Wed 29 Jan 2014 (21 Tir 2006) to Mekele

Wed 29 Jan 2014 (21 Tir 2006) to Mekele We got up, showered and dressed. Shock! No camera in Mike's right front pocket where he always keeps it. It had to be in the room or at worst in the internet cafe we visited briefly after dinner last night. The best way to find something is to do something different. So we set off to find a good breakfast. We stopped off at Hotel Africa, which turns out to be backpacker's central. The menu was traditional hotel breakfast and the prices not that hot. Se we headed off in a non-tourist direction. After 5 or 6 blocks, we came to an active breakfast place, One Love. They had fuul, and it looked like everyone was ordering it. So 2 fuuls and 2 teas it was. The food comes with a big fresh crusty roll and no utensils. You are supposed to break off pieces of bread to scoop up the beans. And so we did. It was delicious. And the total price was only 28 birr ($1.45 US). There may have been an older man there, for whom the others pitched in to comp a breakfast. We may have passed a culinary border. Yes, you get injera, but you also get crusty rolls, which we much prefer. Back to the room for anotyher search. Mike touches his back pocket and there is the camera. The night before, he had put the camera in the pants, but in the wrong pocket. Senior moment. We could now move on. We caught a Tuktuk to the new bus station which we might not have otherwise found, because it was off a side street. We walked in looking for a bus or minibus to Mekele or Adigrat, and were quickly convinced that we had to go to Adwa first - a half hour ride. One minibus is loading up and another drives up, ready to leave. They quote 100 birr apiece, and we agree to 100 birr for 2, with the bags inside, taking up two seats (not on top). A stiff fare, because Lonely Planet says the correct fare is 12 per seat. But it was worth it to us because we were immediately off and on the road, even though the bus was mostly empty. It is almost as if we contracted for the whole minibus, even though they were free to fill it with students along the way, and others. The result of this was that we got to Adwa JUST IN TIME to catch a through bus all the way to Mekele. Our gain. Adwa is famous for being the site of a battle on 1 March 1896 where Emperor Menelik II and his troops defeated the Italians and kept Abyssinia/Ethiopia independent for another 40 or so years. Because of this, Ethiopia was the only African country to enter the 20th century as a fully independent country. Anyway, we are just about the last ones on the Mekele bus as it pulls out. But we will arrive in Mekele at 3:30 - 4 PM. Otherwise, we might have needed two buses (transfer in Adigrat) and might not have made Mekele until 7 PM (or maybe not at all). We were in the front left seat just behind the driver. There were seats to the right of the driver. In between, someone placed an unsecured, sealed carton with something very heavy inside, and then protested when anybody tried to sit on it. Generator, large TV, air conditioner(?). Just outside Adwa, we see the first of two overturned vehicles and a third bus which is stalled. We pull over at the site of an overturned minibus, ascertain that whatever help is needed is already there, and drive on. This is eucalyptus territory. At some point, Ethiopia's forests were cut for firewood and housing. Someone had the bright idea of introducing the eucalyptus tree from Australia. It grew fast and burned hot. It could also be trimmed, denuded of branches, and survive. The branches are a good size to be transported to each household. Thus we see donkeys carrying long eucalyptus pieces. Households can cut 1 - 2 feet and cook a meal. Also, eucalyptus chips and charcoal are ubiquitous in cooking coffee and burning incense. At one point, we see two boys in the hills, each individually carrying what seems to be a 20' piece across his shoulder - what balance. We are climbing along ridges punctuated by volcanic hills, mountains, and outcroppings. Before Adigrat, we come upon a bus stalled in the road. Our bus pulls up behind it, a number of the passengers pitch in, and soon all the luggage from the top of that bus is on top of our bus. Also, somehow, all the passengers get squeezed onto our bus. This takes about 20 minutes. During that time, Carol sits near some mothers with young children. One baby is flabby and floppy, and just doesn't look right. From the facial features, Carol intuits that the child has Down's Syndrome. And off we go. This is Tigre, a primarily Orthodox region, but it, like all of Ethiopia, has Muslims and scattered mosques. Many folks have told us how well Ethiopia's Orthodox and Muslims get along together. About 12:50 PM we pull into the Adigrat bus station. We have 25 minutes for lunch. Outside the bus station are all sorts of restaurants. The first restaurant we go to has a dirty bathroom. We used it but go next door for food. There is fuul on the Amharic menu. We order it. It is slow in coming, so we urge them to hurry. Finally it comes with two humongous rolls. We get the rolls, stuff the fuul inside, with the help of the waitress. This is now like a Manwich. We pay and rush outside with our two sandwiches, and get back on the bus. We were not the last ones back, but we only had three or four minutes to spare. Our sandwiches, eaten on the bus, were delicious. We are still high on the ridge line. At some point during the ride, our seatmate is a well-dressed woman, with a 4 or 5 year old son. In order to keep him occupied, she has bought a bag of guavas. Guavas look like green apples, only slightly wrinkled. Every now and again, the kid gets another guava. He eats it, skin and all, including all the small seeds inside. She offers one to us. We demur. (A couple of days later, Mike tries one. It is a little sour, but otherwise OK as a to-go fruit.) Eventually, we drop from the hill be switchbacks into a valley. There is plenty of heavy industry, and many factories. Before 4 PM, we are in Mekele. For the first time side in Addis, we are in a city where tourists are not the main industry. We see more ethnically diverse people, probably drawn by the job opportunities. Even though the map shows us only about 1/2 km from the Aste Yohannis Hotel, we take a Toptop for 20. Two bus drivers fight each other for the right to carry us. We check in, and get a room for 300 birr ($15.75 US). It was OK, but there were a few plumbing problems - typical for hotel rooms in this price range. We organize, and then go out to meet up with Ethio Travel reps. The guidebook shows that the Ethio Travel office is about a km away, through a neighborhood, in the Molino Hotel. The Molino Hotel boasts that it is 4 star, but like all these hotels, it is probably a one-half star. We get there. No Ethio Travel office. We make a phone call, and determine that it is back at the Aste Yohannis, and is open until 8 PM. Walking back, we get an avocado juice at a neighborhood bar/cafe. In one corner is a plastic peach tree, with large plastic peaches, probably the only peaches in all of Ethiopia. The Ethio Travel office is there and open. We are to assemble in the hotel parking lot at 10:30 AM the next day. We are entitled to leave our bags in the office while we are on the trip into Danakil. For the first time, we discover that this hotel is adventure-traveler central. There is a very good internet cafe a few doors down, and we spend several hours posting. For dinner, we decide to go to the Belleview Restaurant, about 25 meters from the hotel. Carol goes down a hallway to wash her hands, and discovers a white goat tied by the legs in front on the wash area. Mike goes to snap a photo. We order a doro wat, and a beer, and it is delicious. To bed.