As we’ve already established that I’m not an Africa lover, it will be hardly surprising that when I was thinking about my (very well-deserved) holiday, what I really wanted was to get away from Africa. Then I reasoned with myself that it doesn’t make sense to go back to Europe or cross to another continent if I’m here already, and the goal became at least to go somewhere on the continent as different as possible from my current location.
And so it was Ethiopia.
Taking a holiday wasn’t quite so straightforward this time. For the first time in years I had to look for a travel companion. And at the same time, some of the most complicated activities in my projects which I had been trying to start practically since arriving to Lira finally kicked off just a week before my planned departure, causing a workload of Herculean dimensions. Not very conducive for holiday-planning.
But I did find a travel companion and since the tickets were bought I couldn’t back out - and even without much planning, there I found myself, at 2400m altitude of Addis Ababa, apparently the fifth highest capital in the world.
And from the moment when, on our first morning in Addis, I was asked if I wanted a coffee or a macchiato for breakfast, it was clear that Ethiopia was the perfect destination. Maybe after all this time in African more-or-less-bush I’m food-obsessed now. But in that moment I almost had tears in my eyes. Because, dear friends, this you can get almost anywhere:
Coffee is an entire ceremony in Ethiopia, in fact. And no wonder that 60% of the country’s exports are coffee. Coffee, excellent coffee, is everywhere.
And so are cafes and coffeeshops, especially in Addis, many of them with (at least from my Lira perspective) amazing pastries and cakes. This abundance of cafes then seem to give Ethiopian men the convenient opportunity to sit, drink coffee and watch the street. Because while all those places are always full, women are rarely seen in them. I guess they are tucked away working, just like in most of Africa.
Not just coffee though - both for us and for Ethiopian men. Amazing juices, fresh and thick.
Perhaps it's because of the oppresive omnipresence of the Ugandan rice&beans, but this trip was a gastronomic feast - even if I suspect that Ethiopian food is something not everyone likes and in the long term nobody, with the exception of Ethiopians, can eat every day. For those unfamiliar with Etiopian cuisine, the typical dish consists of a sort of a huge porous acid pancake called injera (made of fermented teff flour, a cereal grown in Ethiopia), which serves as a plate, eating utensil and food all in one, with heaps of sauces or stews over it. On Wednesdays and Fridays, which are fasting days, all vegan, with different spiced lentils and chickpeas... ahhhhh.
Right. Fine. Yes, I HAVE become food-obsessed!
But clearly, there is much more to Ethiopia than food and coffee. Even after an expert insight observations coming from a 2-week short trip, it is obvious that it is a particular place.
Unsurprisingly, Ethiopia is proud. Of its uniqueness, history, legends, culture, religion, size, resistance to being colonised (apart from the short unfortunate Italian attempt), one of the first sub-saharan urban rail systems in construction and any of the other things that sets it apart.
Unique it certainly seemed, even in many everyday things. Examples abound. Ethiopia still uses the Julian calendar, which means that it's year 2006 there now. The day starts at 6am in the morning, so one o'clock Ethiopian time corresponds to 7am for us (which btw works the same in Leblango, the local language where I work now and in my opinion this makes so much more sense - who decided that a day should start at a random hour in the middle of the night anyway?! The day starts at dawn!). It uses a script that seems children's drawings and I suspect must be rather difficult to learn.
One of our guides proudly told us - Ethiopia is a developed country. To me, it gave the impression of a delicious combination of rural and urban, traditional and modern.
And so it was Ethiopia.
Taking a holiday wasn’t quite so straightforward this time. For the first time in years I had to look for a travel companion. And at the same time, some of the most complicated activities in my projects which I had been trying to start practically since arriving to Lira finally kicked off just a week before my planned departure, causing a workload of Herculean dimensions. Not very conducive for holiday-planning.
But I did find a travel companion and since the tickets were bought I couldn’t back out - and even without much planning, there I found myself, at 2400m altitude of Addis Ababa, apparently the fifth highest capital in the world.
And from the moment when, on our first morning in Addis, I was asked if I wanted a coffee or a macchiato for breakfast, it was clear that Ethiopia was the perfect destination. Maybe after all this time in African more-or-less-bush I’m food-obsessed now. But in that moment I almost had tears in my eyes. Because, dear friends, this you can get almost anywhere:
Coffee is an entire ceremony in Ethiopia, in fact. And no wonder that 60% of the country’s exports are coffee. Coffee, excellent coffee, is everywhere.
And so are cafes and coffeeshops, especially in Addis, many of them with (at least from my Lira perspective) amazing pastries and cakes. This abundance of cafes then seem to give Ethiopian men the convenient opportunity to sit, drink coffee and watch the street. Because while all those places are always full, women are rarely seen in them. I guess they are tucked away working, just like in most of Africa.
Not just coffee though - both for us and for Ethiopian men. Amazing juices, fresh and thick.
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| For all those who ask: yes, this is a (very thick) juice - mango, avocado, guava and papaya |
Perhaps it's because of the oppresive omnipresence of the Ugandan rice&beans, but this trip was a gastronomic feast - even if I suspect that Ethiopian food is something not everyone likes and in the long term nobody, with the exception of Ethiopians, can eat every day. For those unfamiliar with Etiopian cuisine, the typical dish consists of a sort of a huge porous acid pancake called injera (made of fermented teff flour, a cereal grown in Ethiopia), which serves as a plate, eating utensil and food all in one, with heaps of sauces or stews over it. On Wednesdays and Fridays, which are fasting days, all vegan, with different spiced lentils and chickpeas... ahhhhh.
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| Making of injera |
Right. Fine. Yes, I HAVE become food-obsessed!
But clearly, there is much more to Ethiopia than food and coffee. Even after an expert insight observations coming from a 2-week short trip, it is obvious that it is a particular place.
Unsurprisingly, Ethiopia is proud. Of its uniqueness, history, legends, culture, religion, size, resistance to being colonised (apart from the short unfortunate Italian attempt), one of the first sub-saharan urban rail systems in construction and any of the other things that sets it apart.
Unique it certainly seemed, even in many everyday things. Examples abound. Ethiopia still uses the Julian calendar, which means that it's year 2006 there now. The day starts at 6am in the morning, so one o'clock Ethiopian time corresponds to 7am for us (which btw works the same in Leblango, the local language where I work now and in my opinion this makes so much more sense - who decided that a day should start at a random hour in the middle of the night anyway?! The day starts at dawn!). It uses a script that seems children's drawings and I suspect must be rather difficult to learn.
And also a somewhat less delicious combination of an impressive building boom of countless big new buildings under construction right next to huts of more ramshackle appearance than those in Uganda. Of the proud seat of African Union hosting both diplomatic missions and a huge number of beggars. Of sparkling tourism 4WD next to donkey carts. Of one of the top African airlines and lousy telephone lines. Of good roads (some of them anyway) with cattle being herded on them. All existing next to each other.
I suppose part of its sense of uniqueness comes from the long and rich Ethiopian history. Because while in a country like Uganda the furthest references go back to the colonial times at most, in Ethiopia the inheritance of the Axumite empire of the 1st century AD and the legends of the Queen of Sheba feel part of the national spirit.
Religion seem almost as ancient. Though a sizeable proportion of the Ethiopian population is Muslim, in the parts we visited it felt overwhelmingly Christian. In its own version, of course. Being no expert on religions I can offer no relevant comment on the Ethiopian Orthodox church, but just seeing the centuries-old churches in active use, the iconography, the white-clad women and men, the bearded priests, and hearing the chants from the churches during the mass (and - without I think being particularly squeamish - seeing religious objects kissed by hundreds of people with no consideration of hygiene) is certainly awe-inspiring.
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And beautiful as well (those scarves, those white scarves!).
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And clearly, it is not just in Uganda where Jesus is omnipresent.
Thus first impressions.
More on Ethiopia:
Ethiopia (II.) - Mountains. Or not.
Ethiopia (III.) - Simien mountains
Ethiopia (IV.) - Churches and fleas
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