Wednesday, February 14, 2007

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

Monday, February 05, 2007

Ethiopia January 2007

Hello Everyone,

Here is the first installment of my Ethiopian travels. This letter covers the first 5 days in the country. I didn’t take my digital camera with me so no online pics to look at.

I give myself until April to complete the letters when the next vacation starts. Thanks for all the letters and cards.

Happy Reading,

Becky

Abu Jambo Ethiopia

Ethiopia – Trip Letter January 2007


E is for Even better than expected, Eucalyptus trees, and Enthusiasm of the people
T is for Teff and Tej
H is for Harrari houses, Hyenas, and History
I is for Insurance and Incense
O is for Overpopulated and Orthodox churches
P is for Plateau, Paintings, Pollution, and Patchwork fields
I is for Injera
A is for Addis Ababa, Axum, and Amharic

A typical question a fellow traveler would ask of another is, “what brings you to Ethiopia?” I had to confess Ethiopia was not my original destination for this three week holiday. Plan A was to Iran for more calligraphy but visa issues held me back. Plan B was to Pakistan to trek and volunteer at a school until I discovered I had to get the visa before entering the country and no time to do it so a no go. Plan C was to Kenya on the recommendation from a coworker but I was on the waiting list from Addis Ababa to Nairobi. With four weeks left before vacation I started to panic. I needed to make PLANS. A friend hearing this tale of woes said why not get off in Addis Ababa and explore Ethiopia. Now there’s a thought but what is there to see and do in Ethiopia?

A lot of things as I soon discovered. Ethiopia as a destination appears to be divided into two categories History and People. If you want history go north. If you want to see tribal people head south. I flipped a coin and north I went. To do justice to both areas would require a solid four weeks. I had three and didn’t want to rush things. As luck would have it I would be in country for the St Gabriel’s celebration and for orthodox Christmas. With guidance from the Ethiopian Airlines area manager in Jeddah, I mapped out my domestic flight itinerary to include flights to Dire Dar to feed hyenas outside the walled city of Harar and to partake in the St Gabriel’s celebration in Kulubi, to Bahar Dar to see the Blue Nile falls, Lake Tana and the local market, to Gondar to see the Royal enclosure and the 80 angles painted on the ceiling of the Debre Berehan Selassie church, to Lalibela for a 2 day eco-trek, the rock-hewn churches, and for their local Christmas celebration, and to Axum to see the obelisk field.

The ticket to Addis Ababa is reasonable at around $450 from Jeddah. The 7 internal flights was the big ticket item on this trip but I was willing to pay the price for comfort and convenience. If you are traveling with someone you do get a break on the price. Outside the cost of the tickets I averaged $45 a day on lodging, food, beverages, tours, guides, ground transportation, and souvenirs. Food, coffee/tea and beer is cheap. A bottle of beer is about 50 cents and not back at all; much better than the local wine in my opinion. A kilo of coffee is $4.32. I selected the low end for accommodations and paid between $6 - $24 per night. The bottom line is your money can go far here if you don’t mind simple but clean accommodations, eating the local food, and joining groups for seeing the major sights.

To prepare for the trip I did some reading and research. Notes were compiled into a checklist of things I wanted to see per destination. This was easy to carry, quick to refer to, and made me look like I knew where I was going and what I was doing rather than the Lonely Planet/Brandt guide toting tourists looking like, well, tourists. My Ethiopian friends in Addis hovered over and scrutinized the Addis checklist as if it were the roadmap to peace and then would lift their heads in agreement announcing plans for the day and what items could be checked off.

You might be wondering when and where did I pick up Ethiopian friends. A friend in Jeddah put me in touch with an Ethiopian lady, Mary, and I offered to carry letters to her family in Addis. The letters turned into a small suitcase and by happenstance her brother-in-law, Danny, is a taxi driver in Addis. After a call it was arranged to have Danny pick me up at the airport. Even with my flight being 7 hours late he was there to greet me.

After changing money, Danny drove me to my hotel in the piazza area. I decided on staying at the Baro to meet other travelers since I was solo. I read mixed reactions to the place but it suited me just fine. While I was getting settled in Danny ran into his friend Abraham and the three of us set off to start my sightseeing. After the National Museum where we paid our respects to Lucy, the oldest human bones known to date, we drove to Mary’s mother’s house for my first coffee ceremony and a tasty traditional meal. I met the many family members and neighbors as people came in went through the house. How nice to be able to associate with an Ethiopian family right away. I enjoyed their company very much and invited Mary’s daughter to join Danny, Abraham and me for the next day’s sightseeing tour.

The four of us pretty much spent the weekend together. Saturday’s itinerary was non stop with going to Enrico’s for the best ever Italian style pastries (you know this place is a landmark when it is always busy and doesn’t have a sign outside), Entoto Mt to see Mariam and Raguel churches with wonderful paintings inside, the Shero Meda market for the ubiquitous cotton shawl called the gabbi, macchiatos at the Tomoca coffee bar, the Ethnological museum which is excellent, getting lost in the crowds at the Merkato touted as Africa’s largest outdoor market, trying Tej, honeywine, at a traditional restaurant – it is Fanta orange in color and served in chemistry looking glassware. Yes, all this in one day. Sunday included going to the Trinity church, attending a packed and moving protestant church service, lunch at Danny’s house with his mother and more family members, walking around Addis Ababa university, admiring the Christmas decorations at the Sheraton hotel inside and the outside gardens and fountains (we were there at night to see the fountain light show and as luck would have it a wedding party was having their pictures taken in front of it) and ending another great day with pizza.

Monday was Christmas for me and I decided to treat myself to a massage at the Addisu Filwoha Hot Springs. It is more or less a public bath house with a therapeutic area in the back. The jet stream massage in a big bath tub followed by an oil massage did the trick; I was relaxed, clean, and glowing according to Danny and Abraham. It was time for a coffee break – when in Ethiopia do like the locals. They took me to one of their favorite spots. The coffee in Ethiopia is very mild and served in small quantities. If the place serves coffee/tea then the place typically has a pastry showcase, some good some fair. The rest of the day I was on my own and did some shopping and yakked it up with other tourists at the Baro Hotel. The place has a nice courtyard area to meet and hangout with other people passing through. I compared notes with people who already did the northern circuit and this helped me to decide what places to stay at. For Christmas dinner Susanna from Switzerland and I went out for Italian food and local beer. It was early to bed with having an early departure the next morning. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to Addis Ababa and Ethiopia.

I will admit I was a bit intimidated at first walking by myself in the piazza area by the hotel. There is never a lack of a friendly, English speaking guy to come up to start a conversation right away. It is hard not to be alone in Ethiopia. Here is a venting session I wrote to a friend.

…if I had to stay in a large town where young boys/guys walk along side asking questions and wanting to be helpful every step of the way, I’d go crazy. At times I’d rather stay in the safety of the hotel courtyard rather than face another round of, “Mistah you buy” (I really got to grow my hair out), or “Madame I get taxi for you” or “Sistah can I show you a very good place.” It is very hard to get a moment of peace out on the streets.

Most of the time I was with a guide or more like an escort and was not bothered as much.

Unless you have been to Ethiopia you might not know they use the Julian calendar. There are 13 months and the current year is 1999 so if you missed out on the millennium celebration 7 years back you have a second chance. Telling time there can lead to confusion because they are 6 hours behind or they might say I am 6 hours ahead. When I would ask Danny to pick me up at 5am for a 7am flight he would ask is that in the evening or morning. For him it would be 11pm in the evening. I got use to saying pick me up at 5am breakfast time or 1pm lunch time. He never failed me – thanks Danny. Thanks go to his wife too because she let me borrow her Sim card so I could use it in my mobile. This was very handy to communicate with him and hotels. Since I am on the topic of unusual things in Ethiopia I will add a mannerism that threw me at first. I noticed this mostly in the central area. When someone would speak they would finish with an inhalation as if they were going to say, “Oh, no” or have to sneeze but don’t. I might as well add the shoulder bump here too. This is the common way to greet one another. I observed people approaching one another with a slight bend at the knees, bring in their right shoulder and then lift upwards to bump right shoulders – sort of catchy.

Armed with local knowledge about time, greetings, and how to say how much is this (centinos) and thank you (amasagnalow) I was ready to head out on my own and fly to Dire Dar. From Dire Dar I had to take a mini van to my final destination of Harar and I was hoping there would be other tourists on the plane so I could play sheep and follow them – ok, I was still a bit nervous being on my own when it comes to haggling about rides. I was the only sheep and felt like I was being sent to slaughter as I walked out of the airport and had to face the barrage of taxi drivers. I stood my ground and said I wanted to share a ride into town to get to the bus station. At the bus station, a sandy lot with a few vans around, I didn’t even get a chance to get outside the taxi before being bombarded with rides going to Harar. This is what it must be like being chased by paparazzi all the time. I was quickly whisked away in a van with a few other passengers. We drove to the outskirts of town and then people we told to get out – at least that is what it seemed like to me. A few clicks up the road the driver stopped again and requested more people to get out. Now it was only me and a couple. I was thinking this is strange and if the lady was told to get out then so would I – she could see the concern in my eyes and nodded it was OK. We set off again passing the people the driver made get out to walk the road. After a few more idle stops he picked up the same people walking. Very strange. This was also the start of St Gabriel’s celebration in Kulibi and the road from Dire Dar to Harar has a turn off to Kulibi about 45 km away. Already we saw people walking on the road to Kulibi. I was hoping to attend the celebration too if I found a group to go with in Harar.

Stay tuned for:

· Country music with Dedemous
· Feeding the hyenas
· Reaching critical mass at Kulibi