironed out the details and the costs, well, there were still a few wrinkles at the end when Nabir forgot to mention his transport and food would be paid by us in addition to his guide fees. The extra charge was minimal but there always seemed like something was not included and more money was needed. We also had to pay for the night at the Tewodros Hotel when we would be away in Kulubi to secure the room upon our return. The trip in a nutshell included driving, walking, staying at someone’s house in Kulubi, and joining the masses to do just that – join them. We adjourned with a departure time of 9am the next morning. With minor delays we left at 9:30am and the next thirty hours was a true travel experience.
Crowded transportation, a walk through terraced fields, nice views, a huge outdoor market selling colorful umbrellas and very long crude candles used as offerings for the church, makeshift tents for food and drink, blaring religious music from vans, boys and men walking around selling trinkets, just about everyone wearing white, part of their religious protocol, and walking around the church was only half of it.
From Harrar we took a local transport van to Kulubi some 68 km away. After reaching the checkpoint at Kulubi we decided to walk through the fields stopping along the way to rest and to give alms to waiting pilgrims. We arrived at the back of the church and had some time there to walk around and take photos. I thought the place was crowded then but that was nothing compared to the next day. People were already camping out by the church sitting on blankets under makeshift shade reading bibles. Piles of the colorful cloth umbrellas and candles were piling up by the front door to the church. People are blessed by a priest after making an offering. From the front of the church there is a long stone staircase of about 200 – 300 steps leading to the bottom of the hill. From here the market starts and continues along the road into the town of Kulubi. Picture a two lane road made smaller by people and livestock walking, buses, jeeps, and cars creeping along honking their horns and the air choked with smoke from the cooking fires and exhaust under a scorching sun.
My eyes kept darting back and forth trying to take in everything as we walked by. All the colorful cloth, blankets, traditional clothes, umbrellas, crosses, slaughtered meat, and religious posters are a feast for the eyes. However, this was not the time to stroll along and window shop. If I asked about a small cross or music to buy Nabir would say, “later, too expensive now”. Reaching town, we stopped at a place to drink something cold and to rest. We watched the continuous flow of traffic including vehicles, people, and livestock. To me this was like a huge outdoor concert something similar to Woodstock or a Dead concert.
We walk up a side alley to the house where we would spend the night. We had a few hours to kill before heading back to watch the night time vigil. We passed the hours away lying down in the sitting room with drinking tea, chewing tchat, drinking goat milk, and talking tchat induced nonsense. An outhouse break revealed a family mongrel dog guarding the path to the outhouse half-sleeping, half growling at any newcomer. At least he wasn’t a hyena.
Another tourist and guide from the Tewodros Hotel joined us for the evening excursion back to the church. We walked holding long candles like the rest of the crowd, we sat, we listened to a priest wearing chains, we drank local beer and Vibona decided to eat something at the beer/food tent and did she paid the price for this later. Shall we say she had a miserable night keeping the guard dog on alert as she ran back and forth to the outhouse.
The next morning after some tasty home cooked food we set off again to the church to view the arc of the covenant. The guides told us the day before this takes place at about 6am so I am not surprised it is 8am and we are still putzing around the place. One tourist is getting antsy and tells his guide he is paying him to see the covenant and not to be sitting around. The guide’s advice, as well as the local police we talked with, is, it is best if we don’t split up; safety in numbers and all. There are about 10 of us tourists to about 50,000 pilgrims.
All I can say is the crowd was thick. Most of us managed to stay together until we reached the top of the stairs. It was here I felt I couldn’t catch my breath with all the people closing in on me. People pushing from all sides and people from the back trying to forge their way forward but with no where to go. People sitting on the ground made it worse because you could not tell they were there until you fell over them. How they managed not to get trampled on in this dense throng of people is a miracle in itself. On the verge of panicking and I tell myself I have to make a move and get out of the crowd irregardless if I lose my group of not. I ended up getting separated for about 1 hour but eventually reconnected with them – they were at a beer tent downing beers instead of braving the maddening crowd. Good thing I didn’t read this blurb until after my return, “Kulibi or more specifically St Gabriel's Church, 68 km from Dire Dawa in the East of Ethiopia, could be a target for bomb attacks by ethnic Somali Ethiopian opponents according to a source in the Ethiopian opposition.”
By mid morning most of the crowd was heading back down the hill into town to start their journey back home. We rested another hour then waited another hour to flag down an empty van to take us back to Harrar. By 3pm I was back at the hotel taking a cold shower ready to explore the walled city one more time. This time I ended up with two small boys leading me around to traditional homes, tourist shops, and walking me back to the wrong gate. After a beer with the other tourists at the hotel it was time to pack and get ready for my early morning departure to Dire Dar. By the way, I did not get any music or crosses at the festival. Lesson learned; don’t ask the guide just buy it.
Yigeremu picks me up right on time to do more site seeing before flying back to Addis. We stop at a very large tchat market and this is one busy place – picture the hustle and bustle of the NY stock exchange but outside with people selling and buying tchat and you got the idea. Yigeremu takes a picture of me with local sellers as a souvenir. We pass a large lake with many types of birds making it an ideal site for bird watchers. Yigeremu takes me to the old market place in Dire Dar and I thought this is a colorful place with the mounds of spices, coffee pots, fruits and veggies, cats, people, and lots of chili. Next was a macchiato on him before going to the airport. Too bad the flight decided to be 5 hours late. Good thing Vibona and Patrick showed up to head back into town to relax at an outdoor café rather than the stifling airport.
Again, despite my flight being late, Danny, my taxi driver friend, was there at the airport to greet me with a big smile as the sun was setting. He took me back to the Baro where it was like a homecoming. I had a fellow traveler trying to hunt me down as well as a hotel manager from Lalibela meeting me to plan my trek from Lalibela while I was visiting with guests I met at the Baro previously. Twelve hours later I was back at the airport ready to start my northern leg.
Stay tuned for:
Part 3
- Desta
- the big island
- a New Year’s date with Liyew
- columus monkey, great horn bill
- 80 painted angel faces
- the two day trek
Part 4
- Lalibela
- a low point
- Denver St
- Morning vigil
- Crosses
- The long of the short journey back
Related links:
http://www.gondarlink.org.uk/travellers_guide/east_to_harar/harar.shtml
http://www.joshuacogan.com/ - he was on the two day trek and is a photographer from the DC area
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200105/arthur.rimbaud.coffee.trader.htm
posted by Becky of Arabia at 9:49 PM
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