We are here! We stepped foot on African soil in the capital city of Addis Ababa Thursday at 6:30 a.m. after a 13-hour flight on Ethiopian Airlines, which treats passengers extremely well. CNN’s Moneywatch listed the government-owned 6th in its “22 most dependable airline in the world” ranking. For comparison, no U.S. airline industry company ranked above 17.
Another 1-hour flight brought us to Bahir Dar, which is about 10 hours away by car. At an elevation equal to North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain, the city of Bahir Dar is one of Ethiopia’s leading tourist destinations because of Lake Tana and Blue Nile Falls. The city received a UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize in 2002 for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization.
This is an area of sharp contrast. On our short drive from the airport, we passed farmland where workers still tilled the soil with oxen-led plows. Donkeys trotted along the street carrying bundles of goods amid the tuk-tuk taxis and speeding Toyota vans. Apparently, it is custom as a pedestrian to step in front of traffic if you want to cross the street, and we saw plenty of that. Our leader Vachel said, “Here, everyone shares the road.” But then suddenly, the countryside dropped away and we were amid busy city intersections – again with a mixture of cars, donkey-pulled carts, pedestrians and vans. The famous lake can be seen from our hotel, as well as more mountains.
Most buildings are low except for a new high-rise hotel. The modern glass architecture is near buildings with rusted tin roofs. Our hotel is four stories and considered fairly high-end by African standards. At the equivalent of only $30 a night, members of our group each have their own room – which is proving handy as I write this at 1 a.m. Ethiopian time after a few hours sleep. We are seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so most of you are probably enjoying dinner as I type.
My spouse has traveled a lot as Navy veteran and she advised me to get on the local schedule as quickly as I could. So rather than crash upon arriving at the hotel, we rested only long enough to unpack our bags and take quick showers before taking a walk around the neighborhood and to Lake Tana. Despite its mountainous location, Bahir Dar has palm tree-lined streets and the temperature is like Boone on a hot, breezy summer day – you sweat in the sun but in the shade, a long-sleeved shirt feels good. The dominant religions here are Orthodox Christian and Muslim, so women aren’t to expose much arm or leg whatever the temperature.
After a couple hours exploring, drinking mango and papaya juice at a café and getting set up with inexpensive cell phones for the duration of our stay, we ate supper at the hotel. I had fish fir-fir with curry and white garlic (minus the hot spice) which came with the traditional bread called injera, which tastes like sourdough. More on the local cuisine later… I’d have taken a picture of my plate if I hadn’t been so hungry and tired when it arrived.
The internet is working great in the middle of the night, so I must remember that next time I have moments of sleeplessness. The crickets are chirping outside my window just like at home in late summer, so I’ll probably fall back to asleep again easily.
Another 1-hour flight brought us to Bahir Dar, which is about 10 hours away by car. At an elevation equal to North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain, the city of Bahir Dar is one of Ethiopia’s leading tourist destinations because of Lake Tana and Blue Nile Falls. The city received a UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize in 2002 for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization.
This is an area of sharp contrast. On our short drive from the airport, we passed farmland where workers still tilled the soil with oxen-led plows. Donkeys trotted along the street carrying bundles of goods amid the tuk-tuk taxis and speeding Toyota vans. Apparently, it is custom as a pedestrian to step in front of traffic if you want to cross the street, and we saw plenty of that. Our leader Vachel said, “Here, everyone shares the road.” But then suddenly, the countryside dropped away and we were amid busy city intersections – again with a mixture of cars, donkey-pulled carts, pedestrians and vans. The famous lake can be seen from our hotel, as well as more mountains.
Most buildings are low except for a new high-rise hotel. The modern glass architecture is near buildings with rusted tin roofs. Our hotel is four stories and considered fairly high-end by African standards. At the equivalent of only $30 a night, members of our group each have their own room – which is proving handy as I write this at 1 a.m. Ethiopian time after a few hours sleep. We are seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so most of you are probably enjoying dinner as I type.
My spouse has traveled a lot as Navy veteran and she advised me to get on the local schedule as quickly as I could. So rather than crash upon arriving at the hotel, we rested only long enough to unpack our bags and take quick showers before taking a walk around the neighborhood and to Lake Tana. Despite its mountainous location, Bahir Dar has palm tree-lined streets and the temperature is like Boone on a hot, breezy summer day – you sweat in the sun but in the shade, a long-sleeved shirt feels good. The dominant religions here are Orthodox Christian and Muslim, so women aren’t to expose much arm or leg whatever the temperature.
After a couple hours exploring, drinking mango and papaya juice at a café and getting set up with inexpensive cell phones for the duration of our stay, we ate supper at the hotel. I had fish fir-fir with curry and white garlic (minus the hot spice) which came with the traditional bread called injera, which tastes like sourdough. More on the local cuisine later… I’d have taken a picture of my plate if I hadn’t been so hungry and tired when it arrived.
The internet is working great in the middle of the night, so I must remember that next time I have moments of sleeplessness. The crickets are chirping outside my window just like at home in late summer, so I’ll probably fall back to asleep again easily.