What is the typical image of
"Africa" then? This was the question challenging me for my first few
weeks in Ethiopia.
(live to meet/Jinka)
Unlike many travelers coming to Ethiopia-they first come up to the northern
region filled with churches for two to three weeks, then head down to the
southern part decorated with vivid-colored tribes-, I took an opposite route.
I went down to southern part staying there for 10 days, once got back to Addis Ababa, then crawled up to the northern part for a week(knowing one week is obviously not enough to check all the heritages since there are a LOT). After being back in Addis to get rid of the weariness of the journey, I checked the last town, Harar.
I went down to southern part staying there for 10 days, once got back to Addis Ababa, then crawled up to the northern part for a week(knowing one week is obviously not enough to check all the heritages since there are a LOT). After being back in Addis to get rid of the weariness of the journey, I checked the last town, Harar.
(live to sit/Harar)
Cities and towns I visited; all of them are quite attractive. They have their own atmosphere. People are nice, sometimes too nice and rather inquisitive. Weather is fine, basically calm but sometimes nasty with dry air and fierce sunlight. Among all these things this country is safe. Totally safe. You can get around easily by local buses anywhere(local buses only leave in the early morning at 5-6am and it's fully packed but this is another thing).
There are two things that haunted me though; no.1-extremely persistent bedbugs and no.2-extremely rough transportation. Starting a day being completely shaken up on bumpiest road, I’ve spent long nights being unable to get rid of the annoying bugs wriggling beside me. It was just harsh.
For all that, I loved being here. At the end of October I dumped my thick down jacket, finishing off exploring Germany and Italy, where chilly winter season just started. Things around me have changed a lot at that point. Even though it is a bit cold as well in here, it’s still much warmer than there. Even though people are inquisitive, it feels much nicer than being lonely in a neat but empty bus.
And that this is the first African country for this trip. This fact is just enough to make me excited.
(live to pray/Bahir Dar)
After staying here for awhile however, I felt something weird.
Isn’t it a bit too cold here, why do I have to wear jumper and scarf and still feel chilly? Are you sure it is Africa?
Number of the animal kinds I see here are so few, aren’t they? Didn't somebody tell me this continent be an animal-paradise? There should be some more if here is the continent they are talking about.
And that food here is not something I expected as African. They have their own staple food called Injera and it’s totally different from Fu-Fu type African food. Injera is like a roll of dry towel, smells sour.
At a certain point I started to feel that Ethiopia could be somewhat different from my stereotypical image of Africa. Or was my image from guidebooks and TVs just too stereotypical;"a very natural continent with wild animals and national parks"?
Isn’t it a bit too cold here, why do I have to wear jumper and scarf and still feel chilly? Are you sure it is Africa?
Number of the animal kinds I see here are so few, aren’t they? Didn't somebody tell me this continent be an animal-paradise? There should be some more if here is the continent they are talking about.
And that food here is not something I expected as African. They have their own staple food called Injera and it’s totally different from Fu-Fu type African food. Injera is like a roll of dry towel, smells sour.
At a certain point I started to feel that Ethiopia could be somewhat different from my stereotypical image of Africa. Or was my image from guidebooks and TVs just too stereotypical;"a very natural continent with wild animals and national parks"?
(live to eat/Arba Minch)
This country is rather cultural, still enjoying prosperity from early orthodox
Christianity (Ethiopian orthodox) which was truly sophisticated for that time.
The weather here doesn't suit my typical image of African Africa. Average temperature throughout a year in the capital Addis Ababa is around 16℃ though, partially because of the city's high altitude. The fact that this is not a city of ‘hot Africa’ startles me.
Extra point which hit me was an islamic town Harar. It looked familiar and I was deluded with a deja-vu. Then I sensed that the town had Middle-east flavor, quite similar as the one from Sana'a, the Yemen capital.
Probably I have been too misled by a preconception. I've tried hard to make sure that I BE in Africa. Which is African Africa and this idea has been obsessing me a lot.
It was after a few weeks that I barely managed to escape from this obsession. It was when I was climbing up at the mountain to see a church in Lalibela. It was also when I was watching a movie Ruby Sparks at the mall in Addis. Or when I was gulping down some bottles of St. George beer in the middle of Konso.
I found that I was enjoying that time for sure. Comparing the atmosphere facing me with my prior image was a trivial thing. It could be something matching my preconceived image. It could be something different from it. Didn't matter. Africa doesn't have to be something that I expected to be so.
The weather here doesn't suit my typical image of African Africa. Average temperature throughout a year in the capital Addis Ababa is around 16℃ though, partially because of the city's high altitude. The fact that this is not a city of ‘hot Africa’ startles me.
Extra point which hit me was an islamic town Harar. It looked familiar and I was deluded with a deja-vu. Then I sensed that the town had Middle-east flavor, quite similar as the one from Sana'a, the Yemen capital.
Probably I have been too misled by a preconception. I've tried hard to make sure that I BE in Africa. Which is African Africa and this idea has been obsessing me a lot.
It was after a few weeks that I barely managed to escape from this obsession. It was when I was climbing up at the mountain to see a church in Lalibela. It was also when I was watching a movie Ruby Sparks at the mall in Addis. Or when I was gulping down some bottles of St. George beer in the middle of Konso.
I found that I was enjoying that time for sure. Comparing the atmosphere facing me with my prior image was a trivial thing. It could be something matching my preconceived image. It could be something different from it. Didn't matter. Africa doesn't have to be something that I expected to be so.
(live to smile/Konso)
Actually there should not be any stereotypical image of Africa. What is spread out before me at the moment is Africa, replaced by nothing else. Even though the place is a bit different from what I thought, I still stay no doubt in this continent. I just happen to be here and it's not that bad.
After all what I have to do is to enjoy in any event drinking local beer, no matter how cold the weather is, how few animals there are, how cultural they are. And the beer here-especially St. George is delicious.
Well, Ethiopia is the first country in this continent anyway. The first one always blows up my preconception and it should.
(live to dance/Addis Ababa)
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