we've been in ethiopia since november 1st and today, on our 8th day, we finally rested. so far, it's been eye-opening, exhausting and, for the most part, wonderful ... we've been in good hands as friends of friends - now, they're just friends - have seen to it that ethiopia lives up to its reputation as the land of hospitality. americans retain a favorable reputation in ethiopia and many an ethiopian dreams of moving to the U.S. one night on our walk home, we were chatted up by an Ethiopian family that had just reserved their spot in the U.S. visa lottery.
DC has a large ethiopian population and i'm fortunate to have 2 good friends that have put me in touch w/ their friends in addis. in our 3 days in addis, we've connected with 2 contacts of shewit, both named solomon and both guilty of spoiling us rotten during our time there.
so, how's it been? honestly, there is a degree of difficulty unlike anything we experienced in europe or, for that matter, in cambodia and vietnam in 2008. i was comparing notes with another, much more seasoned traveller and, in terms of organizing logistics, catching buses, getting hassled, ethiopia ranks up there with india. indeed, ethiopia is, according travelers we've met, as challenging as any african country in terms of getting from point A to B. a positive, a full dinner for two and a few bottles of decent local beers at an ethiopian restaurant costs less than $6. the coffee and fruits we ordered as we typed this up came to $1.50.
like india, ethiopia has lovely people, quick to help, to smile, to chat you up in english, ask where you're from, ask about america ... it has a beauty that takes a little bit - okay, sometimes an abundance - of perseverance and patience to unearth. the people are friendly, speak english, even the children. we've picked up some basic amharic greetings and can count to 19, which is usually met with surprise and laughter. we also like that ethiopians, in guessing our age, think we're 20 years old.
our red-eye from rome to addis featured a bizarro 6 hour layover in cairo. the egyptian officials took our passports and, without explanation, herded us into a room with a TV blasting the news, of which we understood nothing. in a semi-delirious state, we ate the last of our italian pizza that we brought from roma. we waited there for 4 hours until our passports were returned and it was time to board our flight.
we landed in addis ababa, the capital and largest city of 8 million, at 7am local and without cath's bag. we elected to do as the locals do and take a mini-bus, which is like a volkswagen bus seating 12 people. it was 50 cents total after we managed to fend off ~20 offers (demands?) for roughly 10x that amount.
addis traffic
that evening, we walked around the densely-crowded piazza area and saw no other "farangi", or foreigners. though the streets were dark, ostensibly to save power, we never felt threatened though we heard "farangi" many times. we like to think it was a greeting. people stared as we passed by but smiled after we offered the amharic greeting of "selam", meaning "peace".
violent crime is nearly non-existent in the country but pick-pocketing is a constant threat. our 2nd day, i nearly fell victim after someone "accidentally" spit on my leg then helpfully offered to clean it off with a tissue. the helpful fella wiped my leg with one hand while the other hand pushed the contents of my pocket up before cath angrily asked what was going on. fortunately, i had nothing of value in my pocket since we had been warned such a thing could occur . i was shocked how fast it had happened especially since i was looking at the guy as he was doing it.
solomon, shewit's friend, met us at our hotel on our 2nd day in addis. we spoke of our mutual friend, shewit, whom i'd met in DC 8 years ago when he came to the U.S. shewit had experienced some challenges in dealing with the U.S. beauracracy and i'd helped as best i could. he's a wonderful person who's perseverance was an inspiration to me. solomon took us to a delicious traditional lunch with injera, meat, spicy sauces and a variety of cooked vegetables/legumes (again, cath and i were the only farangi in the restaurant).
afterwards we went for coffee, which is top-notch in ethiopia. when we tried to pay, solomon scoffed and explained that, in ethiopia, a guest is more important than friend. this hospitality also explains why he gave me a mobile phone and, in no uncertain terms, that i was to call him if i needed anything - "anything at all, matthew!" - during our 2.5 week stay in ethiopia. unfortunately, i needed another cell phone 24 hours later as i misplaced the one he gave me. i felt terrible but it was "no problem!" solomon said and gave me another phone the next day. attempts to reimburse him were met with a laugh and a shake of his head.
later that night, solomon took us to dinner with his lovely wife, hiwan, at ethiopian restaurant with traditional music and dancing. words won't do it justice - suffice to say there was a plethora of shoulder-shaking. the food was tremendous and copious. cath and hiwan were like long-lost sisters, talking of jobs, family and their love of all things julia roberts. apparently, "pretty woman" transcends all cultural barriers.
dinner with solomon and hiwan
solomon, hiwan and matthias
shewit's brother-in-law's brother, solomon (heretofore known as "solomon the elder"), picked us up the next day at our hotel and treated us to another ethiopian tradition: lunch at the butcher shop. confused? its exactly as it sounds. an array of cow carcasses are arranged behind the counter. customers order a certain amount of meat, which comes raw in the form of 4 oz. steaks, with injera. though adventurous, we opted for the cooked option and were the only customers to do so. again, we were the only faranjis and the customers got a kick out of our reactions and obligingly posed for pictures with their raw meat and chef's knives.
during lunch, i asked solomon the elder about "tej", an ethiopian honey wine. "you want tej?" he asked. minutes later, we were in his car weaving through the streets and back alleys to a tej shop. we spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours sipping the sweet liquid and talking of american and ethiopian politics. of note:
*obama's election, as you might imagine, was a huge deal in ethiopia.
*ethiopia is a huge market for cheap chinese goods (sound familiar?); china returns the favor by building roads and telecommunication infrastructure.
*the US has a unmannned vehicle (UAV) base in southern ethiopia to monitor the situation in somalia.
*the U.S dollar will fetch 17.5 Ethiopian birr. you can get a rate of 18 birr on the black market but you can also get 7 years in jail
and so we've had a great introduction to ethiopia and are happy to be here. ethiopians are proud of their country and its rich history. though its known mostly in the U.S. for its famine in the 1980s, ethiopia is a fertile land with delicious fruits, vegetables and meats. they forsake the use of pesticides and GMOs . of course there's still a lot of poverty and many have a tremendously difficult life, but we're finding there's much that ethiopia has to offer and look forward to discovering it ... with the help of our new friends.
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