Tuesday, 20th Feb 2007

To: Addis Ababa



If Sudan is the land of sand and prayers, then Ethiopia is the land of horses, donkeys, and kisses. First of all, they love their horses, at least in this region, north of Addis Ababa. They use them for everything. They have "horse taxis" in every little town we come to, taxiing people around in horse carriages. They use them to haul stuff on horse carts. And they ride them. They also like to decorate their horses. I've seen so many beautifully decorated horses. At first, I thought this must be for some special event, like a wedding. However, Addis, an Ethiopian cyclist with us, said that they just like to decorate them for no reason, the way we like to decorate cars sometimes. On the way to "The Gorge" the other day, I finally got a good picture of a finely decorated horse. The rider was very proud and pleased that I wanted his photo. Here it is.

If they are not hauling stuff, using horses, then it's donkeys they use. Those poor little fellers are often loaded, and I mean LOADED with stuff! Here are a few examples.

















Not everybody can afford donkeys, I suppose, in which case they carry the stuff themselves. Curiously, the women always carry their heavy loads on their backs. Yeeek! They're going to have back problems by the age of 22. Why don't they carry it on their heads, the way Ugandans do, I wonder? That seems more sensible. In fact, I've taken to carrying heavy loads on my head myself sometimes. It's quite comfortable. I usually get a few stares when I do this in the States, where people aren't used to seeing it - but I don't care. (I get stares when I take money notes out of my bra too, another technique I've learned in Africa - haha.) One time, I was carrying some heavy framed batiques on my head through airports. I was carrying the batiques back to my dissertation committee members, as gifts, and they were heavy! I got quite a few stares as I walked my way through Heathrow and O'Hare airports, and a few people even commented. No problem. Ah, but I digress (this had nothing to do with Africa, did it?) The point is, why do the Ethiopian women destroy their backs by carrying their stuff that way? Here is an example.


When not riding horses or carrying huge quantities of things, the Ethiopians like to kiss. On the hand or arm. My first experience of this was the little girl that I wrote about the other day, but that wasn't the last experience. Yesterday, in the town of the thieving youth, an old woman kissed me multiple times on my hand and arm. It felt a bit strange, but I suppose she was apologizing for the incident. Then, tonight in Addis Ababa, I found myself in a bar, talking with two youngish men. It was pretty fun, as we talked about nothing, blah blah blah, and laughed quite a bit. It reminded me of my Peace Corps days. I used to go to bars night after night and talk about nothing. Actually, back in those days, we used to talk about apartheid in South Africa. Night after night after night. Exact same conversation, exact same points of view from the exact same cast characters. And nobody, not even me, ever tired of it. So, anyway, tonight, when leaving this little bar in Addis Ababa, the two young men walked me to my hotel (all of about 300 meters from the bar) and kissed me on the hand! What's with all the kissing in Ethiopia? Kind of a nice cultural thing, though, I could get used to it!


By the way, I decided not to ride today because we had to be in a big hurry. Last night at the rider meeting, we were told that we had to be at the point where the convoy starts by 2:00, no later. That was going to be at about the 65 mile mark. I thought, "By 2:00? Geez, I'm going to have to hussle along!" I then thought about just riding to lunch and then getting on the truck, but even then I'd have to hussle. All that hurrying was stressing me out, so at the last minute this morning, after I'd already gotten dressed and was ready to ride, I changed my mind. Decided that if I just got a lift to Addis Ababa, then I wouldn't have to be all stressed out with all that "hurry up" stuff.


------------------ TODAY ----------------- TOTAL
Cycled----------- 0 ------------------------- 2,300 km (1,430 mi)
Sagged ---------- 114 km (71 mi) ----------- 1,156 km (830 mi)
Total ------------ 114 km (71 mi) ----------- 3,456 km (2,260 mi)