June 28 2008

We got up a little after 4:00 and ate a quick breakfast of granola and
coffee in our room then took off for the airport. What an experience. We
got there two hours in advance of departure for a domestic flight. The
term 'cluster fuck' comes mind, pardon my French! The overhead monitor
read "for Lalibela Proceed to gate". Since we know you can't believe
everything you read, I asked an employee who instructed me to get in the
line on the right. As we got in line, about half the line was getting out
of line to get into the line on the left. Keep in mine they are pushing
carts loaded with luggage and everyone is moving around trying to get out
of line or into line depending on where they are going. There is no
signage, only one man telling people where to go. This is the same man who
is also trying to direct traffic between the front of the two lines and
the counter. He is monitoring when there is an open window for someone to
precede to the counter to get checked in. Oy! He closes off our line and
no one is allowed to proceed to the counter. Mr. B got impatient at one
point and asked what the heck was going on. The man asked where we were
going and informed us we had plenty of time. It turns out that the line on
the left was for people who had earlier flights than ours so they got to
go first. Very interesting. Bottom line after about 35-40 minutes of
standing in line we got checked in.

We flew on a Fokker 50, a small plane for about 50 passengers I would
guess. Didn't Snoopy fly a Fokker? We made two stops on our way to
Lalibela, the flight taking about 2.5 hours altogether. The scenery from
the plane was beautiful but we were not able to capture it with the
camera. The two towns where we stopped were lush green from the sky with
what looked like lots of farm land and flowing rivers and huge lakes. When
we flew into Lalibela, it was a totally different story. It is quite
mountainous there at 8547 ft. It was arid with little vegetation. All the
river beds were dry or had only a trickle of water. The landscape was a
gray/ brown with sand and rock. This was a volcanic region in the past. As
a matter of fact the churches we had traveled to see were carved from
compressed volcanic ash. It is a very isolated and sparsely populated
area.

The rainy season was late here. Farmers had planted crops but the rains
didn't come and now the crops are withering after one or two brief
rainfalls. The livestock (goats, sheep and cattle) are all gaunt from
hunger. It breaks your heart to see the plight of farmers when there is no
irrigation and the weather is unpredictable. We were met at the airport by
a van that took four tourists and two locals up to Lalibela. We climbed
the entire 25 minute trip. We saw small villages of about 20-25 huts made
of straw roofs that must be replaced about every five years and mud walls
as we climbed to Lalibela. Occasionally we would see a home with a
corrugated metal roof. Lalibela has experienced a lot of growth in recent
years and the government has instituted a planned community whereby each
house must have the same floor plan so there was one area before the
center of town that had numerous homes that were identical.

As we drove towards Lalibela we saw lots of people on foot heading to
town. These were rural farmers heading to the weekly Saturday market. Most
men and some women carry sticks that are about 4-5 ft. long. They are
carried across the shoulders so they can rest their hands on each end as
they walk or if they are carrying a large load such as a sack of grain or
a eucalyptus tree the stick can be used to stabilize the load. Because of
the poverty no one owns a car so transport is either by foot or donkey. We
saw lots of men carrying a single eucalyptus tree. These are the frames
for the roofs of houses. Lalibela was very arid and very dusty.

Our hotel was on the far side of town. It consisted of six two storey
structures that were modeled after the traditional homes in this region.
They are round stone structures with a straw roof. The family lives in the
upper storey and the livestock lives in the lower storey. Our hotel had
twelve rooms in the six structures with no livestock! Our room was on the
second floor, had an entry way, a large bedroom with curved walls and a
glass wall with a balcony that overlooked the town and vista. We had a
large bathroom with sink, toilet and fancy shower. The floors in the
bedroom were laminate wood and tile in the bath area.

Our bed was made of bamboo as was all the furniture. We had instructions
to not put any toilet paper in the toilet, a common practice in developing
countries. I assume this is due to lack of infrastructure to handle it. A
receptacle was placed near the toilet for paper.

Our guide Fikru whom we had hired over the Internet met us at our hotel.
It was about 10:30 so he suggested since today was market day that we go
see it. We were delighted as we have avoided the market in Addis due to
safety issues. Fikru assured us we need not have any worries about safety
here. The population is about 10,000 here and it is very much a rural
community. We walked to the market where 100's if not 1000's of locals had
come to market. Some come from as far away as 25 km. The market was on a
hillside and divided into sections: chili peppers, livestock, grains,
spices, weavings, shoes, etc.

Each vendor had spread their goods on a tarp and the tarps overlapped or
at least touched in most cases. This meant stepping over tarps to wind our
way through the market. We were terrified that we would stumble and land
in someone's lap. Fortunately it didn't happen. I noticed that sometimes a
few grains or leaves as the case with spice would fall into the dirt. The
vendor would carefully retrieve the goods from the dirt so that nothing
was wasted. We saw sorghum, barley, tef, ginger, coffee, hops, onion,
potatoes, eggs, etc. One of our favorite vendors was selling sandals made
from tires for the soles and inner tubes for the straps. When we figure
out how to post photos Ron has a great one of a man with a huge knife
making a repair on one of the sandals. The livestock area had donkeys,
cattle, goats, sheep and chickens.

Donkeys were seen a lot here. They are the beasts of burden for sure. They
can be seen everywhere here carrying what most often appear to be sacks of
grain. We also saw men carrying sacks of grain on their shoulder. We saw
some that were stamped USAID with an American flag.

We were surrounded by high mountains here but what surprised us was how
hazy it was. We never saw a clear blue sky which I had anticipated given
that we were in a rural area far way from big city pollution. I am not
sure if the pollution is this widespread or if it has to do with the
climate but I haven't seen clear skies or vistas since being in Ethiopia.

After the market we went back to our hotel and had lunch. We assumed that
Lalibela would be much cooler since it was at a higher altitude but it
actually was warmer there. Our lunch was traditional Ethiopian: injera,
sautéed greens, potatoes, lentils in a sauce, sautéed cabbage, beans made
into a soupy sauce, goat meat that we did not eat as it was very chewy
although it had been cut into tiny pieces. We rested until 2:00.
Throughout Ethiopia businesses and shops often close between 12-2. We took
a hired car to the churches as it was all up hill (remember we are now at
8500 ft), we were going to be on our feet all afternoon and it was a long
walk to the entry point. The entry fee $40 for the two of us and this fee
now supports the 11 churches which are still in use by the way. Fikru
explained that the Orthodox Christian church has incorporated some Judaic
practices into their beliefs. He cited not eating pork and separation of
men and women in the religious services as examples as well as the use of
a Semitic language in the services. About 45% of Ethiopians are Orthodox
Christians and Fikru said he thought about 40% were observant. I would
concur seeing how often and how many Ethiopians attend church throughout
the week and almost every conversation with an Ethiopian will eventually
come around to religion, Orthodox Christian religion that is.

Lalibela was the capital of the Zagwe dynasty in the 12th and 13th
centuries which is when the churches are thought to have been constructed.
Scholars claim it would have taken 40,000 workers to have built the
churches whereas legend has it that the angels did much of the work in the
night after the workers left for the day. The churches are remarkable for
three reasons: many are not carved into the rock but freed entirely from
it unlike most of Petra in Jordan; because the buildings are so refined;
and because there are so many within a small area. Because some of the
churches were being damaged from the environment (mostly rain) several are
now protected by huge structures that form an umbrella over them thanks to
UNESCO. Our guide was disparaging of the structures as they take away from
the aesthetics of the churches.

The first church we saw was Beit (House or place of) Medhane Alem (Savior
of the World) and it is said to be the largest rock hewn church in the
world. It measures 33.5 m by 23.5 m and is over 11.5 m high. A meter is 39
inches. The interior consist of a barrel vaulted nave and four aisles.
There are three empty graves in one corner and are said to have been
prepared symbolically for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Pierced stone panels
fill the windows, each decorated with different central crosses. We were
surprised the see the Hindu swastika as one of the crosses in the
decorations here. Obviously there must have been some exposure to each
other's cultures at some point. We also saw the six pointed star of David
in the decoration of one of the churches. Outside one of the churches was
a 'pool' of water. A pool had been excavated and the water level was
about six feet below the edge of the pool. . Fikru said the pool is about
15 ft. deep. This was a fertility pool, still used today. It was filled
with tall reeds. grasses and algae. Fikru said they simply move the reeds
aside, lower the person with a rope tied around their waist and totally
submerse the person into the water. Used to be only women were submersed
but now knowing that men can be infertile, both sexes are submersed.
Within a year, the 'dunkee' will conceive.
I won't describe all the churches but one of my favorites was Beit Maryam,
dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was one of the most highly decorated.
There is a bas relief carving of St George fighting the dragon. St. George
is a very important saint in Ethiopia. The ceilings and walls are painted
in very early frescoes, and the columns, capital and arches are covered in
beautifully carved details such as birds, animals, and foliage, including
a curious two headed eagle and two fighting bulls, one white and one
black, thought to represent good and evil.

My other favorite was Beit Giyorgis (St George) and it is considered a
masterpiece. Standing on the brow of its compound you have little doubt
that it is a real jewel. It is the most visually perfect church of all, a
15m high three tiered plinth in the shape of Greek cross. It is well
preserved and lacks the scaffolding that covers some of the other
churches. Inside the light flows in from the windows and illuminates the
ceilings large carved crosses-beauty in simplicity (Lonely Planet).

Throughout the tour we saw carved cavities in the walls of the rock
surrounding the churches (not in the church's walls but opposite the
walls). These were used for burials at one time or as housing for hermits.
At St. George's there were skeletal remains in one of these cavities. It
is said that St George in full armor visited King Lalibela and was quite
upset that none of the churches had been dedicated to him. King Lalibela
promised to make amends by building the most beautiful church of all.

After seeing six of the 11 churches we returned to our hotel, planning to
see the rest on Sunday before we departed for Addis. Ron went to the room
and I went looking for an artist I had read about in one of our books.
Tegegne Yirdaw is a self taught artist and has a small gallery just up the
road from our hotel. It was easy to find him. I actually ran into on the
street. He asked if I was looking for the gallery. Word travels fast in
these parts where there is so little income. He was a delightful,
articulate young man of 36 years, married with a 7 year old son. His
gallery is a small shed of corrugated metal with a dirt floor. He had
about 12-15 small paintings on the walls. He does lovely sepia and
watercolor paintings of the churches, priests and one of two landscapes. I
chose a small painting of Adam's Gate that I had seen earlier that day at
one of the churches. The cost was $20. He gave me one of his ink drawings
as a gift. He does wonderful drawings and I encouraged him to display them
also. His resources are obviously limited as he was drawing on both sides
of the paper. As we left his gallery he showed me a structure that was
being built next door. It had two concrete floors and a few concrete beams
to support the second floor. Not much else. He told me this was to be his
future gallery and home and that he had been building it for six years.
Again I am reminded of our blessings and wealth by comparison to the rest
of the world.

From a Library of Congress Report: Ethiopia is one of the poorest
countries in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of roughly
US$6 billion, a per capita annual income of about US$100, and chronic
trade deficits in the early 2000s.

We ate at the hotel for dinner and lo and behold our meal was identical to
lunch except there were no lentils. We did have fresh baked white bread
that was delicious. I had a sleepless night, unable to get comfortable in
our bed. The next morning we went to breakfast and right afterwards I
experienced the dreaded traveler's diarrhea. I am blessed because we have
been traveling in developing countries for ten years and I have only had
this problem three times: in Mexico in the late 90's, in Thailand (food
poisoning) in 2005 and then Sunday in Ethiopia. Frankly I can't complain
and am grateful that it has only happened three times. I chewed a couple
of Pepto Bismol tablets, my first line of defense (never leave home
without it is our motto). If the problem persists, we have Immodium,
guaranteed to stop any action for three to seven days! I resist taking it
except in dire cases. We also have Cipro, an antibiotic. That we take if
we use Immodium in case there is a nasty bug still active in the
intestinal track.

I sent Ron off with Fikru to see the remaining churches and I sat on the
balcony with the binoculars watching the fantastic birds in the area. Oh
my, what a treat! I saw red finches, cordon bleus, cliff chats, white
winged cliff chats, a brilliant parrot, and a bright yellow bird that I
can't identify without a book. There were some beautiful doves also.
Another bird whose tail was longer that its body and had a rather smart
looking tufted head. My favorite was a brilliant blue green bird that
looked like a starling with orange eyes. I must get a book on Ethiopian
birds. I read that this country is a favorite with birders and I can see
why.

While I was on the balcony I saw a woman drying some grain on a tarp about
4 x 6 ft. She lives right below our hotel and my balcony overlooks her
yard. I assume they dry grain to prevent mold or mildew but I'm not sure.
She went into her hut and a bird or two started having a feast. Not our
idea of sanitary. After birding from the balcony I rested until Ron
returned before lunch. As soon as I lay down, the church loudspeaker came
on. Every church here has a loudspeaker and they blast the sermon(?) for
all to hear within in miles! Unfortunately after the sermon some woman was
'chanting' and she was one of those people who don't understand
amplification so she screeched into the microphone and to add to my misery
she had no voice for chanting. She would chant for a few seconds then stop
for a few seconds and then start again. This went on for well over 30
minutes. My choices were to listen to this with the doors open as there
were no windows or shut the doors and be hot. I listened. Oy! We declined
lunch fearful it would be more of the same. By the way, breakfast was a
plain omelet with toast and coffee. After my stomach ailments, I decided
to not eat anything until I got off the plane in Addis.

Our plane was late but we had a call via the hotel so we left around 1:30
for the airport. The plane didn't leave until 4:30 so we had a lot of
reading time at the airport. The trip home was quick as it was a direct
flight taking maybe 90 minutes. On the way from the airport we stopped to
have a quick bite of supper so we wouldn't have to go back out. Derge
waited for us while we ate. I was in bed by 9:00 and asleep within
minutes. I slept until 6:00 and felt recovered from my episode. The two
tour books we have say if you see nothing else in Ethiopia see Lalibela.
We are so thankful that we went to the expense to see this most wonderful
sight, a real treasure.

June 26, 2008

This morning I worked on the computer until lunch time. I wrote the blog
and a whole lot of emails to family and friends. I left the hotel and
decided although I wanted a good meal I just didn't feel like dealing with
the masses I would encounter if I walked the 40 minutes to the good
restaurant in town. So I opted for the little café about four blocks from
here that has a limited menu. I was 'swarmed' on the way by a group of
street kids and I think there may have been two women in the crowd. At
first it was one kid but the next thing I knew I had no fewer than 12-15
beggars pushing to get at those meal tickets. Because I have arthritis in
my fingers I am somewhat clumsy with my hands. I keep the meal tickets in
my front pocket so I don't have to open my purse on the street. I had
about four lose tickets and a whole book of tickets in my pocket. After
passing out the lose tickets, I tore out the tickets from the book and was
handing them out. As the group got more desperate they started shoving. I
said 'slow down' and one of the kids said the same thing, realizing the
need for everyone to ease up a bit. As I was nearing the end of my
tickets, one of the kids to whom I had just given one a ticket, snatched
the last ticket from my hand. I had an immediate reaction of anger and
walked off, mumbling something unpleasant under my breath. When I got to
the café, I thought about what had happened. I think I was angry because
it was 'rude' to take snatch something like that from my hand. My southern
upbringing comes into play here. But I had to think about this from the
kid's perspective to be fair. He was hungry so he was either thinking
about tomorrow's meal or some other family member who didn't get one of my
tickets. He was just taking care of business as it were. It is times like
this that my heart breaks for those who have so little and the realization
that there is nothing I can do to fix it. I am reminded of the adage 'Give
a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a
life time.'

Today Ron had a meeting with all the staff who are involved with this
project. So there are people here from four cities. Ron said the day went
well but he now has to make some revisions on the plan. Whatever that
means….

Meat markets here abound as this is a meat eating culture. So the market
is a little alcove with a side of beef hanging on the wall. One person
waves the flies off the meat. No refrigeration. Oy! Of course this is how
it used to be in the US but now that we are so antiseptic and totally anal
about cleanliness and germs, it is pretty gross. The most favorite dish
here is raw meat served with a sauce that has lots of spices. We will
resist what isn't even a temptation for us!

I read yesterday that leather is another huge export for Ethiopia, coffee
being the biggest export. Thank you very much Starbucks! I have looked at
three shops that carry leather coats and jackets. Most appear to be sheep
skin. They are quite soft and retail for a wee bit over $100.

June 27, 2008

Today I went to two banks in order to get cash for our trip tomorrow.
Remember credit cards are useless here other than two high end hotels in
Addis. That wouldn't be where we are staying! The first bank I went to
would not cash the travelers check so they sent me to one of their other
branches. The town we are going to has no banks! No pharmacies!

I never came back to this and now it is Monday, June 30, 2008 and I have
little recollection of what happened so many days ago. Next installment
will be our trip to Lalibela.

June 25, 2008

This morning as I left the hotel I looked across the street where Derge
parks his cab when he doesn't have a fare. He saw me so I pointed to my
shirt, the one he gave me last night and gave him the thumbs up. He
grinned from ear to ear!

Today I decided to head off in another direction. We had been told of a
shopping center on Bole Road which is behind the hotel about a quarter of
a mile or so and is a major shopping area for locals. Derge pointed it
out to us a couple of nights ago. So off I went on foot. I need the
exercise and am too frugal (cheap) to pay for the taxi. It turned out to
be closer than town which is a 40-45 minute walk each way. I still have
trouble breathing here. When I try to take in air, it just doesn't seem
possible to get a good breath. Did I mention that we are at 7900 feet!!!
This weekend we will be at an even higher altitude.

So I found the shopping center easily and was pleasantly surprised at the
number of stores and quality of merchandize, not that I need anything
other than a few gifts. But there are toiletries that we sometimes need
like hand lotion or astringent so I was pleased to find some name brands I
recognized. We heard of this place from the woman who recommended a couple
of good restaurants and who works here sometimes. She had bought a leather
jacket in this center for $100. I found the leather stores and sure enough
there were jackets for $110. I also found a shop that was selling export
quality handbags for women. They were works of art and sold for $100-$250.
Again these stores are quite small by our standards but the quality was
quite good. I started at the basement and worked my way up to the top
floor where I saw several stores that carried traditional Ethiopian
crafts. I asked about a jug I saw that was just like one we had bought on
Saturday. It was half what we paid. On-ward.

I bought a birthday card for my sister and headed out in search of lunch.
I found Rico's just down the street about three or four blocks. We ate
there a week or so ago. Ron had a horrid meal but I liked the minestrone
soup so I ordered it again as I have discovered it is quite difficult to
find a soup here that isn't cream based and I am lactose intolerant. So I
had soup, dry bread and water for a grand total of $2.80. Cheapskate rides
again. As I sat outside dining, I saw many vendors who walk the streets in
hopes of making a sale. One man was carrying a stack of books from his
waist to his chin, trying to sell paperbacks while he carried more in his
backpack. How many books can you walk around with all day? Oy! There were
others who were selling belts and sunglasses and one selling pirated CDs.
Young children often sell chewing gum carrying around four to eight small
packs in a little cardboard tray. My favorite is little stands like a TV
tray where the vendor is selling a portion of a roll of toilet paper,
enough for one use I would guess. I also have seen children selling pocket
size packets of tissues. I wonder how much money they can make in a day???

I realized I might as well mail my sister's card so headed back to the
shopping center. Ron once called it Dumbell because its name is Dembel.
There was a small postal station there and since it is quite a bit closer
than the main post office I was glad to back track before heading home. I
was approached as usual by beggars. One elderly woman, all bent over, held
out her hand and I brought coins out of my pocket. She kept rattling on
about something like she wanted more or ?? So I put the money away and
kept walking. I encountered her again when I went back to Dembel to mail
my card and this time she took the money. There are many young women with
small children often tied on their backs with a cloth who beg. Today I
encountered one who refused the meal ticket offered her. Her choice.

It has grown quite dark in the room as a big dark cloud covered the sun.
It must be time for a tropical rain storm.

A dear friend asked me via email today if I was glad we weren't going to
be here for six month now that I have been here a while. (We were
originally scheduled to be here for six months). If I were here for six
months instead of five weeks, my life would be quite different I think.
For one thing, we would live in an apartment, not a hotel. There I would
cook meals instead of going out to eat every night and I would do laundry
that the hotel staff now does because there is no iron, washing machine,
etc. available to me. I would attempt to make more friends and have them
over for dinner. I'd ask those three Ethiopian men at the travel agency
over so I could learn more about Ethiopia. I would volunteer for an agency
that could use some help. Five weeks just doesn't seem like a realistic
time frame to volunteer.

My attitude with this kind of travel is we are on an adventure and that
sometimes means being inconvenienced or uncomfortable but it also means we
experience things we would never experience at home. I personally think it
is healthy for us to have to be flexible at this point in our lives, to be
inconvenienced, to be humbled. It is too easy to get set in our ways at
this stage of life and traveling in developing countries certainly gives
us a perspective we wouldn't have otherwise. So I am grateful for these
experiences and I hope I don't sound like I am whining or being judgmental
when I write about our experience here (beggars, food, shopping,
restaurants, etc.). I am attempting to paint a picture of what life is
like in this part of the world. Your feedback is welcomed as I can easily
lose my perspective.

We are pretty much out of new places to try for meals so went back to the
Indian place we like and had a feast of curried veggies and a chicken
curry along with four kinds of bread and water for a grand total of
$11.00. Obviously we will have an adjustment period when we return home.
We call it sticker shock!

We are glad that we were able to arrange our hotel booking, airport
transport in Lalibela and a professional guide service all by the
Internet. We leave at 0 dark hundred on Saturday. That would be 5:00 a.m.
We were surprised to discover that we had to be at the airport two hours
before departure for a domestic flight. Bummer.

Tonight we tried the restaurant that the authors of Lonely Planet/Ethiopia
recommended as their favorite in Addis. It was up a hill with no
identification so our cab driver asked a person on the street and we
backed part way down the hill to the restaurant. It was located in an
older home and the two of the walls had been painted with a woman that
took up much of the wall and looked a whole lot like a Modigliani. It was
way cool. The menu was a feast for our eyes. There were lots of vegetarian
choices as well as meat and fish options. There was only one item that
didn't appeal to me: lamb brains! When I was really young my mom used to
make eggs and brains. Once I got old enough to realize what brains were, I
never ate them again. So we splurged and ordered drinks. I had lemon grass
ginger and Ron had jasmine orange. Yum. They brought bread to the table,
the best I have had here. Most breads are quite dry and crumbly. These
breads were moist and a little chewy. Yum again. There was an olive boat
on the table with a sprig of fresh rosemary. The waiter poured olive oil
on top of the rosemary, then he added an oil infused with coriander, then
he added salt and freshly ground pepper. We split a fresh lime mint
spinach salad with red onions, sultanas and pine nuts. I would have been
happy to call that a meal at this point of the evening. I ordered
Casablanca couscous with roasted summer vegetables and Ron had braised
artichokes with baked tomatoes stuffed with rice. Afterwards they brought
a dessert tray that was unbelievable! There had to have been close to 15
choices: both baked goodies and various sorbets and ice creams. After
saying we weren't going to have dessert, we changed our minds when we saw
the dessert tray. We split a scoop of mango and a scoop of lime mint
sorbet. I couldn't resist the fresh ginger hot tea. I thought I had died
and gone to heaven after that meal. I told Ron this needed to be a weekly
trek. So our bill (for the curious) was $25.80. Remember we split a
sandwich at the Hilton and our bill was half that amount. I would take
this place over the Hilton any day of the week. You just can't imagine how
happy I am to have found a restaurant of this caliber.

June 23, 2008

Today we ate breakfast in the room because we had forgotten to turn on the
hot water heater during the night. Our bathroom has a five or ten gallon
hot water heater over the tub. We turn it on an hour or two before we want
to bathe but neither of us remembered to turn it on when we got up during
the night to use the toilet. In a country that is short on resources you
only use electricity when needed. So we don't turn it on when we go to bed
but rather at 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. when we wake up to use the toilet.

I got out our binoculars to look at the mountains that we can see from our
room but discovered they were completely hidden behind a haze. It reminded
me of southern California. It never rained yesterday so it was actually a
bit warm today. I was a little hot in my black jeans walking to town. I
was thinking of not going to 'central' today because of the pick
pocketing incident on Saturday but then realized I didn't want to be
intimidated by it so headed out for a shop where we have seen a woven
shawl that we liked and thought would be a fun wall hanging. No incident.
So I am glad I went. I am not picking up anymore 'students' so I am
relieved about that. I continue to see very sad sights in terms of beggars
with disabilities. Today there was a man sitting on the sidewalk begging.
I looked down and saw that he was unable to extend at least one of his
legs because the upper and lower leg was webbed at the knee. I couldn't
see his other leg. When I encounter beggars who can't walk I give coins
because there is no way for them to get to the place where the meal
tickets can be exchanged for a meal. Those with leprosy usually have lost
portions of their hands and their feet, making walking impossible. Often
when I go to town I pass a man who is lying in the dirt on his stomach,
his legs useless. Today he was smoking a cigarette on my way into town and
on my way home. He has never asked for money. Like the US I also see those
who are mentally ill on the street.

By late afternoon I could see the mountains so scanned them with the
binoculars. I hope we will have time to drive into them before we leave in
July. After returning from town, I rested briefly then walked about four
blocks to the little café where we ate lunch on Saturday. I ordered the
'fasting spaghetti'. Ethiopians who are observant Orthodox Christians fast
two days a week (Wed. and Sat) and don't eat meat or dairy (I think). So
when you order a fasting dish, it doesn't contain any meat or dairy. The
spaghetti had sautéed onions, greens, tomatoes, and little strips of
potatoes. It was tasty although I had some stomach distress later. I came
back to the hotel and read then slept briefly. I got up and worked on
looking at options for our weekend outing to Lalibela.

Tonight we tried yet another restaurant, Aladdin, a Middle Eastern cuisine
and it was delicious. Yeah, another restaurant to add to our growing list:
we now have eight choices, six of which are quite good and two a little
edgy. We tried buying our tickets on Ethiopian Air on line but were unable
to so tomorrow we will go to the Hilton that has a branch office for
Ethiopian Air and try again.

June 22.2008

I just realized our computer date is a day behind here due to the time
difference. Not a big deal, just an observation. We typically have a brown
out every morning around 7-7:30 and every evening. Last night when we
entered the restaurant there was a brown out but fortunately they had
candles so we could find a table. So we have had our first brown out which
sort of surprised me because it is Sunday and most businesses are closed.
There is very little to do here on Sundays consequently. We are heading
out to a brunch at Lime Tree where we have eaten numerous times. We woke
up to sunshine which is always a treat. There are huge cumulous clouds
hanging over the mountains so we will have rain later today. Being in a
developing country we are always grateful for the little things like being
able to find coffee filters, a little sunshine, a restaurant where we can
eat and not get sick. So far we have been blessed.

Well the brunch was interesting. Let me say simply we are in Ethiopia so
brunch is a lesser affair. But it was nice to have an outing. We walked
over to the adjacent shopping center and found our first decent bookstore.
I have been careful to not read too much for fear of running out of
something to read over the next month. However this store did have the
best selection I have seen. I will be restricted to classics like Faulkner
and Virginia Woolf but I consider that a better option than Clancy. We
bought some pirated CD movies for $3 each. In places like this all that is
available is the pirated copies.

We came back to the hotel and have been reading while awaiting a massage
scheduled at 3 and at 4. I looked out the window when I heard some unusual
noises and watched as a small herd of 25-30 Brahmin cattle were being
herded down the sidewalk. So far I have seen numerous goat herds and a
pack of mules within the city. Not quite like downtown Vancouver.

We headed out for dinner to a place recommended by Lonely Planet (LP). We
couldn't find it so had a backup plan of another restaurant on the same
street. It was a steak house that LP touted as 'perhaps the best steak in
Addis'. If that is so, scary! All the chairs matched which is a good sign.
It was pleasantly lit, another good sign. The menu had lots of choices. I
ordered lemon basil chicken and Ron ordered a NY steak, their most
expensive item. Ron's steak was the largest I have seen here and was oh so
chewy. My chicken was okay but not worth the n return trip to this
restaurant. Win some lose some. Such is the life of an expat trying to
find restaurants in a city that doesn't cater to tourists. The standards
are different when there is a tourist trade. We could eat at the Hilton or
Sheraton every night but that wouldn't be our style. We would prefer to
support local merchants whenever possible and we certainly have been able
to find some good restaurants here so we will persist. After dinner we
came back to the hotel and watched "Iron Man". Unfortunately the subtitles
were in Spanish but the audio was in English. I thoroughly enjoyed Robert
Downey Jr.'s performance. He is a personal hero because he finally got
clean and sober. What a great come back for him.

I forgot to mention that our driver Derge let us rent his extra SIM card
for $20 so I now have a cell phone.

June 20, 2008

I failed to mention yesterday that the full size dump truck that had
delivered sand to the construction site was unloaded by hand! I can only
assume the lift wasn't working as about four people inside the truck bed
shoveled sand out the back of the bed and two people outside the truck
shoveled the pile to keep it below the truck bed level.

Every day I can look out the windows and watch the rain coming towards the
hotel from the hills. We are getting rain daily now, mostly in the
afternoon and at night. It rained most of the night last night as I woke
up at one point to open the balcony door to get some air in the room and
it was raining hard and when woke up this morning it was still raining
although it was a much lighter rain. It is almost 3:00 in the afternoon
and I can see it heading this way.

Yesterday Ron came by with the driver from work and picked me up so we
could have lunch together. We went to the Lime Tree where Ron has now had
lunch three times. There is a real dearth of good restaurants here. Last
night we tried another restaurant. I wasn't that hungry so ordered a soup
that was quite good. Ron's meal was a wee bit strange. He ordered Tandori
chicken after his first and second requests were denied as they were out
of those dishes. Hmmmm…. So first came a chicken soup with bread. The soup
was a sort of a watery looking thing. Then came the entrée: three black
drum sticks, a pile of rice topped with French fries and pita bread!!!
How's that for four starches??? Ron said if we were at home he wouldn't
come back to this restaurant but given where we are we will probably be
back as at least the food was edible.

After dinner we decided to walk a few minutes before calling Derge, our
regular cab guy. As we were walking along a young family came up beside us
and a small girl, probably 4-5 years old extended her hand to me. At first
I thought she was begging then I realized she wanted to shake my hand. I
bent down and with a big smile and lots of enthusiasm shook her hand. She
then shook Ron's hand. It was one of those magical moments of
international travel where you have a real connection with people. Her
parents and the two of us all loved that special moment.

I consider myself somewhat of a conservationist/environmentalist. I have
many practices that I use to lighten my footprint on the planet. One of
these practices is to request that our sheets and towels only be washed
once a week when we are living in a hotel. I change sheets and towels once
a week at home so why not here, particularly when there is a shortage of
resources such as water and energy. We have discovered many hotels now
give you that option. They provide a card that you place on the bed if you
do not want your sheets washed that day as a signal to the housekeeper. If
you hang your towels up it is the sign that you do not want your towels
washed that day. Well, the Hotel de Leopol doesn't have such a policy so I
have told no fewer than six women on the staff here not to wash our linens
more than once a week. It hasn't worked. Daily our towels and sheets are
replaced unless I happen to be in the room when the housekeeper arrives. I
have given up. As a friend of mine used to say, "You can lead a horse to
water, but if you can get him to float on his back, then you have really
got something!" I think imprinting this novel concept of saving resources
is the equivalent to getting the horse to float on his back. The other
request I made was to not take the bars of soap daily and replace them
with new soap. We are given at least three bars of soap each day and they
are sizable bars that would last several days but they are replaced daily.
Some things I have no control over.

Today I hope to go to a travel agent to arrange for an excursion up north
next weekend. By Sunday we will have seen all the sights in Addis. Scary.
Tonight we are having dinner at a restaurant with performances by
traditional dancers.

Today is one of those days where I can't get online. We have brown outs
regularly here, often around 7:30 in the morning. We got on line at 6:30
this morning but not since then. We have also noticed that the lights
frequently flicker so trying to read is quite difficult. They have 40 watt
bulbs in the lamps so I will get some higher wattage bulbs so we don't
strain our eyes. I don't know if I have mentioned it but you can't drink
the water anywhere in the country. You must use bottled water. Again we
are reminded how much of everything we have at home. It is easy to take
for granted the ability to have clean water at a tap, the ability to flip
a switch and be able to have light or to be able to cook a meal. Three
times I have seen people here washing articles of clothing in the street
where there was a stream of water about an inch deep. It breaks your heart
when you realize the implications. Where does that person live and what is
his/her home like? Do they even have a home? And what about all those
beggars? Where do they reside?

Today I went back to the 'central' area to visit a travel agency. Ron and
I want to visit an area north of here that is on the historic circuit. It
is called Lalibela and is famous for its 11 rock hewn churches. I had an
absolutely delightful visit with the three young men who worked in the
tour department of the agency. We talked about politics of the US and
Ethiopia. These men were as unhappy with their current administration as
we are with ours. They hope Obama will be elected because Bush's
administration has been supportive of the current administration here and
they said it is like a dictatorship. Two off them had foremerly been
school teachers but the government insisted that teachers promote the
current administration so they quit and started working for the tour
agency. Teachers here are paid poor wages with no chance of advancement.

I was successful for the second time of not picking up any 'students'
today. Lucky me. I was able to walk to town and back without stopping to
catch my breath when climbing up the two hills in between here and town.
That's progress. I walk up the seven flights of stairs to our room at
least twice a day but can't make it without stopping at least once or
twice gasping for air. There is a team of football (soccer) players here
from West Africa (Mauritania) who will be playing on Sunday. They, like
me, live in a place that is at sea level so they also talk about how hard
it is to play at this altitude. They do like the temperature here though.
At home they said it was 40 degrees centigrade (104 F) whereas it is 13-21
degrees C here (56-70 F).

June 21, 2008

Last night we were treated to a lovely evening by one of Ron's coworkers,
Shewaye and his fiancée Elsa. We went to the Crown Hotel, about twenty
minutes south of Addis. We have a traditional meal. This consisted of a 30
inch in diameter injera (pancake made of tef, a grain more nutritious than
wheat) that was topped with about six or seven piles of food such as
salad, meat, beans, greens, etc. On the side were about five rolled up
smaller injeras, looking a lot like those hot towels they give you on the
airplane, only these are light brown in color. So you would use your right
hand only a tear off a piece of injera and use that to pick up a morsel of
food such as a piece of meat, or some of the mashed beans. I was
successful, which is a feat given that I am left handed. As we started
eating, the traditional music started. There were four musicians playing a
flute, drums and two very different stringed instruments. One was played
with a bow and the other was plucked, like a guitar. Then we were thrilled
to see at least six or seven traditional dance performances with different
costumes. There are 80 different ethnic groups in Ethiopia and they are
quite diverse so seeing some of the different dance forms and traditional
costumes was a real thrill. You would not believe the shoulder and foot
action. I found myself slack jawed several times in wonderment over these
movements that I cannot begin to describe. Very entertaining.

This morning we had planned to sleep in as we got home late from the
evening with Shewaye and Elsa but I woke up around 6 or 6:30 with the call
to prayer from our nearby Orthodox Christian church. We had coffee then
granola in the room, showered and called Derge, the cab driver to pick us
up. Ron and I were taking our umbrellas as you never know about the
weather here. Ron asked me if I would put his umbrella in my purse and I
told him I didn't want to because of the weight. I added, 'besides, it is
a good weapon in case a pick pocket tries any funny business'. We headed
for the Hilton to see if our ATM cards would work. YEAH! We now have
access to cash and are happy about that. Next we had Derge drop us off at
the Piazza. We stopped by several of the shops I had scouted out earlier
in the week and managed to buy some gifts and cool stuff for our home,
like the jug made from cow hide that was used for butter. Gross! It is
totally gronky looking and we both liked it. Ron tried on some shirts but
they didn't fit so while we perused other items in the shop, the shop
keeper ran down the street and bought some at another shop that would fit
Ron. This is how it works in this part of the world. So of course the
shirt cost more since he had paid retail. We thought we were getting a
good deal on the items until we visited the next shop and realized we have
paid double on a couple of the items. So much for being savvy!

We headed for the Hilton as we needed to replenish our cash. On the way
back, sure enough two guys tried the classic pick pocket trick: one
stepped in front of Ron to block his path. When Ron looked at him, the guy
tried to hook his leg around Ron's right leg. The second guy went for
Ron's left front pocket where he keeps his wallet. Ron smashed this guy's
shoulder with his closed umbrella! Both disappeared quickly. YEAH RON!!
Disaster avoided. We proceeded to a café near our hotel to give it a try:
anything but our hotel for dining. Fortunately it was good. We had Spanish
omelets with toast. For dessert we had coffee (espresso) and a pastry
which was totally mediocre. No problem, we will keep our weight down if
there aren't any good pastries! So our bill was $6. with the tip. Makes up
for overpaying for the souvenirs! One good leftover from the Italian
occupation is all those espresso machines. The Ethiopians created coffee
but the Italian perfected it with those machines.

Tonight we went to an Indian restaurant, our favorite cuisine after Thai.
It was recommended by one of Ron's contacts in DC who works in
international consulting. Afterwards we tried to find a shopping 'center'
she had described. Please keep in mind this is a developing country so a
shopping center is one multistoried building with a warren of small shops.
We found one but it wasn't the right one. We walked through the four
floors of shops. Each one had one shop keeper and you could view all the
merchandise through the store window, to give you a sense of how small the
shops are.

After we left the center we crossed the street so Derge, the cab driver we
use, could pick us up to take us home. The streets and sidewalks are quite
dirty here and turn to mud when it rains. Most sidewalks are non existent.
There may have been a sidewalk there at one time, but they have eroded. Or
there will be a sidewalk for part of the block and then dirt. So the
bottom line is it is quite dirty/muddy here depending on the weather.
Tonight it was muddy. No wonder there are so many shoe cleaners/shiners.
Your shoes are always dirty. So we stepped onto the sidewalk after
crossing the street and saw a 'nest' of children. There were four small
children maybe 3-6 years old, asleep and huddled next to an adult. I
wasn't sure if it was a man or woman. It looked like a dog with a litter
of puppies. It was about 8:00 or 8:30 pm. The entire family was asleep on
the sidewalk with lots of people passing by as Bole Road is one of the
three town centers. Seeing this family took my breath away. It is one of
those sights that imprints and doesn't go away. I couldn't talk for a
spell and when I did it was with a lump in my throat.

Once again we are reminded of our abundance.

June 19, 2008

How about a little background on Ethiopian history? This is paraphrased
from the Lonely Planet. I won't go back to the beginning of time, just
recent history. Emperor Menelik died in 1913 and his grandson Iyasu became
King. Continuing Menelik's reforms, he showed a modern secularist,
nonsectarian attitude. He built mosques, as well as churches, took several
Muslim and well as Christian wives and supported the empire's peripheral
populations, which had suffered under the oppressive hands of Amharic
settlers and governors. He was deposed in 1921, accused by the nobles of
'abjuring the Christian faith'. Menelik's daughter Zewditu was proclaimed
empress and Ras Tafari (son of Menelik's cousin) was proclaimed the prince
regent.

Prince Ras Tafari in an attempt to improve the country's international
image managed to abolish the Ethiopian slave trade. In 1923 he got
Ethiopia granted into the League of Nations. Continuing the tradition of
Menelik, Tafari established a modern printing press, several secondary
schools and an air force. In 1930 the last rebellious noble was defeated
and was killed in battle. A few days later the empress died. Ras Tafari
assumed the throne and was crowned Haile Selassie. The extravagant
spectacle was attended by representatives from around the globe and led
indirectly to the establishment of a new faith. Unbeknown to Ras Tafari he
gained subjects who lived far beyond his kingdom when he was crowned
Emperor Haile Selassie. In Jamaica where Marcus Garvey's 'return to Africa
movement' had been established, many saw the emperor's coronation as
fulfillment of the ancient Biblical prophesy that 'kings will come out of
Africa.' Identifying themselves passionately with Ethiopia's monarch and
the fact that Ethiopia was a free state in Africa, Garveys' followers
created a new religion. In it the emperor was accorded divinity and the
faith would bear his name. Rastafarians follow strict dietary taboos:
pork, milk and coffee are forbidden. Marijuana is held to be a sacrament.
Although embarrassed by this new religion in his honor, Haile Selassie in
1963 granted them land in Shashemene.

The year following his coronation, Ethiopia's first written constitution
was introduced. It granted the emperor absolute power, his body was even
declared sacred. Ever since the day of his regency, he had been bringing
the country under centralized rule. For the first time ever, the Ethiopia
state was unified.

In an earlier blog I briefly touched on the Italian occupation in the
1930's so won't repeat that here. During that occupation Haile Selassie
fled from Ethiopian for which some Ethiopians never forgave him. The
1940's and 50's saw much post war reconstruction. New schools were
developed and in 1950 the first institute of higher ed was established. In
1955 the Revised Constitution was introduced. The government remained
autocratic and the emperor continued to hold all power. Because of
Ethiopia's long standing independence, Addis Ababa became the headquarters
of the Organization of African Unity in 1962 and in 1958 of the UN
Economic Commission of Africa.

The pace of development was slow and dissatisfaction with the emperor's
autocratic rule grew. In 1960 while on a visit to Brazil, the emperor's
imperial body guard staged a coup d'etat. Though put down by the army and
air force it marked the beginning of the end of imperial rule in Ethiopia.
By September 1974 the emperor was deposed and taken to prison. This ended
the century old imperial dynasty. It is thought that Haile Selassie was
murdered. His body and that of his wife were later discovered in 1992
beneath the toilet in the president's office in what had been the imperial
palace. It now serves as government offices. He was given a formal burial
in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in 2000.

The Derg (Committee) took power and declared a socialist state. They
lasted until 1991. There was a transition period until 1995 when in August
of 1995 The Federal Democratic Republic was proclaimed.

That's an ever so sketchy modern history of Ethiopia but I found it useful
in understanding the country as it is today. Sorry for taking liberties
and skipping over the wars with Somalia and Eritrea.

More observations

Most women here wear head scarves. Most head scarves are made of white
gauzy cotton with a border of color on each end of the scarf. I hope to
learn more about who wears them and why. Many young women braid their hair
close to the scalp. These elaborate hair styles are quite attractive and
there are many variations on a theme. The fringe at the ends of the scarf
are tied together in clumps, and it looks very much like a jewish tallis
except for the four long strands at each corner. Some men wear them too
in a way that again looks like the way some orthodox Jews wear them draped
over their heads.

I see so many pedestrians and very few bikes and motorcycles here. There
seems to be either old cars, old buses, old mini-buses or pedestrians. I
have been astounded at the amount of construction taking place in Addis.
Everywhere I look I see high rises going up (8-11 stories). Some are mixed
use buildings: apartments, shops and offices. Some are hotels, others are
condos. The amazing thing is to watch construction here. Again we take
much for granted in the US. Today I was watching a construction crew next
to the hotel. There are carriers, both men and women. Two people carry a
stretcher like device with poles and a container between the poles that
holds sand, gravel or concrete. So there are three crews: one feeds sand,
and another feeds gravel into a mixer. The third crew waits for the mixer
to spill the concrete onto the ground. Two men shovel the concrete into
the carrier and two members haul it over to the building that is being
built. No concrete pumps here folks. It is almost all manual!

There is very little humidity here. When we first arrived it took a while
to adjust. It reminded me of being in Bend OR where your nostrils dry out.
We drink a lot of water here, all bottled. You can't brush your teeth or
drink water from the tap. I am grateful for the grocery store just down
the street and the refrigerator in our room.

June 18, 2008

What a horrid day. I walked to the Piazza area, the north end of town. I
can hardly describe some of the horrific sights I encountered. There is so
much poverty here but I am sure this is nothing compared to the rural
areas. But the numbers of people who are begging is overwhelming and the
condition of some is truly horrific. I saw several who are suffering from
what I assume was polio. The worst was a person who was literally dragging
his body along the sidewalk using his arms much like we used to do when we
played 'army' as children. Another was a woman who used to flip flops, one
on each hand, so she could propel herself along the sidewalk, her legs
curled up under her. The flip flops helped to protect her hands from the
concrete sidewalk. I saw a person lying in a town square whose legs were
the size of her body. I can't even describe how difficult it is to see so
much of this kind of need. The saddest part is many of these diseases are
treatable or preventable, particularly polio and leprosy. There seems to
be a lot of both here.

The area I was exploring today is called Piazza, more leftover signs of
the Italian occupation. It was quite congested and very seedy. I was a wee
bit concerned for my personal safety, having become somewhat paranoid from
reading the two tour books that emphasize pick pocketing and purse
snatching. I was the only non African visible and did get lots of looks.
As I mentioned Ethiopia isn't exactly high on the tourist circuit.

I visited St George's Church, an Orthodox Christian church. I arrived
around mid day and was surprised how many people were there. There are
separate entrances for men and for women. Outside the church worshipers
would touch the walls of the church and kiss the walls. Inside there was a
lot of bowing, touching doors and walls and kissing the doors and walls.
The church was hexagonal with another hexagon inside which is the Holy of
Holies and only the priests are allowed there. The only ornamentation were
numerous murals. After entering the wrong door, reserved for men, I found
the one for women and removed my shoes and entered. I tip toed around to
look at the murals. Most of the women were seated on the floor and
actively worshiping. I sat down and one of the women encouraged me to go
into another area in order to better view the murals. All this was done
without words of course since we didn't speak each other's language. I do
hope I can learn more about the religion while I am here.

After leaving the church I looked for some of the cafes and bookstores
mentioned in the tour book. One café was somewhat frightening so I crossed
it off the list. I found the bookstore and was disappointed to find they
were almost all old used technical books and some paperbacks that held no
interest. I have a feeling the Sheraton and Hilton will be the only
resource for books if I run out. Fortunately Ron and I share books so I
have one more to read if I finish the one I am currently reading.

For some reason I didn't pick up any 'students' today. One man approached
me on my way home and I simply ignored him and that stopped it right
there. I did discover another good restaurant, an Italian place that has
been here 50 years! I was delighted that they had a no smoking section.
It had great food and I blew my budget. Usually the bill includes the tip
(called service here) but this one didn't. I didn't have any change so got
up to go get change and the waiter came running after me in a panic saying
'Madam, service, service!". I told him I was going to get change and he
offered to do that. Of course he brought only large bills so I would give
more of a tip which I did. As Ron likes to say, 'it's only money'.

Sitting next to me in the restaurant was a group of three adults and a
young man, perhaps a teen. They were obviously quite wealthy, as she was
dripping in diamonds. They spoke Amharic, the predominant language (over
80 languages are spoken in Ethiopia) and English. The young man spoke
American English. At one point they were talking about movies and were
trying to remember who the actor was in Liar Liar. They grew silent as
they were trying to remember the actor's name. Being the social being that
I am, I said, 'Jim Carey'. They exclaimed 'that's it!' We all laughed. As
I was leaving the restaurant two of the adults were outside smoking and
thanked me for my input. I apologized for listening in on their
conversation. They protested and said no problem. I find Ethiopians quite
friendly and because they have never been colonized, I think there is less
awkwardness with whites. They are on an equal footing, as it were.

After returning to the hotel I scheduled a foot massage as my feet were
quite tired. I had been walking from 10:30-3:00. The foot massage was
divine: painful but divine. She worked on my feet all the way up to my
buttocks. Forty-five minutes for $10. I think I will be a regular while
here.

Tonight we took a cab, we have found a regular cab driver whom we use, to
a restaurant where I had lunch the day before called The Cottage. I had
the same waiter and I had told him he looked a lot like Morgan Freeman.
Since I had had a big lunch I ordered an omelet and Ron had a pepper
steak. We both were pleased with our meal. Derge, the driver had agreed to
loan us a SIM card for my cell phone since none are available so we paid
him for the 'rental'. Since I probably won't travel with Ron when he is
working we decided we should spend the money for the phone. We were
thankful for his help in loaning us an extra SIM card that he had. I just
realized you may not know about SIM cards. Every where we have traveled
you can buy a SIM card for about $20 and then buy minutes for phone use.
When your minutes run out you just buy more. That way we can use the phone
we bought in Sri Lanka all over the world, except in the good ole USA.

That's it from Addis Ababa for the day!

Adjusting to Addis

June 16, 2008

I woke up at 4:00 and Ron at 4:30. Yesterday we woke up at 3:30. I guess
it is getting better but we have a ways to go before we have adjusted to
the time change here. After breakfast I decided to climb stairs to extend
my exercise program as there is no gym in our hotel. I climbed two flights
and was completely winded and my heart was racing. We are at 7,000 ft.
here and let me tell you, it ain't at all like home! Later in the morning
the elevator was not working so twice I climbed to the 7th floor where our
room is. Needless to say I took several breaks, resting in between floors.
God, I feel healthy!

Today the driver from the ICMA project was supposed to pick us up at the
hotel at 8:15 because we were to attend an orientation at the US Embassy.
After several calls he arrived at 8:55. Welcome to Ethiopian time. We
decided to try again tomorrow. I wanted to explore some of the shops
mentioned in the tour book. First I walked to the Ethiopian Map Authority
to get what is considered the best map of Addis. It took me about 20
minutes to get there, walking uphill most of the way. After going through
security, I discovered they are out of the maps. Great.

Next I made my way over to what is called 'central' Addis. You should know
there is no central here as the town is quite spread out with no central
or downtown area. There are about three main commercial/shopping areas. By
this time I had 'acquired' a 'student' who followed me for the next 20
minutes. Fortunately I read the tour books before I arrived and the books
forewarned me about the so called students. These are young (20-27) year
old men who befriend you and are quite nice and follow you around making
polite conversation and at some point ask for money or ask you to buy them
something like a book for their studies or something to drink. When Ron
and I walked around on Sunday we had a fellow follow us for quite awhile.
They aren't easy to ditch. I peeled off at some point. I found the shops I
was looking for and was pleased with the quality and prices. There were
numerous street vendors who came up to me and asked me to buy their wares.
I declined. I prefer the shops where I don't have to barter. Today I was
mostly on a look and see mission.

I stopped by a place called Hope Enterprises to purchase a booklet of meal
tickets. Instead of giving beggars money, I can now give them meal
tickets. A book of eight tickets cost $0.40 so I bought five booklets.
Last of the big spenders. I went through two books pretty quickly as Addis
has many beggars: very young children, young mothers, lepers, physically
disabled, and the elderly. By now I was on my third student and he
followed me forever. As we were walking along I said "I never give
students any money" just so I was clear. Of course when I got back to the
hotel he said he had walked a long distance and was thirsty and wanted me
to buy him a drink. I reminded him of our earlier conversation and told
him I didn't ask him to go with me. It had been his choice. Needless to
say he was disappointed. I need to develop a script to discourage them
from the minute they approach me. It is tiresome. So I left at 10:30 and
got back at 4:00. Oy, my feet hurt.

Ron and I have lost weight since arriving. We have been unable to find
good restaurants. The hotel is quite mediocre. We now have breakfast in
our room every other day to break the monotony of the meal. I have
granola, coffee and juice in the room. Oddly enough the breakfast
downstairs was the best yet today. There are a lot of staff members in the
dining room. They stand around and occasionally do something, like
replenish the coffee when you tell them it is out. Today they had one
sugar bowl out for the entire room. So when you asked for sugar, one of
them would look for the sugar bowl and bring it to your table. We couldn't
figure out why they just didn't put it by the coffee pot and milk???? Ah
Americans are so efficient. The good news is I found a good restaurant at
lunch. I am so excited. Last night we tried a new place near our hotel and
it was awful. The bread (sort of like fresh pita) and the cardamom rice
were great but the mystery meat was very chewy and flavorless. We barely
touched it. The restaurant was recommended in the tour book. Because
Ethiopia isn't a hot tourist spot, the two tour books we have really cater
to back packers so the recommendations are often cheap, filling food that
isn't particularly tasty. We have totally avoided any of their
recommendations where they state "not particularly good but filling".
Spare me!

I may have mentioned that our hotel is pretty isolated so eating will
require a long walk or a taxi. We ate at the Sheraton once and it was
good. We can try the Hilton. There are supposed to be some good Indian
restaurants here. Ethiopians loved to eat raw minced meat. YUCK! We eat a
vegetarian diet mostly so you can imagine how grossed out I am about raw
meat! Anyway, this is served on injera, a large, moist sourdough pancake
made from tef, a grain that has more protein, iron, and calcium than
wheat. The Orthodox Christians here fast on Wednesdays and Fridays so no
meat on those days. Maybe we will try the traditional meals on the veggie
days.

Today on my walking to town and back, I saw many small herds of goats.
Goat is eaten here as is lamb, chicken and beef. I am not sure about pork.
Most of the women cover their head with a white cotton gauzy shawl. The
two main religions are Orthodox Christians and Muslims, 45/35%
respectively. Faith is an extremely important part of an Ethiopian's life.
Orthodox Christians bring religion into everyday conversation as much as
their Muslim counterparts. We certainly found this to be true with the
'students' we have met.

Pubic transportation: there are buses that are crammed beyond belief, and
mini buses. They are a small van with four or more rows of seats and are
everywhere. They ride down the road picking up passengers as they go. A
man leans out the window and shouts the route. They also seem to be
packed. I will walk or use cabs. I was told that petrol is $1+. a liter
here. That makes it close to US prices.

June 17, 2008
We managed to sleep until the alarm went off at 6:30. Now that is
progress. Last night we tired another recommended restaurant. We had to
take a taxi as it was too far away to walk. It was housed the fuselage of
an old plane. I ordered the 'national dish, a rich, oily tomato based
sauce with a small of chicken served on top of injera, the thin pancake.
It was quite good. Ron had roasted chicken and it was somewhat dry but at
least this meal was edible!

This morning our driver was on time and we went to the US Embassy for a
security orientation. A rather glum woman gave the orientation to the two
of us. It was really about how to avoid any problems here. There is no
violent crime to speak of here, mostly some pick pockets and purse
snatchers. She recommended staying away from the local market which is
supposed to be the largest in Africa. Our tour books said it s a prime
place for the above mentioned crimes. Natasha said the merchandise was
'crap'. Needless to say I wasn't particularly interested before but now
have no desire to go there.

First Ethiopian Post

WE'VE BEEN HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME WITH POSTING THE BLOG BECAUSE OF VERY
SLOW INTERNET ACCESS AND STRANGE STUFF WITH BLOGSPOT. WE'LL KEEP TRYING.

This is a long entry but I have divided it into specific day entries. I
cannot download the file from the hotel so Ron will do it for me from work
or we will find an Internet café. Since this isn't possible to do on a
daily basis, the entries will be less frequent but longer.

Alas we are in Ethiopia. It is pretty darn special to have a honey who
buys you a ticket to Ethiopia for your birthday. We celebrated my 63rd
birthday somewhere en route and I was presented with birthday cards on the
plane. Our journey here took 25 hours from when we left the house for the
airport on June 10th until we got through customs in Addis Ababa, the
capital of Ethiopia at 8:00 p.m. on June 11th. The journey itself was
relatively easy. We had a direct flight from Portland to Frankfurt. Then
we flew from Frankfurt to Addis. Ron's ticket cost $4100 and mine cost
$2700. His was purchased by his employer who uses a travel agent versus
mine which Ron purchased on line. We sat side by side on the plane. One
would think for the cost difference he was flying business class!

We had turbulence on both legs but coming into Addis was harrowing at
times due to the turbulence. We were supposed to fly from Frankfurt to
Khartoum, Sudan then on to Addis. However the night before there was a
terrible crash at the Khartoum airport when a plane was attempting to land
during a storm and ran off the runway. The plane burst into flames and
over 100 were killed, according to one newspaper account. Consequently as
we were boarding in Frankfurt, anyone flying to Khartoum was pulled aside
and told that the plane would not be able to land in Khartoum as the
airport was closed. Our flight from Frankfurt had lots of empty seats.
Being somewhat jet lagged by the time it dawned on us to look for seats
where we could stretch out, there were none. Many had a comfortable ride
fully stretched out over four seats. We had been too slow to grasp the
possibility and were therefore "aced out"

We had a 'first' at the airport: our luggage and carry on bags were xrayed
as we left the terminal! We were met at the airport by Antonio who had
hired Ron for this job and a driver. Antonio is a very warm man who
embraced Ron and then me. His parents were born in Lebanon but they had
immigrated to Venezuela where he was born and raised. He works for ICMA in
DC when he is not traveling to the various countries where he has current
projects. We arrived here at 8:00 p.m. Our hotel was a short drive from
the airport. We headed for our room, unpacked and hit the sack. We managed
to sleep for about 6 hours. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and Ron about 5:00. We
got up and did our morning stretches and floor exercises. There is no gym
in our hotel. ICMA booked us a suite. It has a large sitting room with a
couch, two side chairs, a small refrigerator and a sauna in the corner.
HA! Then there is a bedroom with a full bath. There is a second bath with
a sink and toilet off the living room. The hotel is funky, not elegant but
clean and certainly adequate.

We met Antonio for breakfast downstairs. There was some fresh fruit,
cheese, breads, sautéed veggies and eggs. Oh yes and Ethiopian coffee. You
may not know this but coffee was born here. It is quite strong and the
hotel's coffee almost tastes like there might be some chicory in it.

Ron and Antonio spent the morning discussing the work Ron is to do here
while I read in the other room. Later they left to meet with folks from
USAID who are funding this project. I went shopping in the grocery store
located right near the hotel. I wanted to be able to make coffee in the
room and have a few snacks. I spent $10 and was alarmed at first but then
realized I would have paid that much for coffee alone at home. Here I got
two bottles of water, crackers, juice, tissues and a pound of coffee for
that price. What often happens when I first arrive in a new country I am
unfamiliar with the new currency and have concern about what things cost
and spending too much money. Initially there are a lot of expenses but
within a few days I realize that things cost considerably less in
developing countries and my worries subside. Ron and I are frugal and
attempt to live within his per diem allowance when we travel. Added to
this concern is the fact that there is one ATM in the country that accepts
international cards. Fortunately it is in Addis! Hopefully it will accept
our card.

We had lunch at the hotel as the driver wasn't available. I prefer not to
eat here frequently because the food is pretty mediocre. We had the buffet
which is almost depleted as we arrived after a group that is meeting in
the hotel. I ate two helpings of a spaghetti casserole and a little
injera, a traditional Ethiopian pancake that tastes like sourdough. We
tried to nap after lunch but were unable to sleep so just rested. Around
3:00 Ron and Antonio left for the USAID office. In the late afternoon I
finally fell asleep for about an hour.

Facts about Ethiopia: In 1582 the Christian world switched from the
Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar but not in Ethiopia. The Julian
calendar consists of 13 months: 12 months of 30 days and one month of the
remaining five days except in leap year when there are six. So as a
consequence the year date is seven years and eight months behind what we
think of as the year. So we have now traveled back in time to 2001. One
other interesting feature here is time. A day consists of two 12 hour
periods. The first starts at 6:00 a.m. So when it is 6:00 a.m. the time is
12:00, at 7:00 it is 1:00 and so on until 6:00 p.m. when it starts all
over: 12:00, at 7:00 p.m. it is 1:00, etc. Confused? Yeah, me too!

We experienced a brown out around 6:00 p.m. that lasted about our hour. So
we sat in the dark and chatted. Because we are close to the equator, it
gets dark here around 6:00. The days and nights are evenly split like it
was in Sri Lanka: 12 hours of light with 12 hours of dark. It is hard to
believe that two north westerners would leave the cold dark grey northwest
and come to Africa during the beginning of the heavy rainy season that
lasts about eight weeks. We will be here for five of the eight. It is
supposed to rain about 39 inches in eight weeks, a bit more of what we get
each year. So yesterday it was cloudy most of the day and started raining
in the afternoon until around 7:30 or so.

Since there was a brown out Antonio suggested we go to the Sheraton for
dinner. The Sheraton is a five star world class hotel with generators as a
back up for when there are brown outs. It is quite a place. It is huge
with lots of glamour. We ate in the Italian restaurant and had a lovely
meal. The Sheraton has the only ATM in the country that will take an ATM
card from banks outside the country. Because we read that the biggest
problem in Addis is pick pockets, we emptied our wallets of everything
except some cash and put everything in the safe in our room so we didn't
get to try out the ATM because neither of us remembered to bring our
cards. We also brought travelers checks with us to Addis in case our cards
don't work in the machine and because credit cards are not accepted here
except in the large international hotels. In our hotel you are charged a
3% fee to use your credit card on top of whatever your bank charges you
for international usage, often 3%.

June 13, 2008

We met Antonio downstairs for breakfast. He was experiencing the dreaded
traveler's diarrhea. Ron started feeling badly at breakfast also but they
headed off to work anyway armed with pills. I hailed a taxi and set off to
purchase an electric kettle so I can make coffee in the room. The hotel
does not provide a coffee maker so I always travel with a cone and
filters. The taxi driver quoted me $20 to take me to the store and back as
we reached the gate of the hotel. I have learned to always ask the price
before proceeding. I shouted 'stop the car!' That was effective as he
immediately was willing to negotiate the price and lowered it $8.50 which
was still high but I hate negotiating. Off we went to a government store
where I found the needed item for $33. On the way home the driver told me
I would get a discount if I called him again. I told him I would, so took
his cell phone number. I hope to be able to establish a relationship with
one driver so I don't have to negotiate each trip. Taxis don't have meters
here and most taxis look as though they can barely make it across town.

Shortly after I came home Ron arrived looking pale. He went to bed and
slept. After a while I went downstairs to the restaurant and ordered a
vegetarian stir fried rice. We both slept in the afternoon and he is still
sleeping. He never gets sick and thinks he was just overly tired from the
trip. After sleeping all afternoon and into the evening, he awoke and
still seemed tired. We took his temperature and it was 101. So much for
not getting sick. We watched a very bad movie on TV and then went to bed.

June 14-08
Ron and I awoke about 7:00. His fever had broken and he was feeling much
better. We decided to have an outing today and visited two museums: the
National Museum and the Ethnological Museum. We took at cab to the
National. We were reminded once again of the wealth in America. Many of
the displays at the National were displayed without any lighting.
Consequently we couldn't read the explanations of what we were viewing.
The real highlight of this museum was seeing a cast of 'Lucy', a
fossilized hominid discovered in 1974. Lucy is 3.2 million years old. Gee,
do I ever feel young! As we were leaving the museum we spied a traditional
house adjacent to the grounds and wandered over to discover two men
working on building the grass exterior to the house. It is a real art form
using bound bunches of grass that are then tied to the frame of the
structure and held in place by lengths of bamboo. The house was part of a
restaurant so we decided to grab some lunch, dining al fresco. The owners
had gone to great lengths to create ambience by having various African
crafts such as woven bamboo panels, outdoor tables with bamboo umbrellas,
etc. We peeked into the interior restaurant where there were even more
African touches such as baskets, pottery and the like.
Next we walked to the Ethnological Museum, located on the Addis Ababa
University campus, foremerly Haile Selassie's palace. On the way we passed
by the Yekatit Monument. This monument recognizes the thousands of
innocent Ethiopians killed by the Italians in retaliation for the attempt
on Viceroy Graziani's life in 1937. (see below) Graphic depictions of the
three day massacre are captured in bronze. Men, women and children were
murdered and many homes were set afire. The Ethnological museum obviously
had more funding and was a much larger exhibit and better displayed.

Ethiopia Facts: Ethiopia is the only nation in Africa to have never been
colonized. However Ethiopia's location between two Italian colonies of
Somalia and Eritrea made Ethiopia an attractive morsel. In October of
1935 the Italians attacked Ethiopia and by May of 1936 Mussolini declared
"Ethiopia is Italian". Over 60,000 Italians poured into Ethiopia to work
on the infrastructure. The outbreak of the WWII, particularly Italy's
declaration of war against Britain in 1940, dramatically changed the
course of events. The Ethiopian resistance fighters assisted by Britain
were able to defeat the Italians. By May of 1941, the emperor and his men
entered Addis Ababa. Today there are many fine Italian restaurants and
espresso bars in Addis.