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‹ Previous (29/10/2007) MONTH Next (2007-12-28)› ‹ Previous (2007-11-09 - Kenya) COUNTRY Next (2008-01-14 - Sudan)› Ethiopia Adis ababa (see on map) 30/11/2007:
On Tuesday we entered Addis Ababa immersed in a chaotic traffic and crossing a square in works and with the roadway made of earth and rocks (confusion square). We wanted to go to the embassy of Spain to carry out the renewal of my passport and afterwards to the embassy of Sudan to carry out the visa. But at 11 in the morning we were exactly crossing the centre. I was looking the map choosing the best streets to arrive in the North of the city when wrongly I situated on the lane of the right reserved to divert to the right in the following crossroad. But I was still straight and a guard, observing my mistake, stoped me. Imperturbable asked me the driving licence and, when i thought that it would start the typical game of patience to earn some bribery, the guard told to me that he is giving me a fine and that the driving licence would be retained until i paid the fee. I protested vigorously - I even tried to steal my driving licence - but in the end i accepted, in spite of the endless advises of Alexandra, that i should follow the legal procedure. We wasted two hours seeking the office where to pay the fine, paying it and looking for the police station of the police where in theory they had to return me the driving licence (they did not have it until the afternoon). In spite of the insults of "corrupt" that Alexandra still uttered, perhaps it had been better that they were corrupt, perhaps we would have paid a little more (or less) but would have wasted less time. In the embassy of Spain we were analysing the possibility of renewing the passport (I only have two blank pages) without anulating the one that I have at present where we think to ask for the visas of Sudan and Egypt. In the end we agreed that they would ask for my new passport and that they would send it to me to the Spanish embassy in Egypt, where they would cancel the old passport for me. On Tuesday we had no time to go to the embassy of Sudan, but we went Wednesday in the morning. When asking for the forms to carry out the visa they told us that before we had to obtain a letter of invitation from our embassies. I already had it, but Alexandra did not. The ambassador and secretary Romanian talked with Alexandra only in Romanian, but she explained to me afterwards that they resembled her parents, when hearing of our intention of entering Sudan and were worried about her stay in Ethiopia (the secretary did not go out from the embassy and washed herself 10 times per day fearing of becoming infected). When returning again to the embassy of Sudan, they informed us about having to return the day after with 61 $ each. Curiously the Ethiopian banks do not sell dollars if you are not resident, but for luck we could buy dollars on the black market the following day, Thursday. Anyway, we wasted all the morning buying them and when arriving again at the embassy this was closed until the afternoon. In any case, we did not turn until the following day in the morning and we used the afternoon to do some repairs to the car. And at last, Friday in the morning they accepted us the forms to carry out the visas and they asked us to phone Monday, according to the news that we have, it can take the Sudanese visa about 2 weeks to be carried out. In the afternoon we returned to the service and finished fixing the car very professionally and taking very little money (basically fixed and reinforced the protection of the engine, in another factory welded an escape from the radiator without charging us anything, and in another made a new part of the fridge that had been broken, also without charging us anything). Maybe the Ethiopians are generous, but it is also true that the owners of the factories were friends of Claudio, a man of Italian origin that has hosted us in the parking place of his home. Claudio explained that during the reign of the king (or emperor) Haile Selassie, there were about 60.000 Italians living in Ethiopia, but the subsequent socialist revolution and the nationalisation made run away many Italians and at present there are only about 3.500, although they probably continue being the most numerous European community (Ethiopia had been an Italian colony for 5 years). Claudio usually meets almost every afternoon with different expatriate and Ethiopian friends in a room in his house, where they sit on mattresses, they talk, they play cards, they read and they chew chat, some bitter leaves that as they said had a similar effect (but softer) to the cocaine. Afterwards, they go to a bar to empty one or two bottles of vodka, because - they explained - they could not sleep. We also joined (Alexandra without chewing chat) and in one of the multiple conversations, the friends of Claudio explained us how the calendar worked and the also the Ethiopian clock. For a part, the Ethiopian clocks generally go 6 hours slower, because traditionally they mark the hours from the sunrise (seven in the morning is 1 because only one hour ago the sun has gone out) or from the setting of the sun. On the other hand, the Ethiopian calendar is also slow - about 8 years - from the beginning of the Christianity, due to the use of an alternative calculation to the birth of Jesus. on 12 of September, they celebrated the change of millennium and in many points of the city there are many "happy millennium" and "happy 2000". The months neither are equal to those of the Gregorian calendar, have 12 months of 30 days and one of only 5 or 6 days. To finish, the Christian Ethiopians (orthodox) neither celebrate Christmas the same day that the rest of Christians, due to the differences of calendar, celebrate it on 7 of January (14 days later), so - if everything goes well - instead of celebrating these holidays among Christians in Ethiopia, we will probably make it among Muslims in Sudan. 01/12/2007:
Since we have initiated this journey in Africa, many times I have been about to send Alexandra to her home. Throughout this journal I have described almost all these critical moments, but a very few times I have described the many good moments that we have passed together. It is true that I have always thought that traveling was better alone to modify my dream, my journey. But I am also conscious, of being hard to find somebody that was adapted to me as Alexandra did and that at the same time held my occasional bad humour. Alexandra also loses many times the patience, i would hardly find such a girl, that is so patient with me. Until now, Alexandra has made sacrifices for me, but still dreams in following my travel in my accompany. And it is for everything that (and also because I love her) that today I have made a thing that i had not made during the 35 years of my life, despite living previously with three different girls two years each. I have bought a ring of gold with the intention of asking Alexandra for marriage. On Monday its the anniversary of Alexandra, she will be 24 years old, but Alexandra wanted to celebrate today Saturday. We have gone to eat in a good restaurant and shared the afternoon with Claudio and his friends afterwards. At night, we have gone out to the bar of the previous days, where they waited for us with a cake that i had also bought in the morning. Alexandra has blown the candles touched and I have then give her a telephone where her elephant Tuki had recorded a video message for her: We, Mami, have bought a gift for you because we want you to be your family. Do you want to be with me and with papi"?. While she listened to the message I have situated a little box in front of her. When discovering it she has opened it touched and when seeing the ring she has embraced me happyly. Its been time since she insinuated me directly or indirectly that she wanted a ring and, sometimes, that i asked her to marry. 04/12/2007:
After a Sunday of hangover, on Monday we went to change the ring of Alexandra that was too small and she bought me one for me so that from now all the girls know at first sight that I am also engaged. Next, taking advantage of not having more work with the Sudan visa or with the car, we did a little tourism in Addis Ababa, a city at about 2500 meters over the sea level, that despite being the fourth biggest city of the continent with almost 3 million inhabitants, it does not stop being cozy, with modern buildings, trades of every type, monuments, big avenues and, yes, a chaotic traffic. The museums are one of the appeals of Addis Ababa. We visited the National Museum where there is, a female of 1,1m, the skeleton of Lucy that lived about 3.2 million years ago. When it was discovered in 1974, they thought that Lucy was an ancestor of the humanity, a sort of grandmother, but today it is thought that Lucy was rather an aunt. the same with 4 other skeletons found more recently in East Africa, South Africa and Chad, from different periods (one of them of 4 million) but without being direct ancestors of the humanity. The museum also shows other fossils of disappeared animals, thrones and crowns of the old monarchy and a magnificent exhibition of paintings and sculptures by local artists, which contrasts with the absence of craftsmanship in Ethiopia. Another appeal of Addis Ababa are the churches and orthodox cathedrals, however, when they said that we had to pay some 3,5$/person to visit one, we discarded them. So, while we waited for the negotiation of the visa for Sudan we have had quite a lot of time to work and to be with Claudio and his friends. Today Tuesday, Claudio has explained to me that the Ethiopians are very proud and even racist with the other black Africans. In fact, up to the Italian occupation, in Ethiopia there were markets for black slaves for the internal consumption and for Middle East. Part of the Ethiopian pride is due to the brief colonization that they suffered (5 years), which on the other hand keeps them conscious that the problems of the country are their own and not caused by the colonizing Europeans. Claudio also told me that as the Ethiopians, the expatriate Italians are also very proud and that they are much more racist than the Europeans that are not born in Ethiopia. That proved to be true when he decided to marry an Ethiopian girl, costing him the friendship of some Italian friends and strong familiar discussions. They all told: fuck the Africans, but do not marry with them". In another conversation, Claudio explained to me that he pays 40$/month to the guard of his house. It seemed very little, but afterwards he kept explaining me that with this quantity he feeds his woman and son, pays the rent of the house, the education of the son and still has 5$/month to pay another worker than helps his woman. It can seem completely exaggerated, but talking with other people I was informed that a waiter gets 12$/month (+ tips) or that a guard does not usually get more than 20 $ in a month. It is not surprising - also Claudio commented it -, that with these salaries there are so many people asking for money through the streets, cause little or a lot, they can accumulate the same money monthly. Of among many other anecdotes, Claudio explained one that left me amazed. He explained that one of his friend was hired for the Italian embassy Italian in Kenya. There he bought a new and expensive 4x4, but few months later it was stolen. He had the 4x4 assured for every risk, so he could buy another one identical, but despite having it parked in a safe place, after three months they stole it again. Already annoyed, the third one was bought, but this time he put a small bottle of good whiskey with poison in the fridge of the car and expected them to steal it again (this time without taking care so much). After 20 days they stole again the car and... - here a little tension is required, who was the thief? Did he die? - the day after the police is going to search for him and report him that he has 24 hours to abandon the country, because the head of the police of the neighborhood and his assistant had died poisoned. And the diplomatic passport probably saved him from a death or safe revenge... maybe he was happy to abandon such a corrupt country. Harar (see on map) 09/12/2007:
Tuesday in the afternoon we called the Embassy of Sudan and they informed us that they had not received the confirmation from Khartoum and they are not able yet to carry out our visas. They said that the confirmation could take a week or more so we decided to discover the East of Ethiopia up to Harar and on Wednesday we started to go in the morning. We stopped after a while, in Debre Zeyit, a town where there are different volcanic lakes. We visited Lake Hora, in the North of the city, where there was a recreational area where we walked and contemplated some of the few birds that populated the edge. Little afterwards we followed driving towards the East, arriving mid-afternoon to the National Park d'Awash, where birds and some antelopes can be observed. The entry and camping were accessible and we planned on spending the night near the river observing the animals. But at the entry they informed us that in the Nature Reserve armed assaults could take place and that it was obligatory to pay a bodyguard during all the stay. Having somebody next to the autocaravan during all the night was unacceptable for Alexandra and we decide to follow the road (crossing the Park and observing some órixs) and we slept a few km further on. On Wednesday we start to thread the mountains of Chereher that extend along the last 200 kilometers before reaching Harar. The road passes above the careens, where there are the villages and the crops thanks to the most temperate temperatures. The sights during this part of the road was splendid, with distant horizons, wide valleys, occasional forests, golden fields or mowed down, homes of mud and roofs of iron, very nice people... Finally, we reach mid-afternoon Harar, a walled Muslim city that had been the most important market of the Horn of Africa. On Thursday in the morning, we got out to discover the city of Harar in depth, although in some moments I had to drag Alexandra so that she followed me. The main street of the walled city did not have too much interest, there were some trades and small markets, but what more surprised us was the great quantity of misery that there was, with men and women sleeping in the street or asking for charity. At the end of the street we diverted through small labyrinthine alleys with the homes painted in white and some of bright colors: green, red or blue. Towards the centre of the villa we found a square with about fifteen eagles resting on a wall, and when we arrived a man started to throw bits of meat so that the eagles hunted them by flight. Anyway, the main tourist attraction in Harar is the hyena men that every night feed these animals with meat. Alexandra stayed in the autocaravan and I arrived there with a tuc-tuc (tricycle). In a higher area going to the town there were ten hyenas expecting a man with a basket full of meat to give them the food. It seems to be that, the tradition of feeding the hyenas comes from a lonf time, but at present it rather seems a representation for the tourists, they are frightened surrounding and the hyena men who charge some 5$/turista for the show. Yesterday on Saturday we decided to start going back towards Addis Ababa, but before we visited the market of another city few kilometers in the North of Harar, Dire Dawa, that has prospered much more than Harar, thanks to the train that passes connecting Addis Ababa with Djibouti. The market was in a walled enclosure, with the vendors selling their products on the ground. In an end I discovered some boys that played the "bingo" (they called the game like this), betting small quantities to see who entered more wooden parts through some small doors in a big board. After entertaining myself a good while with the boys of the "bingo", I returned to the car and we followed the path towards Addis Ababa, crossing the mountains of Chereher again and marveling with its sights. Today on Sunday we have stopped in Nazret, about a hundred kilometers away of Addis Ababa. There we have met Hibre, who has invited us to his home to take coffee and to observe the ceremony of its preparation. The mother of Hibre has started to toast some seeds of coffee in a small silver on a brazier, meanwhile burned a little incense, triturated afterwards the seeds of coffee blackened and poured them into a teapot of mud that she had put to warm up in the hot coals and from which after a good while, they served the coffee of a strong and delicious taste. While we took the coffee, Hibre has surprised Alexandra explaining that he was listening to Radio Romania International for more than 5 years, and to prove it he has shown us three diplomas that he had. Afterwards, Hibre has explained to us that Ethiopia works as a federation of tribes or cultures. he did not like the system, because he was AMhara but he is living in the region Oromo and he can not obtain work in the government if he doesn't speak the language of Oromo. I explained that in the region that I live, in Catalonia, the people would prefer an "ethnic federation" for Spain, although this federation also provokes injustices as the one that he lives. Hibre preferred the Ethiopian Nationalism, defended by the opposition party, which will hardly be able to access the government, because the current government is supported by the United States. Besides - he has ended up commenting - in Ethiopia there is not freedom of the press and even of expression, and many of the ones that try to challenge the government pay with prison. Adis ababa (see on map) 17/12/2007:
We have remained another week in Addis Ababa with the expectation to obtain the visa for Sudan, but today Monday the 17th, after having been phoning and visiting the embassy in each of the previous days, they have communicated that they had not received any answer from Khartoum. With more insistence, today I have asked whether there was any way to accelerate the obtaining of the visa and then, one of the officials has informed us than if we carried out the visa of Egypt today, we could carry out a transit visa of 15 days for Sudan. And he has continued explaining that if we did not obtain the visa today, we should wait for more than one week because the embassy closes up to the 27th of December for the Muslim holidays of Christmas. We have run towards the embassy of Egypt where they have informed us that at three we would have the visa. We have paid a little more of the official price established in a paper hanged in the wall, but I have not complained, because at three we already had the visa. Next we have run towards the embassy of Sudan and presented ourselves in front of the official who had suggested carrying out a transit visa. But he has sent us to another department and they have informed us there that they could not carry out the visa because they had too much work. In the same situation we met an Austrian couple, a man from Ireland and a Sudanese woman with French passport that couldn't visit her family in Sudan for Christmas. All the whites that were in the embassy have come out with the intention of meeting again on 27 of December and, celebrating Christmas two days before together. When knowing the answer of the embassy of Sudan we have decided to visit the North of Ethiopia this week, for we had nothing else to do in Addis Ababa. Anyway, the previous week in the capital we almost had no time to rest. When arriving from Harar we realized that the battery was discharging too fast and we were half a week checking the acidity of the liquids and looking for a new battery that was adapted to the car. The other half of the week we dedicated it to look for a spare wheel because one that we had was about to burst. And to finish, in the weekend my portable computer lost the windows and I had to take it to a small office of computer service where the data has been recovered and they have reinstalled the windows and the majority of programs. Anyway, having a bit more time to know a little more Addis Ababa, we went up on Entoto Mountain contemplating the greatness of the city and visiting the cathedral of San Jorge (or St George) dedicated to the same saint protector of Catalonia, the saint on the horse killing the dragon. When entering the octagonal cathedral I had to remove the shoes to be able to walk above the carpets. In a corner there was a group of men singing an uninterrupted, rhythmic and hypnotic song. I kept putting aside the curtains that separated every room until I found a group of about 15 or 20 men some with turban, some covered with a white mantle supporting in a stick and making sounds rhythmically using a metalic instrument. Two men accompanied the melody sitting and knocking two big drums with the hands. I remained a good while, captivated by what seemed a Hindu ceremony or Muslim in a Christian church, observing and listening to the songs. Lalibela (see on map) 23/12/2007:
If on a side of the balance we put the visit to Lalibela and on the other one 20$ of the entry, the 1400 terrible kilometers recurred on 4 days of driving (40 hours to the steering wheel), the 70 $ for diesel and the breakdowns of the car (four punctures that we fixed on the road, the crick to change the wheels broken, the protection touching again the engine, the fridge without working, two changed fuses and possible electrical breakdown), I would prefer definitely by the visit Lalibela, but Alexandra had preferred undoubtedly to stay in Addis Ababa. Was annoyed by the bad rocky roads and did not visit any of the churches. But yes I visited them and I went out captivated. The churches of Lalibela, were cut into the rock in 1200 representing the sacred land in reply to the capture of Jerusalem by the Muslims. Four of the ten churches are completely excavated in a stony mass, with thick walls and big columns holding the heaviness of the ceiling leveled from the original rock. The architectonic show is marvelous; the quantity of cubic meters of rock that had to be emptied is impressive. I heard a guide commenting that about 40.000 workers were used, and this number confirmed the thought that the work had to have been a work of ants. The first Church that I visited was the marvelous Bet Giyorgis (Church of San Jorge), that it is said that it was built after the visit that the Saint to Lalibela riding his white horse. Bet Giyorgis is the master peace of Lalibela, the icon of Ethiopia; it is moved away from the rest of churches, excavated in a huge rock. I lowered through a passage of rock cut nearby and crossed two porches up to the courtyard that surrounded the church. I had arrived a little too early, because the church was closed, but waited in a passage of stone, at the end of which there was a group of men and women brought together in front of a curtain. The women went out trembling and with the hair wet and a priest blessed them and touched them with a wooden cross on the face and the shoulders. Despite being in an orthodox Christian church, they all greeted each other with a "salam", as if in a mosque in Catalonia the believers said goodbye with a "good-bye". When the men started to shower also they offered me to shower me jovially, but I refused giggly. When they finished I had a glance behind the curtain, expecting to observe a chorrito of water falling through some channel excavated in the rock, but there was a simple tap that broke all the mysticism of the moment. Later I could visit the marvelous church and all the others, convincing myself that the journey to Lalibela had been worth. Besides, all the mechanical problems suffered during the journey to Lalibela havent been in a complete way negative, since it would have been much worse to suffer them on the way to Sudan. In Addis Ababa we have Andrea Rossetto, a friend of Claudio, which has a service where they work very professionally and economically. I will have to ask Andrea what happened with the four punctures, in two different wheels, some of which were new. Finally, another plus point to the visit to Lalibela has been the landscape, which although in many moments the road did not let us enjoy, it was always splendid. We crossed ranges, plateaus, valleys... with the fields mowed down and the straw piled up, and small villages of houses made of stone, some of a rectangular form (near Addis Ababa), and other circulars (near Lalibela). At all times children also appeared running from the fields greeting us and asking for money, and some adults also. I do not think that anybody of those that ask for money has ever received something from a white person, even so they have the conviction or belief that the whites give money or things away freely. Some ask for money quite aggressively or running long distances behind the autocaravan, and when i faced them and i say I don't give them anything they remain well surprised. we almost never gave anything, either most of the whites that we have known in Africa, so, from where they have taken this belief? I mean that there must be rich tourists that occasionally come full of pens to Africa to give to the children (or even money) and the history of a child receiving a pen or 10 cents of dollar must run as the gunpowder through the community and the different villages, in the same way that the history of the one that won the lottery that cheers up to the rest to keep betting, or to keep asking. In any case, I also think that the ONGs have part of responsibility, because when giving money away to carry out a project in a community or village it generates the idea that the whites give free money. It is also possible that the donations of the white countries during the hunger that Ethiopia has suffered at the beginning of the seventies has contributed to this idea. I have kept desires of contrasting these ideas with some ONG, for we had opportunity to visit one at about 600 kilometres away from Lalibela, but due to the state of the roads, we have discarded the visit. Meanwhile, we will keep disappointing the children, without giving money nor pens, although we will occasionally keep giving away the empty bottles of water or food that we are not going to eat. ‹ Previous (29/10/2007) MONTH Next (2007-12-28)› ‹ Previous (2007-11-09 - Kenya) COUNTRY Next (2008-01-14 - Sudan)› |
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