Ethiopia!

  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Friday, October 7, 2005

What can I say but WOW! Ethiopia is absolutely FANTASTIC. We've been here only 3 short days, but are having the time of our lives.

Before I get into what we have been up to, let me dispel with a few common MYTHS that we in the west (or me at least) seem to have about Ethiopia.

1. Ethiopia is hot and has a drought
Rubbish. Its been freezing since we've been here, and raining (hard) everyday. Long sleeves (both tops and bottoms) are necessary.


2. There is no food
There are loads of very delicious food around. The local speciality in ENJERA - a sour pancake which you cut up with you hands and eat with the other dishes of mainly meat. Food is very readily available and very cheap (we paid US$0.25 each for 2 cakes and 4 teas).


In saying that though there are a lot of beggars around Addis Ababa. A lot of children (whose only English words they seem to know are "hungry" and "bread") and mothers with babies. Hard not to give money to them. Have decided to donate money to a charity at the end instead.

3. Ethiopians aren't the most attractive race in the world
Kirsty and I are both of the opinion that the Ethiopians are one of the most beautiful race in the world. Seriously - they are stunning. African (dark) skin with high check bones and very regal noses. And very funky too! They love Bob Marley and there are loads of Rastifarians around. And they LOVE to dance! (I just wish I had some photos to go with this... to follow!)

Anyways, on with our adventures....

We arrived late at night on Friday and hooked up with a kiwi-Australian called Melanie and got a taxi into town with her. All the taxis here are old old ladas (but blue, not yellow), which made me feel right at home!

We passed slum after slum in the 20 min ride into town. I was expecting to hit a built up area, so was surprised when the driver stopped in what appeared to be a slum area and pronounced it to be our hotel! The first hotel was full but on the second attempt we had success - $2 each per night in a VERY basic room (with no running water in sight)

We decided to venture out onto the town, being Friday night and all! That, plus we had passed a row of colourful bar looking places on the way into town close to our 'hotel'. We walked past them cautitiously. We saw a few scantily clad women inside and tried to decide if they were brothels or not. Curiousity got the better of us and we went inside one and was very pleasantly surprised. Reggae-type Ethiopian music was blaring and the locals were bopping. And they were all so beautiful! (Men as well as women). We had a few drinks, Melanie bopped for a while with the locals and then we went home for some kip.

The next morning we woke up early and set off on foot in search of the markets. The market here in Addis is dubbed "The biggest outdoor market in Africa" - you can buy anything from a camel (we haven't found that particular section yet) to fake Mizuno shoes!


We then spent the rest of the day walking and walking and walking the streets of Addis. The streets are crazy - homeless sleeping, table tennis, goats, donkeys (without visible owners) and taxis.


We eventually found the Olympic Stadium (where I've always wanted to go) and met the Stadium President who invited us back the next day at 9.30 for the CUP FINAL soccer match.


When we got back to the hotel that night, Mela dragged us out with a friend she had made. Gilmar was a little Rastafarian Tour Guide - and lovely. Two of his friends joined us (isn't it funny how the numbers always seem to even themselves out....3 women always seem to be joined by 3 men) and they took us out for the night of our lives. Unfortunately we didn't take a camera but you'll just have to take our word that the Ethiopians know how to party. We visited 4 bars over the space of about 5 hours and bopped away in most of them to a mixture of Ethiopian Reggae and Western pop. The third bar we visited was a "traditional music" bar - we got to see a group of 6 Ethiopians traditionally dressed and dancing all the different dances from all the different Ethiopian regions. What was so special about this is that 95% of the people there were Ethiopians, just enjoying their own culture. We felt very priviledged to be a part of it.

The next day, inspite of the hard night out, we woke up early and was down outside the stadium in time for our 9.30am appointment with the soccer tournament. There were no people about except for 2 security men. Strange. We asked them about the soccer tournament, and were told we were far too early for it - that it was at 10.00. Suddenly a lightbulb went of us in our heads. Duh, of course. 10.00 Ethiopian time. Ethiopians have their own time. The day starts at 12.00, which is 6am our time. So 10.00 Ethiopian time = 4pm Western time. It should also be noted that the year is 1998 - the Ethiopian calender works 7 years before the western calender. Oh yeah, and the year has 13 months. Of course!

I really wanted to go to the soccer game, so to waste time we headed in search of public baths (our hotel is so cheap we don't have any running water). An hours late and minus $140 for the 'first class' ticket and we got a room with a wet floor and 2 baths and hot water! Paradise.


After the bath and a few coffees later we headed back to the stadium, bought tickets ($0.80 each) and joined the locals in cheering for the away team. They lost, but we enjoyed the atmosphere immensely.


Today we have been in search of the tourist office to plan our trip from here. We are going up north by public bus tomorrow in search of the underground churches. The bus journey is 'two days' - relatively short in Ethiopian standards.

Mum - for your benefit - We expect to visit Laliblela (churches), Bahir Dar (blue Nile Falls and Lake Tana with 30 monastries), Gonder (ancient city) and Axum (another ancient city near the border with Eritrea) before heading back to Addis. We expect it to take a couple of weeks and that we won't have internet contact in this time (so DON'T WORRY MUM!). After we get back to Addis, we are going to head East, to Dere Dawa and then onto Djbouti (after all, how many people can say they have visited Djbouti!) We might even go to Eritriea for a day or 2. After that, we will head back to Addis again, before heading South to Jinka/Bole Mountains/Rift Valley where we hope to find a cheap 4WD to join up with so we can visit the tribes in the national parks. From there we will cross over the border into Kenya. All in all, we love Ethiopia (so far) so much we will be here for about 6 weeks - 2 months.

Love to you all!
Hannah xxxx

NOTES FOR CHARLOTTE (and Sally and Reece):
1. You can change money at the airport - even if you arrive pretty late at night (we arrived 10pm). Everywhere has pretty much the same exchange rate (1USD = approx 8.6 birr)
2. Taxi into town was 60 birr for 3 of us
3. Visa at airport was USD20 - not $36 as the lonely planet says!! In fact, prices are less than the lonely planet says. You need to pay the visa in USD. USD is best currency to bring. Can change travellers cheques in Addis - not sure about elsewhere
4. We are paying 20 birr each per night for accomodation. Meals are about 20 each including drinks. Doing quite a lot each day we are only managing to spend maximum USD$15 each per day. We have heard that tours to the southern region though do cost about USD$50 each with guide, though you can get down to $110 per day for car and driver if you look around. Internet and phone calls are very expensive.
5. Bring rain wear and warm clothes. You need long trousers and long tops in the day time.
6. There is a maleria outbreak in some of the southern regions at the moment. We met some guys from Doctors without borders and they said that first choice should be LARIUM (the mental one I am taking) and to take DOXCYCLONE as 2nd line (if larium doesn't suit you). The cost at the travel clinic I went to was GBP26 for a box of 8. You need to trial for 3 weeks before (once a week), take once a week while you are here, and then for 3 or 4 weeks after.

I think the money you were talking about for the guide is pretty expensive. You should be able to pick up a tour cheaper when you get here... but that is up to you of course!! If you want the eco place, we have been told we can get a public bus to Dodola and go directly to an eco organisation there (German one called GTZ?) which might be another option for you.

Also, we have been told that the Rasta town of Shashmene (Bole area) is a great place to go... if you are interested.

Let me know if you want to know anything else!
Hannah xxxx