I finally got up to Emtoto yesterday, the site of the former capital city and the palace of Emperor Mellieck (I’m pretty sure that is not spelled correctly...) There isn’t really a whole lot left there but there is a beautifully coloured church and a museum. The real draw though, at least for me, was that Emtoto is on the top of a mountain. Surrounded by eucalyptus trees imported from Australia and the local juniper trees it is like an oasis above the craziness of Addis. The air is fresh and smells strongly of eucalyptus. The breeze is cool and light and it feels like a completely different world. It is higher in altitude than the city by almost 2000 ft (at least according to my tour guide) but I could actually breath up there. No pollution. Looking out over the city you can see a cloud of smog obscuring the view so that you have to try to make out the different buildings. I will post some pictures once I am back in the land of fast internet.
Last night Fiona and I went out to 2000 Habisha, a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with really good food and music and dancers. Don’t get it confused with Habisha 2000, another traditional Ethiopian restaurant not too far away... Interestingly the majority of people there were Ethiopian – the local people go there often so it is not just a tourist attraction. There was also a tour group made up mostly of old white people. It was hilarious to watch some of them join in the dancing and Fiona and I both decided that we hope we're traveling the world and dancing when we're that age. The dancing is interesting to watch with very jerky motions of the neck and shoulders. At one point I had to look away because of the way the women were shaking their heads around – it looked like they had no neck left and their heads were going to go flying off.
Fiona had to leave early this morning for Arba Minch, the work trip that was supposed to have happened last week, so we said goodbye last night. Even though this wasn't the trip I has planned I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun hanging out with Fiona. I'll just have to come back to Ehtiopia another time to see the rest of the country - but I don't think I'll spend much time in Addis next time around...
Today is my last day in Africa and I spent most of it trying to figure out how to pack all my stuff so that I don’t have pay extra for a heavy bag. I’m still not sure if I’ve succeeded since I don’t have any way to weigh the bags. I had also planned to do some more wandering, maybe in Piazza again or down Churchill Avenue but the weather didn’t cooperate with my plans and it has been raining off and on (mostly on) all afternoon. So instead, I’m back in Limetree Cafe having coffee and trying to use the internet which has also been going off and on (mostly off) all afternoon.
My flight leaves Addis at 11:30 tonight and I get into Frankfurt at around 6am. The flight to Toronto leaves at 10 something am and then I have 2 hours to get my bags, clear customs and check into my connecting flight to Halifax. That should be interesting!
I am really looking forward to going home. It is a weird feeling because my last few trips I wanted to turn around and go back as soon as my plane landed in Toronto. I think Pearson Airport has something to do with this (my least favourite place on earth) but there was also a feeling that I wasn't ready to leave Africa behind. While I am in no way saying that I won't be back to Africa someday soon, it is interesting and in some way disturbing to me that I am so excited to get back home. I'm not sure that I can explain this very well, but I guess I'll have to reflect on it over the next little while.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Friday, November 04, 2011
More from Addis
It is supposed to be the dry season here in Ethiopia, but apparently I brought the rain here with me from Kigali. It has been pouring rain most of the afternoon. Fiona is not impressed since she thought she was done with rain until January. I am also really tired of rain and was looking forward to hot and sunny weather while I was here. Maybe it will be sunny when I get back to Halifax....I know, not very likely.
Fiona has had to work most of this week and her work trip down south that I was going to tag along on has been postponed until next week so I've been spending a lot of time just wandering around Addis and relaxing at home. It is a nice break from thinking and planning and worrying about research. We're planning a day trip for this weekend and it is possible that monday will be a holiday but they aren't sure at her office yet - it is a lunar holiday so I guess it depends on what the moon is doing? So we might go out of town on Monday as well, or else I'll go to Emtoto by myself. Emtoto is where the old capital was and though there isn't a whole lot left there is a church and a museum, and it is on top of a big hill. It is supposed to have really good views of the city and it will be nice to be out of the airpollution for a little while. The pollution makes me feel like I am loosing my voice and I have had to use my inhaler more in the past few days than I have in several months combined. The altitude does not help either but I am getting used to that. I am looking forward to taking some good pictures at Emtoto. I haven't been taking very many here - I am reluctant to take my camera out of my bag since this city is well known for pickpockets and Fiona has already been robbed twice. Cameras also mark you as a tourist which invites more of the harrassment from beggars and street vendors that I am generally trying to avoid. Fiona has also talked about visiting some of the weavers that she works with and I'm looking forward to this as well. Some of the scarves and fabrics I've seen so far are really beautiful and I am hoping to buy some.
I am really looking forward to the weekend and whatever adventures we end up having. I'm really glad that I was able to come to Ethiopia and I am enjoying my time here, but I am also really looking forward to returning to Canada. I will miss the coffee though!
Addis is a crazy city that provides a lot of opportunities for people watching and observations. Walking from where I am staying to Fiona's house yesterday afternoon I passed several posters for 'marital assistance' and it is not unusual to see donkeys piled high with sacks walking down the streets. I met Fiona for lunch near the MEDA office today and from the window we watched a bunch of cows being herded along the side of a very busy roundabout. There were a couple of near accidents as drivers in Addis are not well known for their safe driving and the cows were not happy to stay on the sidewalk and kept running in the middle of the road. Good lunchtime entertainment.
Fiona has had to work most of this week and her work trip down south that I was going to tag along on has been postponed until next week so I've been spending a lot of time just wandering around Addis and relaxing at home. It is a nice break from thinking and planning and worrying about research. We're planning a day trip for this weekend and it is possible that monday will be a holiday but they aren't sure at her office yet - it is a lunar holiday so I guess it depends on what the moon is doing? So we might go out of town on Monday as well, or else I'll go to Emtoto by myself. Emtoto is where the old capital was and though there isn't a whole lot left there is a church and a museum, and it is on top of a big hill. It is supposed to have really good views of the city and it will be nice to be out of the airpollution for a little while. The pollution makes me feel like I am loosing my voice and I have had to use my inhaler more in the past few days than I have in several months combined. The altitude does not help either but I am getting used to that. I am looking forward to taking some good pictures at Emtoto. I haven't been taking very many here - I am reluctant to take my camera out of my bag since this city is well known for pickpockets and Fiona has already been robbed twice. Cameras also mark you as a tourist which invites more of the harrassment from beggars and street vendors that I am generally trying to avoid. Fiona has also talked about visiting some of the weavers that she works with and I'm looking forward to this as well. Some of the scarves and fabrics I've seen so far are really beautiful and I am hoping to buy some.
I am really looking forward to the weekend and whatever adventures we end up having. I'm really glad that I was able to come to Ethiopia and I am enjoying my time here, but I am also really looking forward to returning to Canada. I will miss the coffee though!
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Arrivals and Adventures in Addis
Hopefully I will find time to blog about my last few days in Rwanda and I will definitely write more about my research at some point but I’m sitting in Addis, Ethiopia and it all already seems a world away.
I almost didn’t make it to Ethiopia. My flight was scheduled to leave at 4pm from Kigali International Airport on Monday and I diligently confirmed this online. Jen picked me up at 1:30 and we arrived at the airport somewhere around 2pm. Looking at the departures screen my flight number was nowhere to be seen and the only flight to Addis was scheduled for 2:40. Talking to the guy at the front of the security line I asked him about my flight. “That flight no longer exists.” .... What?! How does it no longer exist?!
You know that person that is late for the flight and makes everyone wait for them, because heaven knows the world revolves around them? Don't you hate that person?! .....well this time that person was me. The 2:40 flight was already boarding and they had to hold it for me while I checked in and had to pay extra for my really heavy bag and went through customs and immigration. Running across the tarmac I realized I was that person. I wanted to apologize to everyone on the plane but I just slunk sheepishly into my seat. My flight landed at 7:05 pm after a stop in Entebbe Uganda and I easily got my visa and went through immigration. They sent our luggage to the wrong terminal so it was almost 8:30 by the time I claimed my bags and went to find Fiona. We left the airport, found her taxi driver and headed into the city. That first night I stayed in a guest house down the street from Fiona’s house because her landlord is crazy and wouldn’t let me stay there. Now I’m staying with a friend of Fiona’s named Nora who just moved into a huge three bedroom house by herself. It has a working shower. With hot water. I feel genuinely clean for the first time since I left Halifax. Or at least I did until I stepped out of the house...
Ethiopia so far is like another world to me. Addis is insane with its traffic and general lack of traffic lights. It feels like the half the city is under construction and the rest is either falling apart or seems somehow out of place with a mix of architecture styles. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never to have been colonized, although it was occupied by the Italians at one point. The Italian influence remains to some degree but there also seems to be a significant Soviet influence. Ethiopia also has an ancient Christian tradition that has influenced it in a lot of ways, although now the population is estimate to be half Christian and half Muslim. I woke up this morning to the call to prayer from a nearby Mosque and the chanting is starting again as I sit down to write this. The whole city is at once modern and bustling yet ancient and haunting as well. The city was only established as the capital in the late 1880s (according to the Brant Travel Guide I was reading this morning) but to me it still seems older.
Yesterday Fiona and I explored a part of the city called Piazza, a very busy area with lots of shops, restaurants and jewellery stores. There are winding little alleys lined with booths selling everything from cell phones and CDs to scarves and leggings. Along the main roads you can find a large theatre, an old post office that looks like it should have been a train station and shops with brightly coloured shutters on the second floor windows. We had coffee, bought some stunning silver necklaces and wandered around a lot. It is heartbreaking to see children sleeping in the street, people crippled and disfigured from polio and even from elephantitis sitting on the side of the sidewalk begging. The peddlers and beggars are overwhelming and at one point one guy followed us down the street for a short distance insisting we give him something. I don’t think I’ve done the city justice in my descriptions so far. It is an interesting and complicated city. There are pretty little details like the metal flowers wrapped around the posts lining the boulevards and little gardens on some of the street corners, but it is by no means a pretty city. I’ll try to post some pictures later but wifi is not as readily available here as in Kigali. I’m going out today to try to get money from the bank and to find some internet so I can post this and to do some more work on my research. Fiona has to work today so I am navigating on my own... should be an adventure!
I almost didn’t make it to Ethiopia. My flight was scheduled to leave at 4pm from Kigali International Airport on Monday and I diligently confirmed this online. Jen picked me up at 1:30 and we arrived at the airport somewhere around 2pm. Looking at the departures screen my flight number was nowhere to be seen and the only flight to Addis was scheduled for 2:40. Talking to the guy at the front of the security line I asked him about my flight. “That flight no longer exists.” .... What?! How does it no longer exist?!
You know that person that is late for the flight and makes everyone wait for them, because heaven knows the world revolves around them? Don't you hate that person?! .....well this time that person was me. The 2:40 flight was already boarding and they had to hold it for me while I checked in and had to pay extra for my really heavy bag and went through customs and immigration. Running across the tarmac I realized I was that person. I wanted to apologize to everyone on the plane but I just slunk sheepishly into my seat. My flight landed at 7:05 pm after a stop in Entebbe Uganda and I easily got my visa and went through immigration. They sent our luggage to the wrong terminal so it was almost 8:30 by the time I claimed my bags and went to find Fiona. We left the airport, found her taxi driver and headed into the city. That first night I stayed in a guest house down the street from Fiona’s house because her landlord is crazy and wouldn’t let me stay there. Now I’m staying with a friend of Fiona’s named Nora who just moved into a huge three bedroom house by herself. It has a working shower. With hot water. I feel genuinely clean for the first time since I left Halifax. Or at least I did until I stepped out of the house...
Ethiopia so far is like another world to me. Addis is insane with its traffic and general lack of traffic lights. It feels like the half the city is under construction and the rest is either falling apart or seems somehow out of place with a mix of architecture styles. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never to have been colonized, although it was occupied by the Italians at one point. The Italian influence remains to some degree but there also seems to be a significant Soviet influence. Ethiopia also has an ancient Christian tradition that has influenced it in a lot of ways, although now the population is estimate to be half Christian and half Muslim. I woke up this morning to the call to prayer from a nearby Mosque and the chanting is starting again as I sit down to write this. The whole city is at once modern and bustling yet ancient and haunting as well. The city was only established as the capital in the late 1880s (according to the Brant Travel Guide I was reading this morning) but to me it still seems older.
Yesterday Fiona and I explored a part of the city called Piazza, a very busy area with lots of shops, restaurants and jewellery stores. There are winding little alleys lined with booths selling everything from cell phones and CDs to scarves and leggings. Along the main roads you can find a large theatre, an old post office that looks like it should have been a train station and shops with brightly coloured shutters on the second floor windows. We had coffee, bought some stunning silver necklaces and wandered around a lot. It is heartbreaking to see children sleeping in the street, people crippled and disfigured from polio and even from elephantitis sitting on the side of the sidewalk begging. The peddlers and beggars are overwhelming and at one point one guy followed us down the street for a short distance insisting we give him something. I don’t think I’ve done the city justice in my descriptions so far. It is an interesting and complicated city. There are pretty little details like the metal flowers wrapped around the posts lining the boulevards and little gardens on some of the street corners, but it is by no means a pretty city. I’ll try to post some pictures later but wifi is not as readily available here as in Kigali. I’m going out today to try to get money from the bank and to find some internet so I can post this and to do some more work on my research. Fiona has to work today so I am navigating on my own... should be an adventure!
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