Articles in Ethiopia Bike Trip 1998-1999
025 – “You Like Fucking Priest”
I woke up early again to the banging-crashing-radio blaring-shouting-floor sweeping waking up sounds of the hotel and family. Of all the sounds it is the sweeping that I’ll associate with this place. The sweeping went on eternal, harsh straw against old wood. Endless. It never seemed to move, but stayed in one place till I imagined they would grind a hole right through the floor.
It …
026 – The Swarm Gang
I met Allen the day I had my wallet stolen.
I’d ridden my bike to the Piazza to get some pictures developed and on the way back I followed a road that curved high above Addis. Below me was the massive complex of the new Sheraton Hotel and on impulse I turned down a steeply winding access road that would bring me past the front gates. …
027 – Tiger Spirit
Allen turned out to be a bit of a surprise. When I met him he was unshaven and wore a pair of jeans and a dirty t-shirt. From that (despite the lack of the signature knapsack over the shoulder) I assumed he was a backpacker. But he was coming from the direction of the Sheraton, which made me suspect he was a well-heeled tourist, a …
028 – A Blessing In Disguise
The more time I had to mull over the wallet-snatching incident the more it seemed like a blessing in disguise. It told me more about the country in a moment than I might have learned in months. It became a touchstone in helping me interpret what was going on around me
It laid bare the reality of the place and the fundamental absurdity (from a certain …
029 – Opulence
It was a shower and shave day for me and I steeled myself for the shock and plunged my head under the ice-cold water. The flow of water was very meagre on top of being refrigerated, which made it even more of a shock. A heavy flow would mean I could leap in and out quickly. With the irregular drip I had to contort my …
030 – Special People
The Ethiopian premiere of “Endurance” turned out to be interesting in ways that I didn’t anticipate, but which I think Abiy did. He seemed to have misgivings from the first and it had nothing to do with the 150-birr ticket price as I’d thought. His fears that he did not belong at this event seemed justified right at the first. In fact it was pretty …
031 – “Hyena! They eat you!”
I was about to crawl into bed around 10:00 p.m. I was fully packed and organized and overloaded. Suddenly Tadale saw me about to sneak into my room.
“Douglas! Are you fine?” he bellowed and shook my hand. The momentum carried him into my room, the last place I wanted him on the eve of my departure for Gondar. The inevitable happened when he saw my …
032 – Addis Abeba to Sululta
Traveller as Hunter-Gatherer
I took it slow when I finally dragged myself out of bed. I had no definite destination for that day. My goal was simply to break the inertia that had started to grip me while waiting for the rainy season to end. Even if I only made it to the far side of Addis and slept in a new hotel it would be …