The Last Injera

  Moyale, Ethiopia
Monday, June 27, 2005

Day the Twentieth - in which I get rather ill and we say goodbye to Ethiopia.

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Our bags are a little lighter this morning - we are minus a Bradt guide to Ethiopia, a bottle of iodine, a pair of heavy duty shorts and a t-shirt. The last two are casualties of said iodine. Why do they make the containers out of a material that the contained substance melts? Same with the Deet that we have - it's ok if you keep it upright, but how the hell do you keep a rucksack upright whilst overlanding?

The bus to Moyale took us through more deserty scrub than yesterday, stopping at lots of Borena communities. There was a lot of milk selling going on.

We looked out for the Abyssinian Bush Crow, an endemic bird only found around Yabello. All we saw were guinea-fowl.

At Mega we went through a huge bank of cloud, giving a sort of miserable air to the place. It always seems worse when everyone is huddled in doorways and everything is dripping wet.

We got to Moyale at around midday, and a guy called Bruik latched onto us and led us to an ok hotel near the border. The Ethiopia/Kenya border goes right through town - at the bottom of the road there is a sign that says 'Welcome to Kenya'. Bruik suggested we get our passports stamped today, since the bus may leave tomorrow before the immigration post opens. So down we went for a stamp out of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian one is the problem, so we went for food, leaving the Kenya visa for later. Even though we are officially not allowed in Ethiopia now, the nature of the cross-town border means you can walk from one country to the other freely.

Bruik invited us back to his house. He entertained us with a game of cards, while his rather pregnant wife made dinner. I kept wanting to make her sit down and rest. It was potato and beetroot injera - very tasty, but unfortunately destined for a reappearance, at least with me. I suspect my sudden need for the bathroom after finishing the meal had a lot to do with being hand-fed. It's obviously rude to decline, but I guess someone hadn't washed their hands or something. They offered the use of their bathroom, but I just couldn't, since it was an attached room. Apart from the obvious proximity/audible sound problem, I also felt it was really unfair to make unpleasant smells in their home. And, the main thing you want when you are ill is to be alone, flopping on the bed (when you aren't rushing to the long-drop).

I made my profuse apologies - assuring them that it wasn't their fault at all - and left Stef to continue with the coffee ceremony. In any other situation I hope Stef would have followed me back sooner, but in this case he just had to stay. I felt so bad for the upset, but there really was nothing I could do. The walk back was truly a case of mind over matter, kids calling "Hello!", and me thinking, "Oh Godddd, can't stop!!"

This really is the only health problem we've had in Ethiopia. Even the raw meat hasn't been an issue. Ironically it was one of our few vegetable dishes that was semi-responsible.

I was quite concerned at this point - we have to leave Ethiopia tomorrow, and the Kenyan side is not a nice place to stay. But the trip to Nairobi takes over 24 hours...not feasible on a bad tummy.

Stef returned, and later Bruik and his wife appeared to see if I was ok. I was feeling much better by this point, so was able to go out of the room and speak to them. I made sure they both (particularly the wife as she felt responsible for cooking it) knew that I was fine and didn't blame them or think any less of them. We told them that I hadn't eaten all day (not a lie) and that we reckoned that was why I had been ill. They don't need to know it was their fault in any way... better they think it was a matter of over-eating, than us telling them to wash their hands more often.

I tentatively went out with Stef to change money and get our Kenyan visas ($50 each). We also got some snackage for tomorrow's bus and I had a flat coke.

At the immigration office they made a big deal of the problem of corruption in Kenya.  Posters reading 'We say NO to bribery' and things like that.  Promising.
Dinner was a bit of a quest - trying to find somewhere and then something that I could eat. Stef had an injera, and I was miffed that I couldn't eat 'The Last Injera'.




Our penultimate gesture to Ethiopia wasn't a true indication of our feelings. We have found Ethiopia to be mostly a wonderful country. However, having been consistently charged the same price for a bottle of Coke throughout the whole country, it was a bit much when the bill came and the Coke had doubled in price. So we walked out with the glass bottles (they are recycled and presumably worth something to the owners). The guy called after us to leave them - I think he thought we had made a mistake - so we enlightened him by not breaking stride and calling back, "Farangi price!" The next eatery we got to, we left the bottles there.

So, we're on for tomorrow. My stomach seems fine.

And that is that.

Ethiopia, thank you. You have been a wonderful host!