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.
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