Monday 20 Jan 2014 (12 Tir 2006)
[Timket is still on, inasmuch as it is a three-day holiday.]
We get going about 8 AM. Off to the same pastry shop as yesterday, where we order 2 tasty pastries and 2 cappuccinos. We invite another 'farenji' to our table. This Frenchman, who yesterday had a pastry and tea for 26 birr elsewhere, today orders the same pastry and tea here for 8 birr. He was of the opinion that this is the best choice in the area.
Back to the hotel, where we finally receive our long-awaited telephone call from Dr. Jon Pollock, the Emory surgeon we are trying to contact. We arrange to meet him at the Korean Hospital in Gerji, a suburb to the southeast, at 5:00 PM. That phone call freed up hours we were going to spend trying to track him down online. We drop off the books we plan to deliver in our room.
So it is off to Arat Kilo, a neighborhood we wanted to visit. Arat Kilo means '4 kilometers'. Perhaps this traffic roundabout is 4 km north of the Selam Bus company offices we visited yesterday. {If you walk north, you get to Amist Kilo (5 km) and then to Sidist Kilo (6 km), where we were on the first day of Timket celebrations.)
Finding the right spot to catch a bus is impossible. Too many opinions, all of them differing. Finally, we walk to a more-promising spot shown on the Bradt guidebook, and get into a minibus going to Arat Kilo.
Arat Kilo is rather more upscale than where we have been previously. After negotiating an elevated crossing bridge, we walk into a "supermarket." Not Wal-mart style, but rather more like the size of a "7 - 11". Here we find a bag of potato chips for 14 birr (not a name brand: just something someone cooked, and sealed in plastic). Peanut butter is 'only' 133 birr ($7 US) for a 12 ounce jar: more than the customary price of an evening meal for 2 in a reasonable restaurant! Raisins are also out of sight. Someone could make a killing bringing these items in the luggage. We settle for some peanuts.
We visit a couple of bookstores on Entoto Avenue - nothing much there to tempt us. Walking north, we pass Abuna's Residence,the seat of the Armenian patriarchate. Spectacular gate in front, with huge matching concrete doves. Just like something you would find at South of the Border
A few hundred meters north is the National Museum, in Amist Kilo. Lucy, the 3.1 million year old hominid, is the primo exhibit here. Unfortunately, her bones are out on loan, and we get to see a temporary exhibit with copies of her bones. With long fingers, she could have been a formidable pianist (but would have had trouble reaching the pedals due to her legs, as capable of standing upright as she is assumed to have been). The current floor plan may be an improvement to the usual layout, since the temporary exhibit is on the Ground Floor, whereas the original was in the dank basement, way off in a corner.
Most of the items on display are unlabeled. The gift shop is in a hard-to-find corner on the Second Floor. We buy 5 postcards for 2 birr each. No guidebook whatsoever for sale.
Carol is captivated by a small sculpted figure with pudgy ties: this is HER true ancestor.
The guide book terms this site "one of the best museums of its type" in all of Africa. Oh, what a modern marketer could do with this unrealized gem of a museum. Carol envisions Lucy t-shirts in multiple colors and sizes, for starters.
We head to the west and walk into an old Armenian neighborhood. Emperor Menelik II invited some Armenians to Ethiopia during and just after the First World War, when Armenians were being killed by the Turks.
We first visit an Orthodox Church religious store on Sahle Selassie. There are vestments, audio tapes, books, and all sorts of religious paraphernalia and other required objects.
Down the hill is a fish and kitfo (raw beef) restaurant, where we see a lot of customers. After viewing the neighboring table, we order a whole fish (fried to a crisp) and a beer. The bill of 114 seemed a little high (foreigner price?), but the fish was plenty tasty. The resident cat, patrolling for nibbles, travelled between tables.
We walk into the neighborhood, a real mix of more-historic residences and new construction. Finally, we arrive at the intersection we crossed on Saturday, walking toward Jan Meda.
We head back to Amist Kilo for two pastries and coffee.
It is now after 2:30 PM. We have to get back to the hotel in Piassa to recover the books, then double back to Arat Kilo, in time to catch a 46 bus to the suburbs. From here to Piassa, we can take a 17 bus, a 38 bus, a 41 bus, and possibly others. We can't find the bus stop. We see buses driving by, but where to catch them?
We stand near a corner across the street from the pastry shop. Finally, a well-dressed elderly woman in a full-length lavender two-piece suit motions to us, screaming in Amharic to follow her. We walk and we walk and we walk some more. Finally, we see a bus stop sign, with about 11 routes stopping there, including the 17 and 41.
As we waited, a Tata bus passed, headed northward. Two goats - that's two LIVE GOATS - stood atop the bus in the luggage rack. Wow.
Still, there are folks telling us that this is wrong (including our lavender leader): we should do something else. Well, we wait for the 17 bus to come along, which takes us fairly directly back to Piassa.
It is now 3:45 pm. To the hotel, then back to Piassa where we will take the same minibuses. This time there is a different problem. It is the beginning of rush hour, and the Arat Kilo minibuses are few and far between and all filled by faster commuters. 20 - 30 minutes pass and finally a minibus stops for us. We get off in Arat Kilo exactly at the 46 bus stop. Glory be!
However, 46 buses are few and far between - 5 pm is quickly approaching. We guess that the 39 bus is close enough. We take it to the end of the line, and there is a taxi waiting there to take us the last 3 km.
Dr. Jon Pollock is waiting for us at the hospital. He gives us a complete tour of the hospital. In many ways it is like Grady Hospital, the public hospital in Atlanta, where Emory doctors train. Throughout Ethiopia, the emphasis is returning people to a productive life. Surgery for treatable conditions is essential.
Jon Pollock introduces us to one of his trainees. His pride is evident. He shows us a map of current and future placements for those he is training.
We drive to his residence. He has a chauffeur: the trip takes 45 minutes on a good day, potential productive internet time. Now, in the late afternoon, the traffic is horrendous. We pass several chaotic traffic circles. He points out the African Union building, and we drive by many many embassies. We go to dinner with his wife to an Ethio-Korean restaurant. (Probably one of the few places to get pork.)
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Monday 20 Jan 2014 (12 Tir 2006)
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