Part 1 - Stories of my time in Ethiopia
When
I arrived in Addis Ababa (New flower in Amharic), it was late at night.
I was approached right away by some people connected to a taxi service,
offering to bring me into the city. Having my Lonely Planet along, I
had searched for the cheapest hotels and normal taxi fares, and was
intent to follow these guidelines. As the tourist industry goes though,
they had these convincing stories about their taxi's being the last
one's and they were about to leave themselves, since I had been on the
last plane, and I ended up paying western prices for the taxi ride.
Arriving somewhere at night is a terrible idea for anyone on limited
budget, since people used to try to get paid more than necessary from
tourists, smell a tired person a mile away, knowing full well that they
will eventually opt for paying the price, rather than having to discuss
further. However, the driver took me to the hotel I had chosen, as it
seemed cheapest. The people at the airport had given me a paper with
the agreed price; so all had to go well. We stopped in front of a building,
and the driver told me that was the hotel I was looking for, but that
they were closed and full, so he would take me to another one. I wasn't
about to start arguing, since all I wanted was to get to bed. So we
arrived at some other place somewhat later, leaving me with no idea
where in the city I was.
He took me inside the courtyard, and I found out I had to pay 2.5 times
the amount I had planned on, for a room. Then the taxi driver tells
me to pay him twice the agreed fare, since he had to drive me twice.
At this point my patience had run out, and I got mad at him. I told
him I refused to pay him the money, since I had agreed on both fare
and hotel I wanted to be taken to. He told me he had to be paid twice
the amount, for the agency would check his mileage. So I told him if
the agency would cause him trouble, he could send them on to me, and
I would be glad to tell them what I thought of this treatment.
Now I need to stress once more, that I was not planning to take advantage
of poor people, but in my western way of thinking, the amount of time
I could walk around in Ethiopia was depending on how long my money would
last. In the next couple of days I found that Ethiopian society disapproves
of the exploiting of tourists.
Most people would severely dislike the image people might get of their
country, through all the beggars, scams, robbings, and all things concerned
with taking the wealth of people visiting the country. First I discovered
that the people at the hotel were very friendly to me indeed. When I
went out the next day, one of the managers, two women called Ababa (flower)
and Bela came up to me to warn me of bandits. I shouldn't go with anybody,
because they would scam me out of all my money. On the streets I was
bombarded with beggars asking for money, and youngsters wanting to guide
me.
The usual citizen though would react violently to most people coming
up to ask for money. I saw how youngsters walking along to try to show
me the city, or to take me to so-called 'parties', hit and kicked and
slapped the small children coming up to ask for money. Others informed
me of saying hid or hij (boys/girls), meaning 'go'. Some told me to
tell them yelem (there is no). A boy walked up to me then. He said he
was a Christian, chased of some beggars and other 'guides', and told
me there was a Christian party going on in some garden.
So I went with him. He took me into a garden alright. Then on into a
small room, with couches along the walls and a table in between. He
asked me if I wanted a drink, because he was buying. "I invite!"
He asked for cokes, at the cost of 1 or 2 Birr. Next they told me I
needed to try Tej, the Ethiopian honey beer. The waitress walks out,
tells some old man to get two bottles of Tej, and next thing I know
some 20 young girls walk in. Some probably around 15 or 16 years old.
It seemed I had been taken to a brothel. Something the lonely planet
warned about, but I hadn't thought they'd drop to the level of calling
it a Christian party. Then they brought me the Tej, and told me they
cost 70 Birr a piece (7+ dollars!). Now I was pretty missed off. I told
them it was not that expensive, as lonely planet had explained they
cost no more than 3 Birr, but to no avail. Then one of the girls asks
me to buy all of them Tej as well!!! I give her my bottle and say they
can share that, since I wasn't taking one more sip of something they'd
ask such a hilarious price for. (I also knew that buying them a drink,
means accepting their 'services')
Now that I was mad at having paid 140 Birrs for two small bottles of
Tej, they became touched by the drop in my mood. So they invited me
to eat with them, no charge, and brought in my first Injera. Then some
girl asks me if she can make me coffee, according to Ethiopian tradition.
And so I also had my first coffee ceremony. We all ate and drank, and
I greeted them all with a smile as I left. At the hotel the Manager
told me the injera and coffee both cost no more than 2 Birr. I didn't
mind. After all they were poor people who could use the kind of money
I had had to give them. It was the thought of them giving me food and
coffee in return that counts.
At my hotel an English girl had arrived, who was in Ethiopia to become
guide to a group of tourists, and had a week to get to know the city.
So I took her to a traditional food restaurant. We ate another injera,
with a selection of different added foods. During the meal there were
people playing traditional music and singing traditional songs. It was
simply beautiful. At the restaurant was another young girl, sitting
conspicuously alone all night, sipping slowly from the one bottle she'd
order all night.
It turned out the taxi driver was connected to the hotel. He came driving
up into the courtyard with the English girl. He asked me if I liked
the hotel. "I take dyou to good hotel, yes?" He sat with me
at a table in the courtyard, having a drink. I told him the hotel was
fine and paid him the amount I hadn't given before and told him to keep
it for himself. The English girl was transferred to a more luxurious
hotel by her agency, before leaving for Bahar Dar on a plane. I remembered
needing to go to a cheaper hotel myself, before planning the rest of
the trip. So I walked out towards the exit of my hotel that day, and
the manager asked me where I was going. She was always concerned about
me walking out in the city alone. Especially at night. I was always
vulnerable to 'bandits'. The English girl had shown the same distrust
of the streets at night. She insisted we'd take a taxi back to the hotel
from the restaurant, and didn't want to step into a minibus as I suggested.
(I'd discovered they ask 1 Birr for their full stretch, and less for
anything in between. While regular taxi's asked anything up from 20
Birr. So it's easy to recognize rich people, there in the taxi's)
Anyway, to get back to the manager. I told her I was going to look for
a cheaper hotel, because I had to be careful with my limited amount
of money. She told me "don't go", and explained that she would
talk to the owner to get me a lower price. She asked me what I wanted
to pay in stead and she'd she if she could get the manager to accept
that. She told me she had felt blessed with my presence, because I reminded
her of Moses (she meant Jesus, but Orthodox Ethiopians don't get to
read the bible). She was always happy to see me and didn't want me to
stay in a dirty hostel, because it was cheaper. She I got to stay for
less money and was now named Moses by the staff.
That night I went to another restaurant to get dinner. After I had ordered,
a boy and girl behind me asked me to join them at their table. They
turned out to be protestant and worked at the mission post, called 'serving
in mission'. We had some interesting talk about faith and the boy says
at last that we were brought together by God. The invited me to visit
them the next day and then insisted on paying my bill. "We invite
you. It is tradition in Ethiopia". So, against the warnings of
the manager of my hotel, I went to visit my new friends. They showed
me the way people in Addis live. Most people never see that part of
society, safely hidden behind the facade of banks, hotels and other
commercial buildings, that line the main roads. I stayed in the house
of the boy for a while, drinking and eating, since it was tradition.
He told me he lived there with a young boy he had adopted (he was 17,
the kid 8). The boy wasn't there since he polished shoes at the sides
of street. He would take his money home to add to what my friend made,
and they could pay for food and school with that. Next we went to his
friend's house and had another coffee ceremony out of his friend's mother's
hands.
In this way I spent my days in Addis Ababa, finding out how hospitable
and sharing the regular Ethiopian is, and how friendly. They shine with
inner beauty. The most common human noise on the streets (between the
chatter of millions of beautiful and colourful birds) is laughter, loud
and sincere. I had a great time and would have stayed longer, but life
in Addis is expensive, being the capital, and I kept meeting people
that had more right to my money than me, so my budget was rapidly disappearing.
It was time to move on, but I had no idea how, so I took an airplane.
That was stupid. It was a huge chunk of money, while by road it would
have taken me about a fifth of that amount, along with food and stay
for the necessary minimum of 5 days travel. But still I boarded a plane
to Axum, with stops at Lalibela and Gondar. That will be for next
post.
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - readers questions answered - Back to Traveler's Tales
