BLACK SEA, SUDANS, ETHIOPIA 2013: 17 Jimma to Addis Abelba, Ethiopia & home

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

When I went for breakfast a reserved sign had been placed on my table, and the chef intercepted the waiter to take my order personally. I also got a tour of their large, and very clean kitchen - real VIP treatment!

Jimma, the largest city in southwest Ethiopia, was an important town on the caravan routes in the 19th century, when it was ruled by the King of Jimma. I'm sorry there wasn't time to visit his palace, now a museum on the campus of the University of Jimma which occupies his old estate. The town was considered important by the Italians, who built many buildings there in the 1930s. In the 1960s it was a major market town - the market would attract up to 30,000 people in a day. Current population about 121,000, 49% Christian, 39% Muslim.

There was good road from Jimma until we turned off towards Gambela. This was once paved road, but many stretches have deteriorated into potholes, or high centres where heavy vehicles pushed asphalt into deep ruts on hot days. There was a lot of heavy equipment doing road construction, which further slowed things down. Along the way were baboons, and a type of monkey with black and white colours that I'd not seen before. The countryside is largely rolling hills, some quite high, and we passed hoards of people trekking to various markets along the way. There were a lot of school kids - it seems uniforms are semi optional, as they wear various combinations of uniforms and street cloths. Some walk for miles to attend school, usually for a half day as there are two shifts of students in most schools.

We passed through the good sized towns of Agaro and Bedele, famous as the home of the quite good Bedele beer, before stopping for lunch at a local restaurant in the city of Metu. The rest of the route to Gambela was good highway - we arrived late in the afternoon. For a lot of the trip we passed people I thought were bumming money with their hands out, but hitch hiking is done by moving the open hand up and down with the palm up. We were stopped at check points - at one we had to leave the car to be patted down and our goods searched. A construction camp had a large sign saying International China Water and Electricity Company. Oil has been discovered in the area and it is likely the Chinese will be doing the development.

Gambela, population about 40,0000, has a lot of South Sudanese refugees - the UN High Commission for Refugees is half a block from the surprisingly nice Hotel Baro, my stop for the night. After Tom booked into his hotel he came over for a last dinner with me. We were joined by Swiss doctor, Maximo, who had been working at a clinic in a village as a volunteer. He has a practice near Zurich, and took a leave of absence to help people in Ethiopia. It was unbearably hot and humid, and as there is no air conditioning sleep was all but impossible.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Although both Maximo and I saw Tom pay for my breakfast last night, the hotel said it was not paid. There is some convention being held here, and it was impossible to get a waiter, so I skipped breakfast and went back to the room to lay down until check out time at 10AM. Maximo and I then took a tuk-tuk (3 wheeled motorcycle taxi) to the Ethiopians Airlines office where they said the flight to Addis would be two hours late leaving, but they would arrange front row leg room seats for us. No computers for booking flights here either.

We walked to the market area, the only place to shop in Gambela, and wandered the narrow lanes between the stalls, stopping in a small bar where Maximo had a beer and I had water. I think the raw meat in my lunch yesterday has done my stomach in! The area is all dirt paths which must turn into a bog when it rains. Eventually we caught another tuk tuk back to the hotel to catch up on email and wait to go to the airline office for a bus to the airport. There are no taxis in Gambela.

The city is located on a river in a malaria infested area of swamps at an altitude of 536 meters. Malaria kills a substantial percentage of the population each year. In 1907 the British took over the muddy village and made it into a port with customs facilities to ship Ethiopia's trade goods down river through Sudan and Egypt. The city grew and prospered with the steamship traffic until the Italians took it in 1936. The British retook it in 1941 and made it part of Sudan, but when Sudan became independent in 1956 the area was returned to Ethiopia and the city sank back into oblivion. There are a lot of government ministries, but not much else.

Maximo headed for the airline office, as he had two large suitcases and we couldn't both fit into a tuk tuk. He phoned me after a short while to say he had negotiated a private ride the the airport for the equivalent of $5 each, so I immediately arranged a tuk tuk to join him. The price was a bargain, as the airport minivan was mobbed with twice the people as it had seats and it was 20 km of exceeding rough dirt track through swampland with no directional signs to the surprisingly nice airport building.

When we boarded the plane, as promised, two front seats had the tray tables open, blocking them for us. After arriving in Addis, Maximo and I said goodbye - he has to wait for his flight to Zurich via Istanbul, and I was picked up to go back to the luxury of the Jupiter Hotel. I'd been looking forward to a scotch and a good meal, but was too wiped out so went to bed. I've arrange a pick up for noon tomorrow so I can sleep in. It will be two days before I see a bed again.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

After a wonderfully relaxing morning I was picked up by guide John and a driver from Caravan Tours. We visited the National Museum and the magnificent Holy Trinity Church, formerly the Mekane-Selassie Church, which is the burial place of Heile Selassie and his wife. He had the church built in 1931. The interesting cemetery surrounding the church is divided into sections, part for priests, part for ex-presidents and high officials, part for famous authors, singers and other artists and part for patriots who took place in the wars against the Italians.

We also visited the zoo, as I wanted to see the black maned Ethiopian Lions. Unfortunately these magnificent animals are in small, cement floored enclosures with bars, as are other animals. Heile Selassie had one at his palace as a mascot - I'm sure it had a better life.

We stopped at a nice restaurant near the museum for drinks, and again at a roadside cafe in a high end part of the city. Dinner was at a restaurant with live Ethiopian music and singing. I had to leave for the airport before the dancing started, but apparently it is quite a good show. Caravan Travel had arranged excellent seats.

After the standard process at the airport I got a little writing done in the quite good Ethiopian Airlines lounge. The flight to Cairo was on time with a very comfortable business class section, however I thought the food was inedible, so sent it back.

On arrival to Cairo I was bussed to a transit area, which looked like a storage room. There were a few sets of 3 seats along the walls, most occupied by sleeping passengers. A very pleasant customs official was in charge of the room, and in spite of not being able to speak English he was able to communicate to me that I'd have to stay there until the Air France check in counter opened. If I'd had checked luggage I'd have had to purchase a visa, as it is necessary to go through immigration to get to the baggage area.

Friday, November 29, 2013

At about 4 AM the customs fellow took me to the ticket area, where I waited outside the immigration booths whiled he tried to get a boarding pass, however nothing was open. There was a shopping area adjacent to the waiting room where I was able to buy a book in English, so had something to read.

We made a second attempt at the boarding pass at about 5:20 AM. This time he took me past immigration to the check in counter, where a very lively discussion was held between him and the check in staff of Air France, accompanied by quite a bit of arm waving and loud voices. It seemed he was supporting my case quite enthusiastically, but we still left in defeat. His next strategy was to have repeated broadcasts over the entire airport speaker system for an Air France agent to come to our waiting room. This worked, and a pretty lady showed up, took my tickets and passport, returning with boarding passes for my next three flights. This left me free to go to the quite good Air France lounge and get something to eat. I sat with two Egyptian businessmen, and was able to get an update on the situation in Egypt. (Not good, the drop in tourism is killing the country.)

I'd expected the standard European configuration for business class, which is regular economy seating with the middle seat blocked off, but was delighted to find a new Airbus 330 with seats that reclined to make a bed. The food was great, as was the service. My seatmate had no interest in talking so I lay back, watched a movie and had a nap.

On arrival in Paris the temperature was 7C (45F), but it was only cold through the jetway from plane to terminal. An internal lengthy train ride got me to my departure terminal, an improvement on the previous system where inter-terminal trips were by bus. The Air France lounge is excellent, I had a great meal accompanied by fine wine before catching up on emails.

The on time flight to Atlanta was on an older Boeing 777-300, which was not up to the quality of the Airbus. The seat reclines enough to make a sloping bed but I did get a little sleep after watching a movie and having a good meal accompanied by an adequate quantity of alcohol.

For some reason it was fixed in my mind that I was staying at the Hilton for the overnight in Atlanta. It is necessary to take a bus for the 15 minute drive to the domestic terminal to find hotel shuttle buses. On arrival at the Hilton on their shuttle, the drive grabbed my suitcase and pulled it off the luggage shelf before I could get to it, dumping the bag with my electronic gear onto the floor. The driver fled without a word to behind the bus.

When I gave the reservation information to reception, they pointed out that I was booked into the Hyatt! I asked them to please call a taxi for me, but they laid on one of their shuttle buses to take me on the 20 minute drive without charge. I'm not sure what the Hyatt people thought when I arrived in a Hilton shuttle!

The room was great, as was a long hot shower followed by a stiff drink and a hamburger. An electronic equipment check found the only casualty from the dropped bag was my travel alarm clock, as sad loss as it has accompanied me faithfully on trips for 20 years and was still working fine. I got some sleep in spite of the cold - there was no thermostat in the room and it wasn't heated. This has been a long day, 38 hours.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

It was a brisk 4 degrees C (39F) when I left the hotel for the airport, fortunately the shuttle was heated, as I had no coat. At the domestic terminal the bus got me to the international terminal. I skipped check in, as I had my boarding pass from Cairo, but at the lounge they did a documents check and issued me a new boarding pass.

The flight back to Costa Rica was better than the one going. The 737 had more leg room, and the food and service was great. My seatmate was Jose Cordero, a public health specialist and professor at the University of Puerto Rico, who was travelling to Costa Rica as the keynote medical convention speaker.

The next trip will be a considerably more comfortable family New Years Caribbean cruise on December 29.

*ETHIOPIA SUMMARY*

Ethiopia has a populations of 78 million of which 90% are subsistence farmers. The official language is AMHARIC, with a written alphabet unlike any other. There are 83 languages with 200 dialects spoken in the country. They use the Julian calendar, where New Years in in September, Jan 7 is Christmas, May 5 or so is Easter Sunday, and time of day is 6 hrs earlier than normal time in that time zone. Their midnight is at 6 AM our time. It is not easy for Ethiopians to get a permit or travel outside the country.

At $0.92 per litre gas was cheaper than in Canada or Costa Rica. The Ethiopians are hard working people, but there were a lot of beggars in the Christian sites, however very few in Harar. There is little English spoken, but people are very friendly and helpful. In driving around there were no police checks, except on the road to Gambela. There is a lot of infrastructure work going on with roads, the new subway in Addis, new builidngs in most cities and a lot of new construction in Addis.

Land cannot be purchased, but government 99 year leases are available, and they can be renewed. Ethiopian currancy is used past the point of no return, much held together by bits of tape, and a pocketful had a truly foul odour. To say money stinks in Ethiopia is no exaggeration! Ethiopian Airlines was significantly late on 60% of their flights, but the person doing their logistics is brilliant - almost every flight was full.

The Chinese have made themselves invaluable in Ethiopia by providing many high cost infrastructure projects. If they improve the railway to Djibouti as promised, it may increase the number of manufacturing plants in the country by providing a reliable export route - Ethiopia has no port. Education is improving, and universities are expanding in all major cities. It has become a centre of business from much of sub-Sahara Africa, and is the headquarters of the African Union. Overall it has the feel of a country on the move and is well worth a visit.