Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
I must admit that Ethiopia - more than any other country so far on this trip - makes me so grateful to have been from the Bay Area and be able to have spent my life so far living there. We had a great opportunity to reconnect and visit with a former coworker of mine, who lived in San Francisco for 17 years, and he had much insight to share. The bottom line is that he definitely wants to grow his business there and make enough money to return to the U.S. for good someday, especially to retire.
Of course, as with most every country it seems, the most American thing to be prominent there is Coca Cola! And it’s well represented in Addis Ababa. They had those kitschy bottle labels with the names on them, and of course used Ethiopian names. This billboard is enormous, as it is on a skyscraper:
They also have these huge inflatable bottles of Coke all over town, and sign after sign on fences, etc. The moral of the story: buy KO stock (Click here to learn more)! (but don’t drink Coke; it’s reportedly bad for you) ;-)
The sporty teenagers and kids on buses were happy to greet the white guy out the window and pose for the camera:
After driving across town directly from the airport, we made it to the modest National Museum:
This place is a bit of a one-hit-wonder, which was a bit surprising for a country so rich in history, both ancient and more recent. The “star of the show” is Lucy, also known as Australopithecus Afarensis (Click here to learn more), who is a 3.2 year old human ancestor.
And believe it or not, the “bones” on display are actually fake! But they sure make the plastic old looking for the appearance of authenticity:
And for a more complete skeleton, “Salam” (Click here to learn more) is dated to about 150,000 older than Lucy:
And that was about it for the arrival activity in Addis Ababa. Fortunately, we had my friend Yonas to take us around that evening, so I told him we wanted to go to a “very Ethiopian place” that he liked very much. So he drove us in his fancy work truck to Yod Abysinia, a self-proclaimed “cultural restaurant” (Click here to learn more).
We were seated in the front row near the stage, where we enjoyed a great view of the dancing and music. Jack and Yonas both ordered a beer, and were served the local Ethiopian beer St. George Premium Lager. My sparkling water was the ubiquitous Ambo:
And the show was lively, colorful, loud, rhythmic, and downright frenetic in its moves. It alternated between the band, the band with a singer, the band with a singer and dancers, recorded music with a singer, recorded music with dancers, and recorded music with a singer and dancers. Some kids would get up on stage and dance around sometimes, but eventually an announcement was made which Yonas interpreted for us to mean “please keep your kids off the stage”.
In a short time, the food that Yonas ordered for us was served. I failed to snap a photo before we dug in, but about half way through, I realized it would be an interesting thing to have for the blog. It’s a round platter lined with their spongy bread called injera (Click here to learn more), and little piles of various meats and veggies. They come to wash your hands for you before it is served by pouring warm water from a tea pot looking vessel, and then you just tear off bread and scoop up the food with it. Some were spicy, some were a bit bland, but none tasted like anything I’ve eaten before. And surprisingly, none of us ate the hard boiled egg in the middle.
And back to the entertainment; we had a singer:
And a group of really acrobatic, energetic, strong, and fun guys:
And a dance troop in red outfits:
After a couple hours of the barrage of loud music and eye boggling dance moves, we dragged our by now exhausted bodies back to the Sheraton Addis (Click here to learn more). After all, it was after midnight according to our body clocks, and we had been up since 5am for the flight to Africa.
After a lavish buffet breakfast at the hotel the next day, Yonas picked us up for some touring around the city. The rest of our group (all but four others who stayed back) took another flight up to Lalibela (Click here to learn more), which did look interesting; but we weren’t going to pass up the chance to spend the day with Yonas, who would serve as our local guide.
He first took us up the mountain (in the city) to see the view of the sprawling city below. But it was the church on the top and the people who made their pilgrimage there that fascinated me Many walk up this mountain and back down barefoot, and many others bring their donkeys along:
We were able to witness so much of the dire poverty that exists there. This is a typical entryway to the mud huts and sheet metal shacks all over this capital city:
And in case you’re wondering about infrastructure, it’s minimalist at best. Here’s a typical road:
And a typical obstacle:
Some of the kids we saw were friendly and happy to pose for photos:
Many people sell things on the side of the road, such as these colorful umbrellas:
Here are some more examples of the living conditions. Obviously there are no addresses. The enclaves seem like labyrinths as you meander from one entrance to another. Yonas actually said that the land is worth a lot of money, but the people have been settled there for generations and aren’t inclined to give them up and move on, no matter the financial reward for doing so.
Yonas assured us that as gay as this looks, it’s nothing more than camaraderie. Any gay activity that may go on in Ethiopia is reportedly extremely hidden from view and is certainly never talked about, as the laws here regarding homosexual activity are pretty strict (Click here to learn more).
Selling sugar cane on the street out of a wheelbarrow:
These are the market stalls that line street after street in Addis Ababa. Some, like these, are where locals shop. We were told that these are all handmade goods. We visited some other stalls elsewhere (no pics taken) where tourists shop as well.
And for the muslim population, a few mosques do exist:
One question: would you buy meat from this stall???
And with that, we hit the tourist stalls, where Yonas haggled for and bought me a locally made and African looking cotton shirt that I picked from hundreds. Most were too rough, too thick, didn’t fit, didn’t look right, etc. After almost giving up, I found the gem at the last possible stall before returning to his truck. Photo forthcoming (but you’ll have to wait for the Israel post).
So where in the world were we? See these Google Maps screen shots to get a location:
And the now customary local Google screen - Ethiopia style:
Given what I learned about Ethiopia, it sure made me appreciate home all the more. Yonas told us that the power goes out pretty much every day here at some point, and of course you never know when it’s going to happen. Those who can afford it have a generator. Yonas has two! We certainly saw them for sale at the hardware stores on our tour with him. He also said that they really do live as big families here; and that if one person works a decent job, they can support five to eight people. He himself has a fiancé and two kids, plus he employs a full time cook, a nanny/housekeeper, and a guard/gardener/car washer. So it’s good that he’s doing well for himself. Not everyone has that opportunity. There are virtually no manufacturing jobs, and so making a decent living is certainly a big challenge. I noticed that some internet sites are blocked when you try to access them, which is an interesting form of oppression and censorship I am glad we don’t have at home. And the driving is insane. No pedestrian right of way exists at all. In fact, he said if you slow to let one person cross, you’ll never get by, as a stream will surely follow and bowl you over. And the traffic is majorly congested, so one must allow a loooooong time to get where they are going (worse than Los Angeles!). You definitely don’t want to drink the water here, by all accounts, which certainly makes me appreciate good old Hetch Hetchy. Fortunately, we were provided bottled water in our rooms for drinking, brushing teeth, etc.
So it was very nice to visit and especially see Yonas after many years, as he was always a special guy in my book. And having his personal insight, especially since he has lived in SF, and is very familiar with the benefits, served to help me understand some of the differences and tangible impacts on people in their daily life. The fact that he is planning to retire in SF pretty well sums it up. I guess this is part of the benefit of seeing the world first hand. Along this trip, I am developing a long list of why I feel that for me SF is the best place in the world to live. These are just a few of them that I have mentioned here. They don’t exactly make me long for home, because I accept my choice to spend a month away; but it gives me great comfort to know I have such a special and unique place to call home. Some people were born in Ethiopia, or even some worse places in the world. I am one of the very lucky ones to have been born exactly where and when I was: Mountain View, California in 1971. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!! ;-) E.R.
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