Lalibela, Aksum, and Addis (again)....Getting over a German

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Before I start this blog, I have noticed that in my other two there is one serious ommision....Ferenji fever. With the exception of Addis my days have been filled by little children, and some adults in rural areas, shouting 'You You!...Ferenji' at me, with some of the more enterprising adding 'Give me money'. I try to handle it with poise and good grace, but it is fucking hard...as (unknowingly admittedly) these bastards are just so fucking rude. Also what in god names makes someone shout out what the see (apart from that funny disease I can't spell and therefore won;t mention; I mean shouting 'Ferenji' every time you see a white person is like me shouting 'Mailbox', 'Car', 'Cat'...grrrr....anyway....
Well as you read in my last blog I left Addis, and Tatjana, heartbroken; knowing she was back off to Germany and I wouldn't see her for at least 5 months (if ever). Actually leaving Addis wasn't that easy...firstly because I had forgotten to ask the hotel to arrange a taxi to take me to the bus station I was stood stood outside our hotel in the middle of the road flagging down every car that passed (and as it was 4-30am there wasn't very many), eventually a taxi )already with a woman in it, stopped and happily accepted my 50Birr to take me to the Bus Station; I must stress at this point I was very much wanting just to go back inside and get back into bed with Tati again...and put off the inevitable. Alas it wasn;t to be, although I had another glimmer of hope as when I eventually arrived at the bus station I found the bus full...fortunately/although unfortunately for my wants at the time the conductor kicked somebody off for me...and I got a seat squashed between two nice Ethiopians who could speak now English, one of whom looked like a serial killer and carried a box on his lap that he never let go of for the entire two days.
I'll be honest the bus journey was hell, every minute was spent thinking about Tati; although I had no idea if it was just because I was on my own or because or something more. Whatever the case I managed to pass the first day totally absorbed in my own thought; so much so that I didn't notice anything that happened that day, it's weird but it's just blank. Eventually we reached Dessie, our stop off for the night, and two Ethiopian students (18 and 17) Malcom and George took pity on me; they showed me to a cheap hotel...getting a 3 bed room and splitting the cost and then took me out, and paid, for dinner....Kewat...a spicy meat sauce with Injera, and then helped me while away the loneliness by playing, and beating me, at pool. I did managed to slip away for an hour though and write an incredibly soppy email to Tati.
The next day was a little better, although I started formulating this stupid plan of flying to Germany....spontaneous romantic gestures aren't my forte so this was the best I could come up with. Eventually we arrived in Lalibela, just as it was getting getting, and Bob (my bag) and I stumbled...well were led...by a tout to one of the worst looking hotels in the world; the completely unfinished, granted it will be very amazing when it is finished, Jourdan Guesthouse. The manager/owner Bekele was a very nice man, with to be fair sound financial plans...which he felt obliged to recite to me. It was here that I met Simon and Craig, two South Africans (from Cape Town) living in England who were doing the same route as me....but by Bike!
After having a guided tour of Lalibela by a tout, discovering the latest scam (and laughing at how stupid they think westerners are) of saying 'sponsor my football team', and getting my shoes stitched up by a local Shoe Mender...they were in awful shape and for 2Birr he glued the soles ect back together and stitched up all the holes...I went to dinner with Simon and Craig. The attempt to get food was comical....we would ask for one thing on the menu and 5minutes later the waiter would return and say 'run out'; this happened for about 4 dishes, and an attempt to ask for bread...until we eventually got the first thing we had ordered, and bread! It was comical.
The next day Simon, and myself, woke up at 5am to go join in a mass at one the churches; unfortunately whilst every Ethiopian person in town simply walked in we were told that we would have to pay (as it was one of the old rock hewn churches). Neither of us were very pleased, Simon in fact telling the ticket man he was 'a disgrace to his religion'...and other more swear involved things. Eventually we paid the 200Birr ticket price, but still wern't allowed in as Mass had started; we just left to meet Craig and our guide Thomas for the tour...only to discover Craig's watch was an hour fast so he and Thomas has already set off. Eventually we met them at the entrance, and started our tour. The churches were amazing...and in the end we got to see the mass as Thomas argued our way in. It was spectacular, so much different from the frankly mundane services of the Rev at Worksop College; the music, mainly the drum beat, was so....mesmerizing. After the first church, and a good 10minutes listening to and watching a group of monks chanting, Thomas added a couple of stragglers to our group; a incredibly brown (tanned) German girl called Marianne, who had been working at the Goethe Institute as part of her Uni course, and her friend Yohannes the Ethiopian....neither Simon, Craig, or me could work out their relationship at first. The rest of the tour was very interesting, and the churches were spectacular beyond words, just how people almost 1000 years ago had managed to hew the churches straight down into solid rock...the crave the insides so perfectly as well is amazing...the best preserved being St Georges Church (St George is patron saint of Ethiopia as well....and apparently he was very annoyed at King Lalibela for not building him a church....so the King built him the most amazing one). For the most part of the tour I found myself chatting to Marianne, rather guiltily I will admit I over quick in forgetting Tatjana...if only for a few hours.
After the tour we all went to get some lunch, and were joined by an Israeli couple...doing the same route as me...but a few weeks behind; we had another incident with ordering juices. 'What juices do you have?' 'Avocado and Papaya' 'Ok one Avocado and 6 papaya'...'No Avocado'..'Ok 7 Papaya'....'No Papaya....only Banana'....'Ok 7 Banana'....'We have Avocado'...'Ok One mix and 6 Banana'....'No Avocado'. Eventually we got a mix of Banana and Mango...but it was a very long lunch; after which we all decided to visit the market, and then climb a little hill to get a good view of Lalibela. The market was very samey to all the others I have seen (and the only interesting bit was watching Simon buying honey), but the climb was great; and the views were absolutely fantastic...and I was chatting non stop with Marianne...what is with German girls. Although it was now I realized that there was something wrong with Yohannes...as Marianne later explained it was her and I were spending so much time together...apparently he was jealous as he had earlier in her trip declared his love for her and being knocked back. All this was seemingly forgotten though as we all visited a Tej bar (honey wine which tastes like Champagne and Orange juice), and drank our fair share. After dinner, and a long search for cheap bread for Simon and Craig, we all retired to bed (seperate bed I must stress, although I got a kiss goodnight from Marianne, her email address, and an invite to stay with her if I ever want to visit Germany)...quite early as the others had buses to catch at 5am to various parts of Ethiopia whilst I had a plane to catch to Axum at 10am. At this point I mus say that 2 nights in the dirty dirty beds of the Jourdan has left me literally eaten alive by bed bugs...so much that my legs up to my ass/waist are basically bites, with a tiny bit of skin showing.
Lalibela airport was ridiculously modern, and had clearly had much needed Aid money pured into it's construction.....however what was most odd, and a little unnerving was that I was the only person there. Eventually after checking in, on my own, I wandered out to the plane (which does a route...Addis, Lalibela, Axum, Gondar, Bahar Dar, then back to Addis...picking up and drooping off passengers) and bordered it. Thankfully I wasn't the only person on the plane, that would have been odd; and so after a 40min flight I arrived in Axum....and for the first time in a long while actually arrived and booked into my hotel of choice....The Africa Hotel...a very good hotel where I was able to get a room with a shower for only 50Birr! After arranging a Landcruiser back to Addis, which required bargaining...the driver price started at 200 Dollars (did he think I was a fucking idiot) which I eventually got down to 200 Birr (about 20 Dollars)...I then started my exploration of Aksum.
My ticket to see all the monuments cost me 25Birr, as a student, and I started off with the Stelae...which are very interesting...but also fairly sparse as apparently the entire field hasn't yet being uncovered; the scale was amazing and much like the Obelisks of Egypt the ancient peoples abilities to drag these huge stone Monuments from the quarry to the place of standing is amazing. Next on my list was the Church of Mary Zion, where apparently the Ark of the Convenant (taken by Menelik the 1st from his father King Solomon (mother Queen of Sheba) )is held. I started walking round the compound, noticing that hundreds of Ethiopian locals were walking around, sitting in the shade, just generally killing time...for free I think it;s important I add,.....so I continue walking around happily snapping the odd picture until a guard comes up to me and demands I pay entrance fee. I questioned this and pointed out all the locals who clearly wern't paying....to which he answered 'They are Ethiopian'...'You racist...grr'. I stormed off, taking pictures of everything much to the guards annoyance..who every time I took a photo made as if to run after me. After this little adventure I was in no mood to carry on, so I returned to the Hotel, sat at the bar and got talking to a Israeli guy..who was basically just bumming around Ethiopia after having finished his service with the Israeli special forces (oh yeh the same thing had happened to him in the Church as well). As the locals packed the bar to watched the football, Chelsea vs Blackburn (they are absolutely English football mad here), we moved and joined an Australian couple who were traveling my route but basically in reverse...so I got a lot of tips off them before eventually heading to bed at 12pm.
Next morning I was off at 9am in the Landcruiser....possibly one the most boring journeys of my life....no atmosphere...I much prefer the buses...although the Landcruiser saved me 1-2 days of traveling. The scenery here in the North is so different to that in South/Central; it's dry, dusty, and very much like you would picture Ethiopia....very much a contrast to the lush green fields I have been through before. Eventually we stopped in Woldia for the night, a very non nondescript transit town....but with internet connection...so I decided to while away the hours by sending emails. Unfortunetly it started raining, which meant the power kept cutting out; this wasn't so bad as it kept coming back, and they wern't charging me for the time I lost before it cut out...what was bad (although funny the first 4 times, but not the next 5) was that every time the power cut out the women in charge would absolutely scream "JESUS!!!!" like this occurance was unexpected. After a few emails I just gave in, and retired to bed....I am finally beginning to catch up on the sleep I lost when Tati was with me...although I still find myself missing her and wishing she was here.
We were off again at 5am, and after a long days traveling arrived back in Addis at 6pm; thankfully (I was dreading dragging Bob from he Bus Station) the driver dropped me off at the Taitu...why I was thinking staying at Tati's favorite hotel would make me feel better I don't know; all wasn't bad though, as after checking in, I was returning to my room with a Samosa when I was grabbed by an English girl called Lousie (who is volunteering here in Addis) and soon was introduced to Coulett (English woman on career break recreating herself as mother Thersea) and Rob (an Oxford Student on holiday). I pretty much have spent the last 5 days with these three, chatting, eating dinner (although the local Arabic restaurant is always out of Bearek), and being introduced to the very loud nightlife of the Piazza. Oh yeh, and they all thought my plan to fly to Germany was very romantic lol Rob, who left a couple of days ago, introduced me to a Czech guy..who's current mission in Addis was to find pictures of the Leopards that had being kept at the British Embassy...all fair enough I guess, other than his plan was to go to the Embassy (and in very broken English) ask 'Have you any pictures of Leopards'; can you imagine the British diplomats reply lol
Anyway I am off to Moyale and Kenya very soon, once I get out of Addis lethargic drag....which shouldn't be so hard as I have met a group of four English people doing the route by (2) Landrovers who have offered me a lift....depending on how long it takes to fix one of their engines. Although the guy I got chatting to most (David) won't mind staying here a bit longer, as last night in the bar the local woman (ok admittedly they are prostitutes) were all over him.
Basically the point of this, and the last 2 Blogs, is to go to Jama...(and if you could relay this message Ford) 'AHHHH FUCK YOU'...as I remember a conversation about my trip where he doubted I would meet people, which upset me very much....but, apart from a couple of lonely days, I think so far I am doing a good job of proving him wrong. Although in some ways I wish I hadn't as I still miss Tatjana lol

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Comments

[Fordy]

Still think you are making it up.
See now you are meeting more girls who apparently are falling for u 2, now u are either a very warped human being sitting in Totton working out what to write next OR you are a very warped human being who is in Ethopia and believe every english speaking person you meet is in love with you. God i hope they never find this site and read what you've written. But in all seriousness mate Im glad you are having an amazing time and are getting on so well and meeting loads of new people. A few updates from here + the one i will send u in facebook are that the cricket season has basically started (played for wayfarers 2nds today) and in the 1sts game jama hit 88. jon is a good captain i should mention. It's been quite tepid over the last couple of weeks I even got sunburnt the other day. Going back to uni in 3 days which i think is going to be a good thing as i've basically lazed around here for the past 3/4 weeks doing absolutely fuck all bar watching the cricket. Started reading a history of africa book i got out of the library before i left. About 50 pages in and im up to the End of the Roman empire. Only another 1600 years to go which will be in far more detail (you dare correct me on the exact date i will send Priddle to get you. Sad when that is all I have to say. See how your 6 months of hard postal work has paid off. Ur having the greatest time of your life while im slobbing it here. Ah well my own fault. Hope you continue to have an amazing time mate. Stay safe