Abyssinian Aspiration
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
1
183
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Friday, February 8, 2008
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
We are bone tired from our eight day trip to Ethiopia's south west. The roads were dusty and rough, but that was not what drained us; it was the accommodations. Mat and Vilim's frugality saved us money but we are paying for it now. Thankfully the second night we were back at the Baro hotel we are able to move into one of the better rooms facing the courtyard at the Baro Hotel. It is spacious with comfortable double and single beds, desk and chair, even a love seat and an en suite bath with its own water heater, still we are only paying 100 birr, which is the same as we paid for the small dark windowless cell we were given the first night back. The management does not set the price based on any estimate of the quality of the rooms, but they are all fairly clean with en suite bath.
February 5, 2008
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
We made a big change of plans today
08-01
. We are not flying to Nairobi after all. We are following Paul Theroux's route over land. Despite all the horror stories from other travelers about riding in trucks through the bandit infested northern Kenyan desert that is what we are going to do. This was the only part of the over land Cairo to Cape Town odyssey we considered skipping. We both have reasons for changing our minds: first of all Arvid tends to be compulsive about the purity of the trip; but the more important reason is that Irina is not willing to pay the over $900 it would cost us to fly. We had checked the internet and Kenya Air had listed the price at $376 and that was a real stretch for us, but when we went to their office at the Hilton Hotel we were told it was something like $475, Ethiopia Airlines had about the same price and wouldn't even sell us a one way ticket. It was Irina's call and she decided we should save the money and tough it out like real intrepid travelers. So we gave the airlines the bird and returned to the Baro with a sense of satisfaction; the prideful feeling you have before the reality of your decision sets in. February 6, 2008
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
We are quite comfortable here at the Baro and we are meeting lots of interesting people so we've decided to stay until the weekend. That will give us plenty of time to rest up and also finish some of the books we've started so we don't have to carry them
08-02
. We also have a bunch of souvenirs to mail back home. The mailing process always takes us a couple days: the first day to find the post office and find out their rules, then the second day to return with the right kind of boxes and packing. Irina always brings plenty of packing tape. February 7, 2008
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
We found a very good Italian restaurant, called Castelles, within walking distance of the Baro. It is located in a building which was formerly a residence with several parlors off the main hallway, now used as dining rooms. It is a first class place, with real linen, knives, spoons and forks, and long stem glasses of different sizes for the water and the wine. After eating with our finger for weeks this is what we think of by the term civilization. Irina ordered homemade linguini with black squid sauce and Arvid had homemade fettuccini with truffle sauce. We split a bottle of local red wine, which was cheap and passable. We finished the meal with a desert of tiramisu. The total cost was 343 birr.
While we were enjoying our meal a distinguished looking Ethiopian man entered our dining room with a giggly American girl who sounded like she was a Washington, D.C. intern. They were near enough for us to hear their conversation in which the man was futilely trying to enlighten the young lady on certain points of convergence in U.S
08-03
. and Ethiopian history. He asked her if she knew about the Dulles brothers, which she did not. He continued by saying one was secretary of state, but the man seemed to be stuck for the moment on the name. After a brief pause Irina said "John Foster". The man abruptly swung around in his chair and said, "Yes! And his brother?" Arvid added, "Alan Dulles, head of the CIA." The man jumped up, leaving the young lady, "Yes, the policeman." He was on us in an instant pumping our hands and telling us several stories, including one of Nikita Khrushchev visiting the US and recognizing Alan Dulles in a crowd and hurrying out to shake his hand and tell the head of the CIA that they should talk business. The Ethiopian returned to his seat but continued to ignore the young lady and asked us if we knew who the greatest American president was? We thought Lincoln but let him answer his own question. "Ronald Regan". He went on to describe Regan's meeting with Gorbachev at which Regan informed Gorbachev of the Star Wars program. The man told the story as if he had personally been there. He claimed that this was the straw that broke the camel's back because Gorbachev realized that the USSR could never keep up the arms race let alone feed and clothe its own people. We had read the same scenario and praise for Regan in "Ethiopia: A View From Inside" by Michael Lentakis. Having never lived under an oppressive communist regime it is hard for us to understand how important an event the fall of the Soviet Union was to a country like Ethiopia
08-04
. Apparently Ethiopians of his generation give Regan the credit. People like that have the "big man" view of history, but probably most Americans believe the Soviet system just ran out of steam and copies of the Victoria's Secret catalog got smuggled in giving the people an idea of what they were missing out on. Anyway, we learned that the man had been a former minister in the government and was now an attorney in private practice and the young woman was a representative from an American corporation trying to get a contract for some water reclamation project. Paul Theroux would no doubt have found out a lot more about the man, including his name which we didn't ask for, and Paul would have ended up being invited to his home. We have a hard time maintaining that kind of intensity and this man was intense. He was probably someone important. We just wanted to tuck into those tiramisus before they got soggy in their bowls.February 8, 2008
We thought of some more reasons for us to lay around in Addis before heading to Kenya: first the Kenyans are still rioting and killing each other in the post election hoopla. The body count is up to a thousand they'll soon run out of steam; also this place is cheap so we can maybe save up some money. The food here at the Baro is pretty good, we can recommend the egg and burger it looks like it started out as a full pound and then cooked like your mother might have - really over done not juicy - crispy
08-05
. There's an Italian grocery store not far away, just walk down the hill to the next street turn right and walk pass Churchill St., there you can get some provolone cheese made locally (also smoked gouda!) and garlic dressing from Holland. Keep your eye out for a little hole-in-the-wall bakery outlet with small loaves of Italian crusty bread - the Baro serves the equivalent of Wonder Bread. Bring these back and doctor up the egg burger. Get a seat by the TV and enjoy the soccer game. February 9, 2008
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Arvid had read in "Dark Star Safari" Paul Theroux's account of his adventures in the town of Harar, it's a walled Muslim town in the east of the country, and there a Belgian aid worker told him, "Some people spit on me at the market, for no other reason than that I am a 'faranji'." Faranji or some similar sounding word is used through much of the Muslim world, from Indonesia to Morocco, to describe someone of European descent. It comes from the corruption of the word Frank, who were people from France who went on crusades against the Muslims. Of course there were other types of Europeans in the crusades but the Franks must have stuck in their minds. PT tells of riding in a taxi down a street and crazed looking Harans would run up to his window spitting and yelling 'faranji' at him. Actually, he was lucky because he had his window rolled up
08-06
. Arvid wasn't so lucky here in Addis when he was walking down the sideway from the piazza along Churchill Street. He didn't notice the crazy old Ethiopian walking up the sidewalk towards him until the guy spit on the left side of Arvid's face as he passed. Having read about the spitting Ethiopians, Arvid knew instantly what had happened and immediately spun around to his right swinging the sack, containing a one liter bottle of Captain Morgan Black, he had in his right hand just missing the old man's head as he ducked. People on the sidewalk stood back to see what was going to happen next. Irina had stopped when she saw the spitting and was between Arvid and the crazed man who was now staring at her as if he would spit on her next. She could tell the man was insane. Arvid stepped forward with his fist drawn back and the man assumed a fighting stance. But the crazed old Ethiopian had not actually struck Arvid with his fist so that response would be beyond the Hebraic eye for an eye. Still if someone spits on you and you just ignore it days of torment and sleepless nights are the likely result. So he gathered as much spittle as he could in an instant, leaned passed Irina and let the load fly into the man's face. No more than four feet separated the two men and as the bright Addis midday sun reflected off the three wobbling foam orbs, the center one satisfyingly larger than its companions on the left or right; they turned a glistening white and followed a low arching trajectory like tracer rounds towards the man's face
08-07
. Time expanded for Arvid and the tracers moved so slowly that it seemed the man had plenty of time to take evasive action, but he did not move, he took them full in his face as if he agreed this should be. No more than 5 seconds could have actually elapsed from the time Arvid had been spit on. After seeing his aim true, Arvid turned to leave. People had stopped in front and back of the three of us on the sidewalk and one man shouted, "The man is mad, he is mad!" Maybe he was, but maybe he was the embodiment of an evil African spirit testing Arvid to see if he was worthy to enter sub-Saharan Africa and acquire the secret wisdom of the dark continent. Irina has been reading, "The Hero With An African Face" by Clyde Ford. It's an analysis of African myths by a student of Joseph Campbell. Irina says it is very good and recommends it. Nearly all these myths involve a journey by the hero or heroine which is in reality a symbolic quest in the human unconscious in search of spiritual union, enlightenment or direct knowledge of the divine. It's a bit Jungian. In these myths there's often a character like this to hinder or trick the hero. Anyway, we left the mad man standing on the sidewalk and continued on our way back to the hotel. Arvid slept peacefully that night. February 10, 2008
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Today we walked to the bus station and bought our tickets to Moyala on the Kenyan border
08-08
. The cost for the two tickets was 192 birr or about $10 each. The trip will take a day and a half. You might think that after being speared and spit on by the natives that we would be glad to leave this country and while we are glad to continue our journey we will miss Ethiopia. Those incidents are like intimate contacts with the spirit of Ethiopia. Those tourists who ride through Africa in relative comfort in the protective bubble of their expensive 4-WDs are, as one traveler told us, like astronauts in capsules passing through space but never touching it. We rationalize that we are getting the real experience. We read a quote attributed to Emperor Haile Selassie: "The worse fault of Abyssinians is their superlative arrogance." He was their emperor and he certainly was arrogant so he should know. Keeping that in mind gives some meaning to the seemingly random acts of petty violence of some Ethiopians against foreigners like spitting, spear chucking and stone throwing. While no one has thrown stones at us we've read it is common and did see children throwing stones at each other. There is so much more for us to see in this exciting country and we still haven't tired of it. But that is probably the best time to leave. 
