Half an entry from a man angry with Ethiopian internet cafes!

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Well Hello!

Typically, I seem to have chosen to start a travel blog when traveling in a region with terrible internet service! So apologies for the lack of entries thus far. I am yet to find a computer which will allow me to update the photos and maps too, so I apologise in particular for its relatively plain nature - I may have to wait until my return to spruce it up a little!

So how is Ethiopia…?

Well, friendly! The pople are very welcoming, and I have to say that I feel extremely safe here. Many polite conversations do inevitably end in requests for money/food/emails/employment, but polite declinations are generally easily accepted, and there certainly isn’t the pushy attitude you find in some countries, in spite of the necessity which drives them to beg in the first place…

It certainly is the poorest country I’ve visited though. The vast majority of the poepl I have seen (particularly in the countryside) wear dirty, torn old clothes, most of which were probably acquired at least second-hand. The number of beggars in Addis Ababa is overwhelming, and I’ve never seen so many blind or disabled people in the streets - it really makes you appreciate how much we take for granted the fact that we will receive first-class medical help and treatment , early on, for whatever ailment in the UK.

Average life expectancy is below 50 , and the majority of people appear to toil long hours in the field in a traditional pastoral lifestyle. The vast majority of people here must live In poverty, and there is very little evidence (certainly outside of Addis) of any middle or upper class.

Whilst village life brings back memories of my time in West Africa, things are very different here. People are generally slimmer and fairer skinned, the language and music seem to me to betray an Eastern influence, and there is an even more limited diet.

Having left behind a nation which appeared to be talking about nothing more than the ‘credit crunch’ and how hard life was becoming (although I hear that even this has been knocked off the front pages by Jonathon Ross swearing on radio…), life here makes a mockery of that anxiety (the credit crunch that is, not Wossie - people here are concerned about that too…). People here say that prices have risen a heck of a lot recently, and I was amazed at how expensive basic goods were in the market, given that most people earn next to nothing. More than one person here has suggested that many Ethiopians are struggling to provide two meals per day - and its not as if they are sitting begind desks all day either! It fdoes, however, seem as if there is a decent crop here in the North at the moment, though I can see how one really bad crop could push communities towards family very quickly, with little food storage or social security.

Ethiopia is certainly off the beaten track, and you don’t see a great amount of tourists - particularly young backpacking tykes like me! Bus journeys are very cheap (a bargain considering the heady mix of sweat, shit and whatever the fellah who is snuggling up to you has been eating which your nostrils are treated to!) but budget hotels and restaurants don’t provide the vale for money available in, say, India or Thailand. There are, of course, no hostels, nor agencies which organize groups of solo backpackers into tours. Given that to get to some of the best sites/experiences you need a Four-Wheel-Drive, a guide and sometimes an armed guard, this can mean that - all in all - solo travel is not always that economical for a developing nation.

With that in mind, I am focusing my resources on a trek in the Simien Mounatins, visits to Lalibela and Gonder, and a visit to the tribes of the Lower Omo Valley. In between, I will simply try to take in Ethiopian life as cheaply as possible!

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Addis Ababa bus station was crazy at 5.00am - hundreds of buses lines up, people pushing from left, right and centre, sacks on their heads, goats at their feet, babies on their backs, destinations being yelled - a general melee to find the appropriate vehicle!

If you buy a ticket, or make an enquiry the day before, they will tell you that the bus goes at 5.00am. In reality, it leaves when it’s full. And these are not your cosy Mexican or Peruvian long-distance buses, oh no! It’s 12 hours on an extremely cramped thing which belches out fumes and has tiny seats providing no leg room and acute neck pain should you accidentally doze off!

----NB - This is only half a blog - I've handwritten the rest and will type it up as soon as I regain my patience..... I'm off to market Ethiopian internet cafs as a effective torure device to whoever's currently running Guantanamo...

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Comments

[Jonathan]

But are there any Jaguars?
So, any jaguars? OK fine, a cougar? Didn't think so ;-) Just got back from being in Texas during the US elections. You may have heard Obama won. Keep the blog going! Be safe. -j.