Saturday April 21, 2012 A very Full day in Addis Ababa!
Wow - what a day and where to start? It’s been warm with a couple of very short, heavy rain showers this afternoon - in fact it’s raining again as I start to write today’s blog. The sun is going down and I know that my eyelids will be following shortly - Terry is asleep on the bed it’s 5 pm Saturday night, and we’re both exhausted. We have been on our feet nearly all day since 830 am this morning - and the amount of information that our guide Malcolm has shown us and taught us today is amazing!
The first thing I want to tell you about is Rastafarianism! It turns out that Haile Sellassie was named Dazajmach Tafari when he was born in Ethiopia. When his older brother died Tafari inherited the title his brother held which was Ras (kind of like a title of Chief) hence he was now Ras Tafari! Ras Tafari then gave some land in South Eastern Ethiopia to to a group of Ethiopians who were wanting to live simply and follow their religious convictions - this group then became known as Rastafarians! This was in the first half of the 20th Century and their movement has grown and spread worldwide since that point in time. There was also the event when Haile visited Jamiaca during a drout and it started to rain as soon as Haile arrived in Montego Bay so Haile is heralded as a God in Jamaca! Ras Tafari ultimately became Emperor Haile Sellassie and ruled Ethiopia for many years, excluding the time he spent in England when the Italians invaded in 1936-1941.
We could hear singing as Malcolm started to talk about the history of religion in Ethiopia, and round the corner came the Cathedral Choir - youngsters all dressed in purple and gold, with a drummer and followed by the Bride and Groom (apparently a famous journalist) wearing beautiful embroidered full length coats and hats, and then and all of the guests - all wearing white gauzy scarves over their head and shoulders. Our timing was perfect and we enjoyed the singing and procession for maybe 20 minutes before heading into Trinity Cathedral - first taking off our shoes which you are not allowed to wear inside. Haile Sillassie is the founder of the Cathedral, which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and is built with a baroque style of European architecture.
There were lots of men and ladies outside (most wearing white veils or scarves over their head and shoulders, but noone iwth their face covered) - they each walk up to the Cathedral and kiss the stone walls, genuflecting and paying homage. Some carry a prayer stick and apparently some of these folks will stay at the Cathedral all night praying, and will use the prayer stick to lean on (in their arm pit) since they will be tired and this helps to keep them upright. Inside the Cathedral the men and women have to sit on opposite sides - the men always on the Bishop’s right and the women on the Bishop’s left (we were allowed to sit together to listen to the history of religion in Ethiopia, as well as to walk around the church and take photos).
The stained glass windows are truly beautiful, each depicting some historical event (Adam and Eve, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Ten Commandments, etc). It turns out that the artist (Afework Tekle) who created all these fabulous masterpieces died just last week (in his early 80’s) and later on outside the Cathedral we saw the masses of roses on his grave. He apparently lived in a beautiful modern house which he donated to the government to be used as a museum.There was way too much history for me to recount it all, or to understand it all, but suffice it to say that this is a very old country and their history is fascinating. Christianity was introduced to Ethiopia around 4th century AD by two brothers from Syria (rebels attacked and killed their father as they were all on the trade route). The brothers were found and brought into Aksum, a village in Ethiopia where one of them, Fermentes, started to preach Christianity. The King of Aksum liked what he heard and converted all the village, and ultimately this spread through Ethiopia and became the State religion and Christianity spread throughout almost all of Ethiopia until the 12th Century. Eventually the Coptic religion became Ethiopian Orthodox - although it transitioned through Greek and Russian Othodox first!
Ethiopia has many religious Festivals but the biggest (and best to attend) is theTimket Festival every year on January 19th (Janury 20th if it’s a Leap Year!). By the way - Ethiopia does not follow the same time or calendar that we do in the Western World. In Ethiopia we are all 7 years and 8 months younger ( a good reason to visit don’t you think?) since it is currently only 2004 here! Anyway, the Timket commemorates the Baptism of Jesus Christ and everyone participates and it is apparently very exciting.
The Arc of the Covenant (also in Ethiopia) plays a big part in the festival - it is taken out of the church where it is normally kept under lock and key. It s kept by the river or a pool of water and then blessed by the Priest on the Celebration day with all sorts of processions, praying and singing.
After trying to absorb all the religious history, we walked around inside Trinity Church and admired all the stained glass windows. We saw the throne where Haile Sellassie would sit, and where his wife the Empress would sit - both in the second part (or middle) of the church - the rest of us would be sitting in the first part of the church (not together ) and the Arc of the Covenant (or the replica Arc for all the churches that don’t have the real thing) would be located in the very private sanctuary in the very front first part of the church. We also saw the massive granite tombs of Haile Selassie and the Empress - located at the very front of Trinity Cathedral.
After this visit we then drove to the Natural History Museum which was awesome, and contained incredible displays of historic and archeological artifacts including all the information about Lucy (from 3.2 million years ago) and Arty (older than Lucy). In Ethiopia Lucy is know as Dinknesh meaning “wonderful”. Amongst the several floors of exhibits there were even gold coins from 4th Century AD which were in mint condition - truly spectacular. I was really impressed with how many historical items they have here on display - and well presented and documented, including one floor comparing traditional and modern works of art. There were many classes of school children with their teachers in the museum, and this was a Saturday don’t forget!
One experience was when I went to the bathroom (I am still drinking lots of bottled water trying to control my dry coughing) so lots of bathroom trips are essential. My instructions were to “Go outside and turn right” which I did to the sign that said TOILET. Inside was a western style toilet (no paper or flushing water but a tap to turn on and fill up the bucket and empty into the toilet bowl to flush ). When I came out of the cubicle there was a young man (with his back to me thank goodness) standing at what I thought when I entered was a sink but it turns out it was a urinal! This young man turned to look at me, so I smiled sweetly, apologised and left! Too bad the Toilet sign didn’t say Ladies or Gents - but then, if that had been in the Amharic language (squiggles) then I wouldn’t have been able to read that either would I?
Our next short stop was at the Hilton, with 372 rooms it was built in 1969 (and about o undergo a massive 3 year multi million dollar renovation). With swimming pool fed by natural hot springs, 6 tennis courts, shops and several restaurants and a great location it is a good place to stay. We needed to get some local currency (passports required) so we did this at the United Bank inside the Hilton. You have to keep the receipt for any Ethiopian money that you buy while here - you need this receipt to change it back when you leave the country at the end of your stay. The rate was 17.4334 brr (local currency) to each US dollar. There was no exchange rate available for Canadian dollars.
By now our brains were overflowing, so back into the van and we were driven to The Cottage for lunch. We drove through an opening in a stone wall and entered a peaceful garden and parking lot.Imagine an English garden with shrubs and flowering bushes and wooden fixtures inside with a lovely bar and that’s what we had! The lunches all ranged from $3 to $7 and included such things as fish and chips, pepper steak and baked potato, onion soup, chicken curry Madras! We started with beer and I had Ethiopian red wine - and I know what you’re thinking, and like you, I didn’t know that Ethiopia produced wine either and it was actually quite good! The Gouder red wine came in a half bottle which looked exactly like a beer bottle and cost about $6 (100 birr the local currency). The beer was icy cold and cost 28 birr, less than $2 each bottle.
Lunch was good (I had tasty grilled Tilapia) and we enjoyed the relax before we went outside and the security guard carried a huge beach umbrella over our heads to keep s dry as we headed off again, this time to the Mercato - the huge area of streets comprising the market where anything and everything is for sale. This is the largest open air market in East Africa and it is about to be demolished and a new building built to hold all the merchants - as you always hear when this kind of forced removal of homes and businesses takes place, noone is very happy about it! This Mercato covered blocks and blocks - most of which we drove through, but we did get out and walk a few blocks. The amount of spices for sale (and the aromas) were wonderful. Ethiopia is known for producing very fine coffee and we saw sacks and sacks of green coffee beans - waiting for the wholesalers to come and but the beans then roast them, and package them for sale. They make fabulous baskets in Ethiopia and we saw many baskets - some very plain and some in beautiful colours and as big as me - I would have loved to take one of those home! Of course the containers were for sale by the hundreds - even though Ethiopia is very green and fertile and gets lots of rain, everyone still needs water containers for carrying water from where they can get it to their homes.
After the Mercado we were off to the next museum - the National Ethnographic Museum. We started at the top floor and worked our way down - again lots of historical clothing, arms, musical instruments (they play all sorts of different lyres here, all home made from hides, wood and string) even Haile Sellassie’s bedroom furniture and fixtures from his bathroom! We were exhausted but so enamoured with everything we had seen and heard today. On our way back to the Panorama Hotel we stopped at a Alaska Stationery ad Computer Supplies store so that I could buy a journal notebook for my trip. I had forgotten to bring one of the three that I have at home so have managed today with a very small notepad with pages approximately 2” by 3”! Tomorrow I can have a real notebook to write in!We are very excited to be here in Ethiopia and about to head North by plane tomorrow morning (we leave the hotel at 5:30 am). Malcolm has shown and explained many things to us today, followed frequently by “we will see that when we go to .......” s we can’t wait to get out into the country and see for ourselves. This country has so much history (just like in Egypt but we are starting to think even more substantial than Egypt) and so much religion - I know we will be overwhelmed but are ready for the challenge. I was surprised when I asked Malcolm tonight whether we mght have internet access at any of the hotels that we are staying at over the next two weeks. He said “yes” there are several that we will have access at, so with luck I shall be able to stay in touch. It takes many hours to do the blog but I get so much from doing it and reinforcing what I have seen and heard during the day, and hop you do to!
We have found the people of Ethiopia to be quite different than in Eastern Africa. Many have extremely curly hair and the rain just runs off it, like it did today. They are a very handsome people , many with very fine features and high cheekbones and the most beautiful brown eyes. They have been friendly with greetings and smiles, and certainly respond very positively to any “hello” or “amasegina (Thank You”) that we greet them with.
We paid our driver tonight (recommended $3 per person today) but Malcolm will be our guide for the next two weeks so we will settle with Malcolm at the end of the tour. It’s now 7:45 pm and we have decided to skip dinner tonight, Terry just woke up from a two hour nap and sounds much better for it. We shall have an early night and be out the door on time for our 5:30 am pick up tomorrow. We fly with Ethiopian Airlines north to Bahir Dar, then 180km by road to Gondar.
So AMASEGINA for getting this far with our blog and we shall talk to you again soon !!
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