Recalling Addis

It's been a month and a bit since I came home from Ethiopia. Now that I have hi-speed internet, I might finally be able to finish this blog. Since I spent many minutes staring at blank computer screens loading up web pages in multiple Ethiopian internet cafes, I figured Internet blogging just wasn't going to be a part of my Ethiopian travels.

I arrived in Addis Ababa (New Flower) accompanied by an Austrian nurse I had previously run into in Rwanda, Christine. We got our tourist visas in the airport and proceeded to the luggage carousels, where we got the first taste of Ethiopian airport etiquette. Our luggage came without incident, but the procedure for going through customs was slightly unfamiliar to me. It involved the following: Line up, in the loosest sense of the phrase, in front of the lone functioning x-ray machine, then try to wedge a corner of your luggage cart into a clump of unyielding travellers with similar luggage carts. Push harder as the person behind you is pushing their cart into your heels, and then try to step over your own luggage cart as you try to help the woman in front of you pick up her luggage which has fallen onto the floor. Shout "HOLD ON A SEC, PLEASE" as you realize that people are trying to push through three abandoned empty luggage carts on their way to the x-ray machine rather than trying to get them out of the way. Struggle to navigate three empty luggage carts through a crowd of people while making sure your luggage doesn't get pushed out of the queue. Place your luggage on the x-ray machine conveyor belt making sure that you don't get hit by another piece of luggage which is flying through the air and hoping to land in the same spot that you would like to place your luggage. Realize that you need to become a baggage handler person for a few minutes and help others place their luggage on the belt in a somewhat orderly fashion so that you might possibly place your second piece of luggage on the belt. Run to the other side of the x-ray machine, throw your luggage onto your luggage cart and run away to save your ankles and heels from the people behind you who are pushing their luggage cart into you as if you weren't there.

I emerged 45 minutes later, grateful to see my friend Niki's face in the greeting crowd.
"Man, Niki, that was insane over there..."
He grimaced knowingly: "Yeah, with all those flights arriving at the same time, I expected you'd get caught in the x-ray machine rush."

We walk out into the fresh night air and we are accosted by taxi drivers right away. Niki barrels through them and explains to me that those were the yellow taxi drivers who are to be avoided because they are rip offs. We head towards the blue taxis in the distance and the process of bargaining begins the second that the blue taxi drivers realize we are heading towards them. They asked us for 3 times the actual fare to get to Niki's house, Here was my first exposure to the Ethiopian principle of "if you don't ask, you don't get." Over the next eleven days, it became a common theme of my interactions with the Ethiopians I met, and it is definitely a very pragmatic way of looking at life.

The next four days I spend in Addis Ababa with Niki and his friend Kunal's family. During the days I went exploring on my own, walking downtown, taking minibuses and taxis to various sights. In the evenings I met up with Niki and indulged in the many hidden luxuries that are available to the large number of foreign workers in Addis. Being the diplomatic center for Northern Africa, a wide range of cuisines are available if one ever gets homesick.

Addis Ababa

There is only one internet service provider in Ethiopia. One page takes a good 15 minutes to load if you're lucky. I'm lucky today, except that I think I'm supposed to be at the airport checking in at this exact instant, so wish me more luck in getting to the airport in one piece. Hopefully in more peaceful surroundings I can explain why my Ethiopian experience has been CRAZY.

xxoo.