Ethiopian Adventure Day 2 (Addis Ababa)

Woke up within an hour or so of falling asleep and could not pass out again, something that was not helped by prolific street noise: vehicles on the main road a block away, a man talking on a cell phone who sounded like he was right outside my window, barking dogs (which might have either been pets or part of feral packs), hooting owls, a few sirens, and, most intrusively, prayers broadcast over a speaker from a nearby Ethiopian Orthodox church. On top of all that was pounding of the pulse in my ears, possibly caused by jet lag, the altitude, my malaria medication, or none, some, or all of those. 

Eventually just got up and my brother and I headed out for the U.S. Embassy about 10 a.m. Traffic was uncharacteristically good according to him and I had the opportunity to get a look at several other parts of the city. At the embassy we had a 1-hour block of Amharic language instruction, enjoyed my first Ethiopian meal at the cafeteria, and did shopping for Thanksgiving dinner (which I will be missing). We then drove back via a different route so that I could see even more of the city. 

After dinner (my brother grilled hamburgers and bratwurst on their patio), I made final preparations for my six-day excursion to the northern half of the country, took a shower, and turned in — hopefully to sleep better than I did last night! 

Above left, people struggling to fix broken down cars are a common sight on the streets of Addis Ababa. Above right, the capitol is undergoing a period of great growth and construction, albeit amidst fears that the bubble might burst in the next year or so and leave many projects unfinished. 

Above left, one of the bigger Muslim mosques in Ethiopian Orthodox Addis Ababa. Above right and below, sprawling, dusty, and chaotic though it is, an astute visitor will pick up that Addis Ababa was clearly planned as a visually impressive monumental city, with many traffic circles designed to showcase monuments of various sorts. 

Last thing for today is going through my kit and repacking about half of it for the excursion up north that I am jumping out on tomorrow! 

Ethiopian Adventure Day 1 (Addis Ababa)

Low key first day here in Ethiopia! Landed in the capital city of Addis Ababa about 12:55 a.m. and very quickly cleared immigration and then customs (the procedure for the latter consisting of running my suitcase through a machine on a belt and not being sure if any of the other people in the vicinity were officials or all just other passengers). My brother Chris was waiting for me in the terminal and we had a quick, 15-minute drive to his house through streets that he said were only so empty because it was late on a Sunday night and that during the day it would have taken an hour. 

After giving me a brief orientation my brother went to bed. As I was not at all tired at that point, however, I washed and then stayed up reading Cutting for Stone, a 2008 novel about a surgeon in Ethiopia, and finally turned in about 5 a.m. 

Got up late and spent early afternoon unpacking, reading source material related to my trip, and chatting with my brother. Then, later in the afternoon, visited and had a tour of the international school my niece Madeleine and nephew Conrad attend. All four of us then took a short walk and stopped for coffee (buna), something I had been looking forward to doing, it seeming especially appropriate to enjoy this favorite beverage in the country where it was first discovered. In the course of all this my seven-year-old niece regaled me with useful tips for my stay in Ethiopia (e.g., "Always carry your own toilet paper," "Always cut the first 2 inches/5 centimeters off the end of a banana" to avoid some horrible parasite that lives in them, "Always carry bug spray" when visiting historic sites because of fleas in the carpeting). 

In the evening we had dinner with my sister-in-law Laura and she and my brother briefed me on things I needed to expect on my upcoming excursions to sites in the northern half of the country (all useful but none more so than the things Madeleine had already told me). Then, after everyone else went to bed, I did some more background reading, worked on the outline for a story about my trip I am doing for the New Braunfels Herald Zeitung, and started doing research into Ethiopian folklore for an article for Gygax magazine. 

 

  
Above left, people of means in Addis Ababa tend to live in walled and gated compounds — and the decorative variety among gates is interesting to note. Because people do not want pictures of their houses posted for security concerns, however, I photographed an unfinished one as an example. Above right, Aba Guben, a cafe on South Africa Street favored by my brother and his family. Left, many of the signs in Addis Ababa are dual-language, with script in both English and the local Amharic. Below, a view from the "Old Airport" neighborhood of Addis Ababa of the Entoto Mountains, which run along the northern edge of the capitol.