Tue 11 Feb 2014 (4 Yekatit 2006) to Addis

Tue 11 Feb 2014 (4 Yekatit 2006) to Addis



Up and pack. Today it is time to go to Addis, which is apx 100 km away.  No 4 or 5AM departure for us: our plan is to arrive at the Taitu Hotel after last night's vacated rooms become available.


Down to breakfast leisurely. We talk to the American family we saw yesterday.  From Vermont, they are experiencing a very different Ethiopia than us. They are in the process of adopting an infant girl, who will be their second Ethiopian daughter. So, instead of touring, the family has set up shop in a hotel or B&B. Then, it's time to wait. They even take mini-vacations, like this stay in Adama (they have a suite in the back property of the hotel).  Adoptions take a long time, so the families come prepared to sit for a month at a time. Eventually, things usually work out, but it is slow. The hotel staff clearly dotes on this family.



It is now 9:45 AM. Breakfast is over; tables and chairs are cleared from the salon in preparation for scrubbing the floor. Carol wants to see the place where the Vermont family is staying. Behind the main building there are bountiful fruit trees. She gathers up 6 small avocados that have fallen to the ground. On the way back front, there is a nice play area with a bounce tower for children. Goodbye Maya Hotel. We walk out of the property with our packs, which we have put in the Ospreys.


It is only a km or 1.5 km to the bus station, but we spring for a tuktuk. None are coming along on the main road, but there are plenty waiting on the side road. The tuktuks here are like jitneys. For a very small amount (2 birr?), you can get on and off in one direction on one road. When you reach your turn, you get off, and there are tuktuks waiting to take you on that road. Anyway, there are plenty of tuktuks waiting around the corner.


Mike goes around the corner and negotiates a fee of 30 birr nonstop to the bus station. Just come around to the front of the hotel. Well, the hotel has two entrances, and the tuktuk is way at the other entrance. So we pick up our bags and walk toward the waiting tuktuk. While we are walking, a street fellow comes up and grabs Mike's bag. Mike maintains hold of the bag, and the two walk along carrying the same bag to the tuktuk. Mike is calling off the guy, but he refuses to let go. Carol yells at Mike to just stop and refuse to move until the guy lets go, but Mike doesn't hear her.



We get to the tuktuk, put the bags in the tuktuk, and get in. This fellow, who has added no value, is holding on to the door and refusing to let us move. He wants 3 birr for "helping" Mike with his bag. This is a standoff. The man is adamant, ferocious. Carol hits at his arm, telling him to let go of the vehicle. He yells, in English: "Don't touch me."  Finally, the driver takes 3 birr out of his own pocket, pays the other guy, and we are off (the fare probably should have been 20, so there was a little extra to spare). We all exhale.



The tuktuk loops around some back streets, past the university, the various vendors,  and parts of town we haven't explored, headed for the best entrance to the bus station. At the station, we walk in. A sign says: Addis 99 birr. We agree on 100 birr each, and they squeeze our bags into a very very small trunk space in the back. We head off shortly. It is now just before 10:30 AM. Goodbye Adama, Nazaret, or whatever this burg is called (and thanks for all the grief).



The Chinese and the Ethiopian government are building a toll road from Addis to Adama. It will be 3 lanes in each direction, built to modern "interstate" standards. But it is not scheduled to open until April 2014 (can't help but adding: 2014 on whose calendar?). When the toll road opens, this trip might take 40 minutes. But today, we have a densely crowded two lane road to contend with. So for the next two hours, it is knuckle gripping driving, with lots of folks trying to pass in situations where there is plenty of oncoming traffic. It reminds Mike of travel in the US in the late 60s on roads which were totally interstate, except for the 40 miles of two lane road which remained until that stretch of interstate was completed. In the US, they put up big signs: "Two Lane Traffic For Next 39 Miles Only;" "Two Lane Traffic For Next 38 Miles Only;" etc. Here, you just grit your teeth.



Anyway, eventually we approach the southern suburbs of Addis. You can see Addis in the distance. There is even an Anbessa bus or two. Suddenly, our bus pulls into a bus station. This is Kalita, 15 km from Meskel Square. Time to get off. WHAT?!?!? Kalita is the terminal bus station for all buses to the south and southeast. From here there are local buses (yellow Higer buses) to Merkato, Legeher, and other places. None apparently for Piassa. How different our final week might have turned out had we made advance reservations and flown from Dire Dawa, or taken a Selam bus from Harar...



We hop onto a bus for Legeher. The road into town is totally under construction. Apparently, the Addis urban light rail will extend to Kalita when it opens sometime in 2015 (halevai). Right now we are just bouncing along in slow motion. Some 30-40 minutes later, we take a left onto a rough dirt road, pull a couple of turns, and come to a stop. We are now in Legeher, where we landed on our first jaunt around Addis (20 Jan), albeit around the corner from where we now stand.



Remember: Legeher = La Gare, the point of origin for the defunct Addis-Asmara rail line (whose other Ethiopian station we visited in Dire Dawa). The station is an impressive but barren husk of a once-noble setting. We are right here at Milepost Zero, so we take the opportunity to trudge into Buffet de la Gare, a time-worn (but legendary) hotel and restaurant. Think "Casablanca".


The restaurant is 1930s Continental-meets-lodge. The place is filled with expats speaking various languages, leisurely enjoying the best of Ethio-Italian food in a setting that seems to predate the Second World War. Carol orders a very good slice of lasagna. Mike gets a plate of veal with cabbage and rice. (OK, it was called veal, but looked and tasted like beef brisket.)  Our meal also includes beer and rolls. Delicious.


The menu also offers desserts like creme caramel, ice cream, and various fruit combinations. This is the first Ethiopian restaurant we've patronized that offered desserts as part of a regular menu. While we've enjoyed pastry treats in the morning, meals in Ethiopia seem to skip end-of the-meal sweets entirely (maybe that's one of the reasons that most people are thin!) or just have some coffee.



We sat down for our meal at 1:30 PM, and are up and about after 2:45 PM, refreshed. Curiosity gets the better of Carol and she asks if there is an available room. The hotel turns out to be nothing much, with amenities that remind her of summer camp. The hotel habitués seem to date from the era of typewriters and telegrams.



We could take a bus from Legeher to Piassa, but we still have the packs, and it has been a l-o-n-g slow trip up to now. So for 120 birr, we get a taxi to Taitu. It is now after 3 PM. (We realize now that a trip from Awasa on our own, like the one we contemplated earlier as part of our vacation, would have also traveled through Kalita and Legeher, and might have taken as much as 8 hours. Shudder.)



At long last, we check in at Taitu. It feels like a real homecoming, with people at the front desk who remember us. We are given room 120, next to room 121 from our first stay. It has a bathtub instead of a shower, but the layout is awkward and the lights have problems. Somehow, it just doesn't feel like ... HOME.  Carol asks if it would be possible to switch, and they give us old familiar 121 (with its two windows) for the last two nights of our trip.



Now is the hour for some extended internet time at our familiar inexpensive café. There is also time for sitting in the Taitu Restaurant talking with whomever wants to talk with us. There are some neat older women from various countries who have seen much of the world, and are ready for even more. What an inspiration!



Finally, it is dark. To KC Restaurant for a light dinner of hot and sour fish soup and kikil soup (stick with the tried, true and inexpensive tonight). They are soooooo slow that we get up several times, threatening to leave. Finally, it all arrives at our table. Tasty enough, but it is now well past 9 PM. Back to the hotel and to sleep.