we arrived in axum on 11.11.11, an auspicious day and even moreso because it was my lovely polska's 31st birthday. of the towns on the ethiopian northern circuit, axum is the least tourist-friendly, and i struggled to find a place to spoil cath. indeed, our $8 per night hotel room wasn't exactly the ritz-carlton. after much searching, i found a nice hotel with a great view over town. we enjoyed our first cocktail in ethiopia and found a decent restaurant on the other edge of town. though the restaurant lost power for 15 minutes, we savored our south african wine and relished the bottle of ketchup that came with our fries. being here makes us appreciate the little things and, though lacking in creature comforts, i think cath's 31st will be memorable for taking place in africa and during month 5 of our 7 month vacation. hopefully she agrees ;)
what axum lacks in 4 star accomodations, it makes up for in mystique, history and culture. the axumite empire, circa 1st to 7th centuries AD was one of the 4 great global empires along with rome, persia and china. most ethiopians and some historians believe the ark of the covenant rests here and provided the muscle needed to raise the 100+ ton obelisks or stelae.
perhaps the main reason we came to axum was to meet shewit's mother and family. shewit, who i've previously mentioned, is a great friend who attended our wedding after coming to the U.S. from ethiopia in 2005. on the night of dinner, we were picked up at our hotel by meda, their family friend and our translator, and shewit's beautiful niece. after a 10 minute walk, we arrived at their 2 room house and tried to introduce ourselves to shewit's mom, a lovely woman with her hair pulled back in a traditional tigranian style.
before we could get a word out, she gave us a wonderful smile and forcefully grabbed me, pulling me towards her and kissing me on the right cheek, then left, then right. left, right, left, right, left ... as cath received the same 8 kiss greeting, i subtley wiped the tears from eyes and tried to regain my bearings. we were invited to sit on the couch and to help ourselves to the array of drinks on the table - beer, water, coke, fanta, tej. just then, shewit, called to welcome me to his boyhood home and to say how happy he was that we were able to visit. we were served a delicious traditional ethiopian dinner - injera, chicken, lamb - and traditional coffee (i followed mom's lead and had only 2).
like all moms, she urged us to keep eating and expressed dismay at our paltry efforts.
we talked of shewit and how well he was doing in america and how i proud i was of his accomplishments. mom told me to tell him to come back to axum and build a house. she would find a good wife for him and cathy and i must return to ethiopia to attend the wedding. more hugs and kisses as we said goodbye but not before she insisted we return the next day for breakfast. an offer we couldn't refuse and truly one of the highlights of our trip :)
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