Red Earth, White Skin and Blue Backsides!

Arriving in Addis...

Addis Ababa was a much different experience to our time in Cairo. The roads were quieter, cars actually stopped to let you cross but the main difference was the huge amount of people living on the streets. As we explored the city we saw people of all ages, from babies to the very elderly, living in places you wouldn't ever imagine. One night, in search of a restaurant we took a wrong turn down a dark and dirty road. There was rubbish and animal poo everywhere and we came across some huge bins. Down on the ground between the bins were several children settled down for the night. It was hard to believe they were really there!

The scale of poverty, especially in the city, is unbelievable. It seems like every corner we turned there was someone else begging for food or money. There were whole families with young children living on the pavements. The mothers would send the children out to beg and as tourists we were especially targeted.

We passed an hour visiting the Ethnological museum during our stay which was quite interesting and showed how the different tribes lived. There were some strange children's stories on display, the type with important morals. Most seemed to end quite abruptly and we found them very entertaining.

That evening we had our first experience of Ethiopian food at the Addis Ababa restaurant. We arrived to the sound of cheers and realised that there was a wedding party going on. We assumed they wouldn't have any space for us but they squeezed us in amongst the chaos. There was a strong smell of alcohol in the air which we soon realised was the smell of Tej, a honey wine the locals are rather taken with. We had a go, drinking the amber liquid from a bulbous vase and soon decided we would leave it to them! It must be an aquired taste!

We ordered the fasting food, a selection of vegetarian foods on top of Injera, a huge, beige pancake type thing with a sour taste. The Ethiopians have it with everything and I'm sure it must expand in your stomach! It's so filling! As we were eating the bride and groom made their way through the dining room accompanied by a huge crowd of family and friends singing and clapping. We were surprised when the rest of the people out to dinner started joining in. Swept up in the excitment we found ourselves clapping along too. They make a huge deal of weddings here and the bride looked positively drained by the time we left, with us pushing our way through the car park which was filled with people having a jolly good jig!

On to Bahir Dar...

From Addis we took a mini bus at 3am and after a police check of the vehicle we set out on a wildy scenic drive to Bahir Dar. Initially with bright stars on a clear black night which then gave way to a picturesque dawn along the valleys. I can't remember the last time I saw dawn before we came here and now we've seen 12 in 4 weeks. The locals proved themselves to be very friendly as they repeatedly caught Sam when she fell asleep and wobbled off her seat. Very helpful. On route we passed through many villages and towns, catching glimpses of locals dressed in robes, hard at work, donkeys pulling carts and homes made from wood and compacted mud. We arrived in Bahir Dar in the mid-day heat and after finding lodging sated our hunger.

Passing through the streets outside of town it was intriguing and often amusing to see the varying reactions to us. We said hello to most people, some replied, others looked unsure and nervously smiled. Occasionally someone would give a look of disdain at our presence. Like many parts of Asia, having white skin in Africa does make you feel a little self conscious no matter how confident you are and you will always attract attention no matter how much you try to blend in. Cries of 'Faranji' and "You, you" will follow you everywhere but luckily in Ethiopia the attention is almost always friendly and warm.

Pushing on and enjoying our walk we took a look at the famous Blue Nile river which begins it journey to the mediterranean here. On route back we made friends with local children. Sam in particular was having a merry old time holding hands and swinging arms. When it was time to go our seperate ways emotions ran high.

In the evening we enjoyed some beer overlooking lake Tana while watching its enormous population of Pelicans. The following day my addiction to macchiatos begun and these tasty little coffees are irresistibly cheap and available everywhere.

The Sights and Sounds of Gonder...

Arriving in Gonder we passed an amazing advert for soap that read, "The only soap that eliminates the unpleasant smell of the foot". We could both do with some of that! (Or at least Jed could!)

We spent a few pleasant days in Gonder exploring the town. We made loads of new friends, including two very clever young boys who accompanied us on our walk up the hill, showing us a short cut and chattering away about their ambitions and their families. They were great company and we were happy we met them. We took a walk over to the castle which was really gorgeous. Much of it is still intact and we had a good old nosy round it. Whilst we were walking across the grass we saw some enormous birds come in to land which on closer inspection, turned out to be vultures! They were a bit cross and got in to a fight with some other big birds, possibly kites and then a giant raven got involved. It was all very exciting!

After we had finished at the castle we took a sweaty walk to investigate the church, which is very interesting but not as spectacular as the guide book makes it sound. We spent 5 minutes making mmm.. noises as the priest who didn't speak English attempted to teach us about the paintings, before we left and had an equally sweaty walk back to town, once again accompanied by lots of little'ns.

We left Gonder at 5am walking to the bus station in the pitch black, through an area of mud huts, most with very angry sounding dogs just behind a small fence or wall. We then waited over an hour to get on the bus while every single bus in the station ran their engines causing a giant cloud of smog. All of the passengers developed raging coughs and woozy heads! We spent 9 hours on the bus, accidentally befriended a crazy guy who kept touching me and had a battle of the wills over keeping our window open. The locals apparently believe that the moving wind through the bus will make them ill. We won in the end although we turned up at our destination looking like we had spent the day rolling in mud.

We then hopped straight on a mini bus to take us to Aksum. Arriving tired and deshevilled we were pleased to find a nice room with a hot water shower. It's amazing what a good shower and a change of clothes can do for you!

The Ancient Capital of the Aksumite Kingdom(aka Aksum)...

Another long, dusty, hot and bumpy bus journey proceeded our arrival in Aksum. We really were getting bruised backsides at this point and only half way around the northern road back to Addis! One traveller we met tried to make light of the long bus journeys in an effort to make himself look like a far superior hard core traveller which we found amusing. This was not the first time we had met such a superhero. There is however, no doubt that long distance buses here are an uncomfortable experience.

After settling in it was time to peruse the historical sites of this former great city. This basically entailed a few hours wandering a field full of stelae, which are a kind of monolith or tombstone if you like. Much like an obelisk or even the Pyramids for that matter. So we had a good look around and found it to be mildly interesting but nothing to get to excited about. That done it was time to find more sustenance.

The Bit Where We Go On About All The New Foods We Have Tried!...

Now, if you have read any of our blogs over the last year or so you may have noticed that we do get excited about all the new foods on offer. However, Ethiopian food is a real hit and miss affair for us with a few nice dishes but nothing that we have really loved. There are great little coffee shops everywhere selling various cakes and pastries and really good coffee. This is no real surprise though as the countries most lucrative export is coffee and apparently the word 'coffee' is actually derived from a place called something like kaffa in western Ethiopia. The injera is quite tasty with various spicy sauce dishes but comes into its own on Wednesday and Friday when it is customary not to eat meat and all restaurants serve fasting food. This consists of several tasty vegetable delights piled onto the ever present injera, which is a good meal.

Lalibela...

We spent 2 days travelling from Mekele to Lalibela, stopping overnight in Woldia. Maybe I was a bit too tired to give it a chance but Woldia did nothing for me and I was glad to be leaving the next morning. We toddled off to the bus station at some ridiculous hour to find that the bus to Lalibela was bursting at the seams and we couldn't fit on it. They told us that another would be running an hour later so we waited around. Three hours and two bus changes later we were on our way! The bus had some big characters on it and one in particular, a very loud drunken man accompanied by his very cheeky, dirty son was the centre of attention. I have no idea what he was saying but the locals were finding him hilarious. He was fascinated with us and kept shouting "Hey you!" in the same way the local children do so often. He kept trying to buy us food and showing us all his stuff like his favourite music tape and his mobile phone. Anyway, we settled in for a long and dusty journey and arrived in Lalibela just as the sun was setting over the hills. It was really beautiful and even the locals seemed to enjoy it, opening up the curtains for the first time all day. We found ourselves a room and headed out to celebrate our Valentines evening with a yummy meal in the towns best restaurant. Lovely!

I found Lalibela to be a nice place to be. I loved the cobbled roads, the happy chatty people and the relaxing atmosphere of the place. We visited the famous rock-hewn churches, spending all day wandering along passageways, down steps and into dimly lit caverns. Taking our shoes off every five minutes we ventured inside the churches, some small and quiet, others vast and filled with chanting priests and activity. Inside the cool interiors the church floors were covered with rugs and the walls adorned with various pictures and paintings, some of which were very impressive. The highlight for us was probably Bet Giyorgis or St George's church if you prefer. Standing all alone with commanding views of the valley beyond it is easily the most visually impressive example of its kind.

The following day was market day and what an enormous, sprawling market it is. It made for an intriguing time as we passed through the numerous pitches of spice, seed and salt sellers, on past the honey and clothes and finally out into the hoards of animals. I personally wanted to buy a donkey(500 Birr) and free him from his life of slavery but I feel he may have encountered jealousy and revenge from the thousands of other poor over-worked beasts here in Ethiopia.

Ever Wondered What Became Of The Legend That Is John Barnes?...

It was then, sitting down for lunch, that the amazing news reached me. We started chatting to a local boy with excellent English and he told me that John Barnes (one of my boyhood heroes and a Liverpool and England football legend) had been in Lalibela just one month ago to help get a local football stadium built. Apparently none of the local lads really knew who he was but looked him up on the internet prior to his arrival. I, of course, knew who he was and am glad that many of the next generation can also appreciate him.

That done we largely spent our final day in Lalibela relaxing and wandering around. I decided to take on some local boys at table tennis, which was rather foolish as they play more or less all day, every day. Despite a slow start where I lost 3 games and 15 Birr I managed to give a better account of myself on the second attempt losing 2 and finally winning 1, much to the annoyance of my opponent who it may be said showed a certain lack of sportsmanship and humlilty in defeat. Then it was time to take the 2 day bus back to Addis!

Harar...

As you may be led to believe, Harar is not a maze of bustling markets and alleyways that transport you to some kind of Aladdin fantasy, it is, in fact, a bit of a rubbish dump. That said it is not totally devoid of interest. We had a little prance about town, checking out the various markets and punctuated our days with numerous coffee breaks. It was surprising to see just how many people were sleeping rough in Harar. They are lined up in their masses, with only a small blanket to keep them warm in the chilly night air. Families had constructed tents along the walls with raggedy pieces of material and we would often see the toddlers playing in the dirt and rubbish alongside them. Harar suffers from huge water shortages and during our 2 days here we experienced one. It was easy to put things in to perspective though and not get bothered by it. No, we couldn't shower but take one look out the window of our comfortable room and we realised how lucky we were. It makes you feel so helpless at not being to make things better for all these people.

The real highlight for us was undoubtedly the hyena feeding. Harar is a city of scavengers with vultures circling the skies above and as dusk falls the hyenas converge upon the city walls, lured by the nightly feeding ritual of the 'Hyena men'. The four remaining men continue the feeding tradition at 2 locations outside the old city.

Our guide from the hotel led us through a maze of streets, through the darkness, and arriving, our jaws dropped. It was an incredible sight, getting up close to what are essentially still wild, dangerous animals. We had a go at feeding them, not from our mouths like the crazy Hyena men, but we still got to see the power of their jaws at close quarters. We stood and watched in fascination for ages, and slowly more of the pack emerged from the darkness to join in. They seemed not to notice us at all and were only interested in the juicy pieces of meat on offer. Adrenaline pumping we left feeling exhilarated and that the day long bus journey was just about worth it.

Back To Addis...

We jumped back on another local bus to take us to Debre Zeyit. The journey took a very reasonable 10 hours and took us along side the Awash national park. In the heat of the day the shady areas under the trees were in high demand. We saw baboons, vultures and of course the usual goats taking advantage of these cool areas. We arrived in Debre Zeyit and took a room in a hotel above Lake Bishoftu. The view was very lovely and we had a cold drink before heading out. Our purpose here was to do some volunteering at an orphanage we had read about but no one in the town knew what an orphanage was, let alone that there was one in their town. I had been given a phone number but it turned out not to be Ethiopian and no one would let us use their phone to call it. In the end we had to give up on our search as we were running out of time. We headed back to Addis in the hope of being do-gooders there.

Upon arrival back in the capital we asked around and decided to pay a visit to the Mother Teresa missionary centre. The place was enormous and was part orphanage and part care home amongst other things. As one of the staff kindly took the time to show us around we visited the young children, some with disabilities, both mental and physical, the elderly, and room after room of people dying from Aids, Cancer and TB. Many rooms are filled with people "Waiting to go to heaven" and it certainly gives you a healthy dose of perspective to see this going on with your own eyes.

They have an area in the centre for prostitutes and women on the streets to bring their babies after they give birth and to get help. The way the guy described it made it sound like the babies are usually abandoned outside but we later learnt that the mothers come with them and move in to the centre. The problem is that they can only help them for 3-6 months before they are told to leave as other mothers need to come in and they only have so much room. This means that these tiny little babies will be out on the streets in a matter of months. I can't imagine how scary that must be for their mothers and it is so sad to think of them joining the already huge number of child beggars in just a few years time. The mothers and babies were all very clean and although they didn't speak English they were pleased to see us and let me have cuddles with all the dinky tots! We came away from the centre feeling impressed at their efforts to assist those most in need.

Sam Plays Teacher For The Afternoon...

The following day I took a visit to the New Life Youth Academy, a school for children from Kindergarten to grade 6. As we drove closer to it I could see what a poor area the school was set in. I was welcomed with bunches of flowers from 2 of the older children before being taken on a tour of the school. The principal explained to me that a lot of the students are very poor and many are orphans living with grandparents or other family. Because of this the school tries to help out with the funding and along with the contributions of NGO's this enables these children to get an education. I went from class to class meeting the children and seeing what they were learning. They learn English right from the start of their schooling and were excited to ask question's about the children back home.

After meeting all of the children (there are nearly 700!) I was taken back to the principals office where we decided which classes I would teach. I had been told that the children especially wanted to learn more about England so I had decided to do a lesson on Guy Fawkes and bonfire night and had the children do chalk drawings of fireworks. This went down really well and the teachers were fascinated with the idea of letting the children do something creative and not just copy a picture. The idea had never occured to them before and they all had lots of questions for me. The teachers are doing their best with the resources they have but unfortunately these are very few. I was shown the library which is very stark and they told me how they are desperately trying to expand it, not so easy a task with no money to do so. I was so impressed with their dedication to the school and the whole experience was very rewarding. I plan to stay in touch with the school and help them on their quest to expand their library for these wonderful children. If anyone has any children's books or any educational posters for the classrooms that they would like to donate, please contact me and I will sent them on. They would be most grateful.

Reflections On Ethiopia...

We will certainly never forget this land of contrast. At times it feels like a different world, or a different time and place at least. In fact, oddly enough, Ethiopia has a different calendar to us and it is the year 2000 here. They also use a different way of telling the time. When the sun comes up at 6 am it is 12'o'clock when it is 7 am and the sun has been up an hour it is 1'o'clock and so it goes. This means you have to be careful that you dont get confused when your arranging to be somewhere.

The land itself is extremely mountainous and makes for spectacular bus journeys. The red earth and seemingly never ending sunshine gives it a very different feel. February is a pretty good time to visit as we haven't seen a drop of rain during our time here and only a handful of tourists. On top of all this Ethiopia is a country full of history and we have met an intriguing mix of people. It has been a fantastic journey and we hope to see much more of the country in the future.

So, tomorrow we fly back to Egypt, the adventure continues....

Sam and Jed

---

---

Part of trip: Africa

---