April 2007 Trip Letter - Ethiopia

Hello Friend, April 12, 2007

Good morning from one of the many Starbucks in Jeddah. This one is close to where I am staying but lacking a view like the ones along the Red Sea.

I needed to get out for the morning to stretch my legs so after my coffee I will go to another mall – there is not much at this one.

Spring vacation is here – finally! Need a break from the stupid questions and constantly correcting bad behavior – it is tiring. No more teaching for me – at least in this kind of setting. I would like to volunteer in other places and in other capacities.

The latest “I can’t believe they are doing this at school” is having the school repainted, having new tiling put down, and adding a snack shop in the shape of a large pomegranate and all this is to be done in 9 days during break. To get ready for this entailed boxing up everything in the main hall, the classes, the porta cabins, stripping down the walls, and finding places for storage. Most of it went outside – the baboons will have a field day with all the stuff to explore while searching for food.

The poor principal now has to stay and spend her vacation at school and she has been sick with stomach problems. The question is will all this get done before we get back and will everything be back in place? If not, the first day back will be a zoo just like the last two days of school trying to pack up with students around. They continue to amaze me around here.

I came across an interesting website called couchsurfing.com – you can look for couches to sleep on in private homes in different places the world over. I signed up as a member and started looking for places in Lebanon. I made a great contact there to start my trip in June. This site brings people together but is not a “dating service” as they clearly state, who share a love of travel, meeting new people and sharing adventures. I also have a teacher friend and other contacts to meet during my 5-7 day trip.

Next I will see what couches I can find in Damascus. I have families from here which is a good start. I plan to take this trip via the bus starting around June 14^th; $50 for a 20 hr bus ride from Jeddah through Jordan. Might stop in Jordan to see friends if I can get off and on with the same ticket.

3:20am Friday the 13^th – Jeddah airport

It has been a full day with window shopping at Pakistani shops (I could blow a whole paycheck there), lunch with Marwan and Edwin, shopping with Marwan, 3 hours with a former teacher at her place, then back to Marwan’s for a late dinner and to teach Mini how to knit. I got 60 minutes of sleep before coming to the airport. The international airport is hopping at 3:30am with lots of pilgrims departing.

12 noon Friday the 13^th

No delays with the flight but almost as I wandered the gate area not knowing they were calling my flight to board. I could not make out the garble coming over the loud speakers. Eventually I ask if this was the flight to Tripoli since it was boarding first at my gate and then the check-in guy recognized me and said, “We have been waiting for you, the flight is boarding now.” How could he miss me since I was the only foreign women circling the gate area?

Desta was at the airport to bump shoulders to greet me. After breakfast, coffee, and the bank we made plans to meet at 2:30pm to go to Entoto Mtn. His friend Samrawit from his area near Gondar is also joining us. Turns out Samrawit decided to come visit Desta the same time as me but he told her we had plans but she could join us. No problem with me but she is quiet most of the time.

After three mini buses and a heated debate between Desta and a Rastafarian about begging we made it to the top of the mountain to be greeted by colder weather, clouds and rain drops while in town it was hot. I was told it was the rainy season and I believe them. We walked around for 2 hours and then thought better to head down before it got really wet.

By now it was dinner time and Desta wanted to take us to Makush – a trendy place with art on the wall for sale and nicely decorated. The Italian food was good and the wine was fine. It was a very pleasant day out and it was only the first day.

Back at the hotel I had to battle with a facet not working. The hose to the facet was busted and kept coming undone. If I wanted to wash my hands I had to turn on the shower and this is in an all purpose bathroom where the water goes right on to the floor. No real hot water to speak of either. At least I slept great, no bed bugs, and it was quiet. Desta comes in 20 minutes to have juice at the Hilton and to meet my other friends – time to go get ready.

Had a splendid afternoon meeting new friends I met through my friend June from CA. We have all lived in the Bay Area at some point and talked about where we lived and our favorite places. Hailu and Aberash live outside Addis in what I would call the suburbs. There is lots of fresh air and open spaces and a large hill for Aberash to walk to and conquer every day. Aberash out did herself and made an amazing lunch. The best food I had on the trip. How can I not go back to Ethiopia now with meeting these wonderful people and needing cooking lessons on how to make the traditional food? Thank you Hailu and Aberash for your hospitality.

Sunday April 15 6:15pm

Left Addis this morning at 11am on a mini bus after playing hide and seek with police while waiting to pick up passengers to get a full load. This took about 45 minutes of circling. Finally, we headed south to Awassa into the country side about 275 km south of Addis.

I didn’t do much research for this trip and didn’t know what to expect but was pleasantly pleased. Awassa is on the road to Kenya and is a small weekend get away kind of place. There is a nice lake at one end of the main road that runs east west and on the other end is the an Ethiopian Orthodox Church – very impressive looking with the three gold domes lit up by the sun (have a look http://www.angelfire.com/trek/mytravels/ethiopia2002south2.html)

After settling into the hotel that Desta scouted out at a very reasonable price we walked down the road heading to the lake. It was a pleasant walk with Awassa being a flat and wooded area. We passed a grove of trees and on the top of these trees were big, ugly looking black buzzards; the kind with the long, droopy, red necks just like the cartoon buzzard that hops along and goes “ah, yup”.

Set in a volcanic crater, Awassa Lake is the smallest in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. For those of you who are interested in facts and figures the lake is located at 7:0N and 38:2 E with an altitude of 1,708m. The surface area of the lake is 129,000,000m² with a volume of 1,300,000,000m³. The shoreline length is 52,000m and the mixing type is Polymictic. The population of the area is 261,651.

We enjoyed the sunset before going to dinner at the government hotel near the lake. The fish was good and the beer was tasty.

The next morning we decided to go for a boat ride along the lake. This was nice because it was a row boat and we could better enjoy the peace and quiet of the lake and all the bird life. We stopped at a local park to look at traditional houses and the local fish market. I wouldn’t mind having one of these houses too. They make perfect bungalows for the back yard. The fish market was buzzing with bird life trying to get a free lunch. All kinds of herons, storks, kites, and more buzzards vying for fish the little children would throw into the water for the birds to fight over.

Tuesday April 17^th 1:10pm

Shaashamannee with a multiple of spellings, such as, Shashamane, Shashemane, and Shashemene is home to the Rasta Farians. The place is not overflowing with Rastas, or at least not yet. The government has plans to bring thousands of them to attend the Millennium celebration in September hoping some would stay behind I guess. We did find one shop burning incense, playing Raegae, and selling trinkets.

For some background information on Shashamane I found this at http://www.shashamane.org/history.htm

History of the Settlement

Shashamane, a small district village town, gained international attention in the African Diaspora when 500 acres of its fertile land were granted as a gift to the Black people of the West in 1948 by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I, the then-reigning Ethiopian Emperor.

The Italian invasion of Ethiopia did more to ignite Pan-African sentiment than any other event in modern times. In the folklore of Africans in and outside of Africa, Ethiopia was the bastion and symbol of African freedom and independence. In the Bible, Blacks read that Ethiopia was the land of Queen of Sheba and its Monarch represented a direct genealogical link to the Solomonic and Davidic Throne. Ethiopia was the sacred land that the Greek historian Homer wrote about as the "land where the gods loved to be." Now Italy's threat to the Divine Motherland's Sovereignty, the subsequent invasion and occupation of Ethiopia and exile of its Sovereign, sparked a tremendous mass movement of international demonstration and support by Blacks for Ethiopia and its Emperor in the war of resistance. Rallies and fundraising events were carried out by Blacks throughout the United States and the Caribbean to help Ethiopia the last remaining free African Nation to regain her independence.

My first impressions were not unlike visiting other towns but I did have high hopes it would be a little different given its history. Maybe this will change after we spend a day exploring.

Now we are at a fairly new hotel serving Jamaican food. It is pouring rain again and glad to be dry inside drinking St George Beer and about to eat lentil soup. This morning we were in Wundo Genet at a lovely government “resort” in the hills. It was active with monkeys, birds of all kinds, resident dogs and puppies, workers, and weekday tourists. The grounds were lush, green and thick with flowers and all sorts of trees. You would not think a place like this would exist in Ethiopia.

This is how the resort is promoted on the web:

- Curative thermal springs cascading down from lush, green hillsides.

- Colorful flowering forest on the slopes of green mountains.

- Unique panorama of rich sunset across Lake Awassa.

- Swimming pools for adults and children with natural hot spring water.

- Modern restaurant featuring national and international standard cuisine.

- Ideal retreat for leisure groups, honeymooners and loving couples.

I’ll agree with the cascading thermal hot springs, the colorful flowery forest and as a nice retreat but the rest stretched the truth a bit. Lake Awassa is no where in sight, the swimming pool has been abandoned and is in need of repair, and the modern hotel serves standard food.

The hot spring was nearby. We walked through the place looking at the facilities and then took a quick hike up the hill to see the hot water coming out of the ground. Our outing was cut short by a massive down pour. By 8pm I was in bed hoping for a restful sleep but once again mosquitoes kept me half awake. During the night it thundered and rained heavy for a very long time. A strange sound coming from inside the room got me out of bed and this takes a pretty good cause for me to get up. The call of nature or an earthquake is pretty much it so this must be good. It sounded like a large rat was struggling to get out of the toilet bowl and making lots of splashing sounds. To my relief I saw nothing in the bathroom but never did find out where the noise was coming from. Back to bed.

At day break a funny sounding bull frog was making loud croaking noises outside. Every now and then it would get mad at something and croak away at high speed. What was this thing? It was that loud I thought it must be sitting under my window. When I peered out I did not see anything strange. On my way to breakfast I did discover what it was. It was a large, ugly, black bird with a white spot on the back of its head. I heard the croaking coming from up high in the trees and spotted him. He sat there very content croaking at regular intervals. For some reason he decided to jump down to the ground and waddle around croaking. Again, something must have startled him or he was protecting something as he croaked away at a faster speed. I also paused to watch the monkeys run from tree top to tree top without a care in the world.

After breakfast we packed up and walked the 3 km to the main dirt road. Surprisingly after all the rain the roads were not that muddy. It was an ideal morning stroll as we walked down the hill admiring the lush landscape, admiring the piles and piles of avocadoes and mangoes for sale on small benches by the road and happy the sun was out. At the junction we hopped on a local bus to Shaashamannee. The three of us squeezed into the back of the bus and as long as I was by a window I was content. I need to be by a window to allow at least some air coming in. Why in the hottest places on earth people insist to keep windows closed especially on buses when they are stopped?

It was a bumpy ride but only for an hour. From the bus park we jumped on horse carts, also very bumpy, to the Majestic Riff Valley Hotel. Not a bad place at all, in fact, it was great. The hotel is away from the main road, has a courtyard surrounded by trees, and the rooms are spacious and airy with functioning bathrooms.

The rest of the day we walked around looking for Rastafarians but hardly saw any of them against the rest of the local population. They say they live in a certain part of town. We went by their church and a museum on the way to Lake Loganno and made a mental note to visit these places on our way out tomorrow. We hired a very hip surfer looking station wagon taxi for an afternoon excursion to Lake Loganno, a favorite place among the expats living in Addis Ababa because it makes for an easy escape for the weekend. I am glad we did not plan to spend the night at the lake side “resort” because, one, the lake looks like it is filled with orange Kool-Aide – how odd to see this massive lake with a rusty tint to it. Never did find out why this is so. And, two, the resort is isolated and not much to do except sitting around looking at the brown water or watching the two white horses walking around the grounds. It was a nice stop but that was about it.

On our way back to Shaashamannee we stopped at a Natl Park not far at all from Lake Laganno. The park is large and I guess one would take a jeep to see the wildlife. We got there right as the park was closing but Desta in his charming ways got the guards to call the ticket lady to come back from her house on the park grounds to sell us tickets for a several minute visit. The full fare ticket entitled us to view the ostrich pen which we viewed while waiting for the ticket lady to arrive. Five minutes later we were back in the groovy taxi on the road again driving into the sunset.

Wednesday April 18^th 12 noon

Local time is 6am on their watches although the sun registers high noon. Desta is out looking for a way to get us back to Addis. There is always a minibus to take. I am sorry to be leaving Shashamane so soon. It was only this morning we discovered the Rastafarian businesses. There are two bakeries (these establishments could easily be doing well in the Boulder, CO area), a soya food roadside shop setup like an ice cream shop – you order from a window, some trinket shops and a museum and church that were closed. The Rastas were friendly and open. The ones we spoke to estimated about 300 families living in the area but they are also divided into different groups and the fellow I spoke to said they don’t believe in counting people. About 22 families moved here between 1952 and 1974. All in all an interesting place to spend more time.

April 19^th Addis

The air pollution here is BAD. Traffic is awful too. Juice is delicious and fresh. Coffee plentiful. People extraordinarily nice.

Hope to be back here again.

Becky

Post Trip

I had a day in Addis to go shopping with Samrawit while Desta attended to his appointments. We met for lunch at the Ghion Hotel and the gardens there could double as botanical gardens they were that impressive and what a nice haven to escape to in the city. Next we wanted to watch a movie but none where showing in English. Our conciliation prize was to eat ice cream at the best ice cream place in town. I agree with their claim.

Rather than jockeying for a seat on a bus during the height of rush hour we walked the 45 -60 minute trek to the hotel in a cloud of exhaust (cough, cough, hack, hack). At the hotel I watched in horror the Virginia Tech massacre as it was unfolding. Where is it safe these day?. Before I left for the airport I met up with an Ethiopian friend from Lalibela to say good-bye.

I must say my arrival back to Jeddah made up for the last one in January. This time I was greeted by the driver and was whisked away to the van for a speedy trip up to Al Hada twisty turns and all. It was a perfect 10 as was the trip to Ethiopia.

Links

http://www.awassachildrensproject.org/volunteer_vpp.asp

http://www.ilec.or.jp/database/afr/dsafr005.html - facts and figures on Awassa Lake

http://www.farhorizon.com/Africa/ethiopia.htm - great overview of the sites and looks like a good agency to travel with.