South and Central Ethiopia
First of all, I would like to thank express travel, for helping me with flight tickets…guys, you are great !
Express travel helped me a lot getting my flight tickets
Ethiopia my last country in the Black Continent was also a mystery for me. Many travelers say that this is “the” Africa feeling, a black hole where the past is still a present here. Cyclists all over the world think that Ethiopia is one of the hardest places to be cycling in because of the children that throwing stones and sticks on the bicycles… After the crazy and dangers desert of north Kenya (after I finish it I herd about killings and robbers on the same road that I cycled a week ago…) I got to the border city Moyale in the South of Ethiopia and it was amazing to see how many things are different from this side of the border. Different language, different food and culture. Some of my best friends (the Shapira family) were in organized group that travel in North Ethiopia and I could not miss them so I left the bike in Moyale and took a 2 days long bus to the capital of Ethiopia Adis Ababa.
Just to see them for a day gave me so much power like every meeting with a really good friends after an hours it looks like every thing, it is like the past and not like that we didn’t see each other for more then 2 years… The break up from them was hard but it gave me power for the future and I needed it for the cycling in Ethiopia. A bus back and the cycling had to begin. The first days were good with quite on the road really nice landscapes and no many people. But after 3 days I started to understand what the cyclists told me. The children are not asking money they are demanding it and running after me like crazy. Its OK then I am fast on a flat road but there are big hills here and the stupid children are running next to me in every climb and shouting for me and touching my bugs on the bike and see if they can take something I tried to ignore but for a red head that wants to cycled with a smile it was really hard. And then started the stones… in all my journey I didn’t see this kind of an act for me, not even close, I don’t understand why they are doing it, why they are throwing big stones at me?! Yes they are poor and don’t have education but there are many people like them in all of Africa so why now? Why in the last months in Africa the children took the smile from me? In every place that I stopped to rest or to sleep I needed to find a local and cheep hotel where there is guards that will stop the children for running after me, when I enter the room I didn’t wanted to go outside and here the people saying “faranji” “you” “give me money”. After some days I didn’t think about finishing Africa I just wanted to survive Ethiopia. I have to say that most of the people are nice and friendly but the bad and stupid people change everything for me they ruin it. The landscapes are full of green hills and the road are full from donkeys and cows and it feels like cycling in the past… The locals food is injira a tyipe of bread that coming with all kind of sauce but vey spicy and I needed to learn some Amharic to try to understand what’s going on in the menu and to know the numbers because every one wants from me double the prices then they ask from a local and I know that so I knew very fast when I need to smile and say no thank you and tell them the real price of that. Ethiopia is the berth place of the coffee and its so good! Strong like I love and you feel that it’s fresh, they really like coffee her and they drink it with tea (not good) and with coca kola (really not good…) it took me time to understand the way of life here and . Maybe its because of the children that drive me crazy and the meeting with the Shapiras I started to think about going to a visit in Israel for 10 days after Africa and before Europe it wasn’t in my plan and if you ask me about that 1 year ago I will say no and no but I started to understand that it can only be good for me and my friends and family and can push me to the next chapter of the journey. after 2 weeks I was happy to get to the capital of Ethiopia . I contacted the Israeli embassy and we had meetings and was happy to be in an Israeli island in this crazy Ethiopia ocean. I stayed at Israeli family, the Metzuyanim family, and I felt so good with them and rested good before cycling again to the North. North of Ethiopia is hilly and I remember the time in Peru. Then I was crossing the blue Nile and then climb back up for a day, in this day I had a small stick with me to make the children know that they don’t need to have business with me… Wow the Blue Nile was an important river to cross it’s the longest in the world and in Ethiopia its where one of his source (the blue) is starting (but not blue..) and finishs in the Medetereanian sea. Again I will write that every morning I felt like going to a war and I didn’t had many minutes of joy. After a long cycling week I got to Bahar Dar, a big city near the lake Tana, there the Nile starts and I took a bus to see the famous churches inLalibella. I needed a break from the war in a bicycle and this amazing place was the right place to be. I will not give you all the information about this place here (just Google it) but I will tell you that this is amazing place to be in , very beautiful and interesting to see how they made these churches from a rock 500 years ago… In this places you feel the energy in the air and I was lucky to be there in sun rise when the day is pure and the colors changing with the light. The internet in Ethiopia is very slow so I hope to put soon the photos so you can see every thing for your self. Now I am ready to start my last chapter in Africa, another 700km I will be in Axum in North Ethiopia and it will be my last place in Africa!!! I cant believe that soon I will finish Africa and in a way I don’t believe that I finish America yet…. Don’t stop to dream with open eyes!!!
Love you all
Roei “jinji” sadan
Bahar dar Norh Ethiopia Africa
The world
Posted on December 17th, 2009 at 14:30
Just a thought on Ethiopia, this is not the only place where children throw rocks . This happen to me in also in Djibouti, Yemen, Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, and watermelon in Azerbaijan. Note these are all Muslim countries. I hope you didn’t get hit as I never have did. The bicycle pump is a good deterrent. It looks like a weapon and you give a shock. This rock throwing is all a game anyway so you might have fun with them. They enjoy the game after they find out its not a weapon. Chag Sameach !! Happy Chanukha!