Blogs from Ethiopia, Africa - page 97

It cannot be said that my first visit to Goba, a town 14km south of Robe, was a roaring success! I had decided that this weekend I would go away, somewhere. I considered Dinsho, but nobody I spoke to was sure about how to get a bus there, and most said that it was even harder to get back. I was also told, that there is Internet access in Goba - the more I thought about it, the more I became obsessed about going there to spend many hours sending emails. I wrote emails in advance, saved onto a memory stick, and off I went. The bus journey was cheap (2 birr) and blessedly short - there is no tarmac on the road from Robe to Goba either. Goba looks like a set for a gold-mining ... read more

I didn’t get much sleep last night! There was a catalogue of things that happened. Firstly, the young college guard (who stops by most nights to say hello and who has started telling me about his marital problems - I think!) came by as usual, but told me that he had a key to my kitchen/bathroom door and asked if he could have a shower - his ‘best friend’, the previous volunteer used to let him. I didn’t feel I could refuse, but was very uncomfortable about the situation. The next thing that happened was that I was woken by my mobile phone ringing. It was only about 10pm, but I was fast asleep - life in the regions! It was my link person from VSO who regularly phones to check if I have any problems ... read more

Arrived in Robe after an incredible journey over the Bale Mountains. We left Addis at 6.30 am on Saturday, stopped for breakfast and lunch, dropped another 2 volunteers at Dilla, then headed back north and spent the night in Awasa - a very quiet, pleasant town - setting off to Robe after breakfast on Sunday. The road from Addis Ababa to Dilla had been good the whole way - just the occasional goat or donkey on the road to avoid: according to our VSO driver, if you kill a goat, you have to pay the owner compensation of 400 birr. It is more for a donkey! The tarmac ended 10m off of the Addis - Awasa road. There followed about 5 hours of mud and stone bumpiness. When it rains the road turns to slippery mud. ... read more

The Sudanese Embassy. AGAIN I went down to the Sudanese embassy the next day too see if there was the remotest possibility of getting the visa that would allow me to continue up to Egypt. Unfortunately not, but Monday was looking good. I did speak to a couple of other travellers that were also waiting. One had his passport open and was looking lovingly at a page. He told me that he had been waiting 6 weeks and only got it by speaking to the ambassador, who issued one personally. He slowly reached out to caress the light blue sticker with the tips of his fingers barely able to believe he had it. There was a Japanese tourist who had spent the better part of 18 months travelling from Japan through China into Europe and then ... read more

I woke and started to pack. Mike had found that the Hotel Wutma had 2 single rooms for little more than we were already paying so across the road we went. Once that was out of the way we headed towards the British Embassy because we needed to obtain a letter of commendation before we went to the Sudanese embassy. A Brief Description of Addis Ababa Addis Ababa is Amharic for New Flower, and was built about a hundred years ago as a capitol city and is mainly a business and administrative centre. As a result there isn’t much there for tourists and most tend to fly in for a night and fly out to wherever they want to go, or once they have arranged a tour. In terms of entertainment there isn’t much either. Most ... read more