Addis Ababa is a big bustling city of about 7.4 million people. All in all, though, not too bad as far as big cities go. Together with Sintai, one of the young men I'd met in the bar last night, walked about 3 miles to a big bike shop. Met the bike repair man, who is now giving my bike a good once over, including putting on new tires that arrived in the mail from my dear brother! Yeeahhh! (Yes, OF COURSE, I could have put the darn tires on myself. I don't want to hear about it! Finding the bike shop was a neat way to explore Addis.)
Twas one of the longest 3 miles I've ever walked, especially after beers and wine of yesterday. Probably would have been o.k. if fellow-cyclist Yan hadn't offered me the wine last night - all his fault. On the way to the shop, I kept asking Sintai, "Are we almost there?" and he'd laugh and say, "I told you we should take the mini-bus, but you wanted to walk." I said, "Last night, it sounded like a great idea." At one point, when we were almost at the shop (but I didn't know that), my aching head couldn't stand anymore so I suggested to Sintai that we sit at a little sidewalk cafe and have a coke. That's when I told him that when I got back to the hotel last night, Jan had offered me the wine. Sintai said, "Oh no! Beer and then wine! No, no, no, no!" I laughed and said, "Yes, I know." He said, "I thought you were going to bed." I said, "That was the plan, but I got waylayed." Haha.
At least a nice thing happened on our walk - another Ethiopian kiss. This time from a street book vendor, whose name I have forgotten. I wanted to buy a novel from him because I finally found one that takes place in Ethiopia. But he wanted the equivalent of $17 for it! A used paperback book! So we talked and talked about the price. He finally came down to 140 Birr (abut $16). I wanted to pay about $5, and even thought THAT was a lot! We talked and talked so long that we were becoming friends, and Sintai was on the side, being amused. I finally said, "Please, please, I really want that book, but you just want too much! Please sell it for 40 Birr ($5)." He said, "My friend, I can't. I will lose money." I smiled and said, "Think of it as a gift." He smiled. I said, "Do you know what a gift is?" He said, "Yes, yes," but the only gift he gave me was a kiss on the hand and an, "I'm sorry, I can't. Maybe tomorrow." So we parted ways without making the deal, but no hard feelings and I think everybody was happy. He did sell me (for $2) a little pamphlet of short stories by an Ethiopian writer.
Update (wrote this part at night):
Later in the afternoon, Sintai and I went all the way back to the bike shop to pick up the bike. (This time, we took the mini-bus, even though by this time I had pretty much recovered and
was feeling fine.) Wow! I was very happy! My bike mechanic friend did a great job - the bike looked like new! Here is a picture of him, his shop, my bike, and that's Sintai on the left with the white t-shirt.Sintai and I then walked once again all the way back to the hotel. Why did we walk? After thinking about it all day, I decided that I *really* wanted that book, so wanted to pass the book vendor again. Sadly, when we got to his shop, he had gone. A neighbor vendor, however, had the same book and sold it to me for 150 Birr. I told him it was highway robbery, but I said it with a smile. That's capitalism, I guess. Supply and demand. It was a bummer, though, because if I was going to pay that extortionist price, I at least wanted to give the business to my friend, the kisser. So it was a shame that he was gone.
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