More Photos

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Around Addis

Dark Chocolate

Amazingly, you can get Mexican food down the street from my house (no it's not nearly as good as Gordo's [or Anna's] but it is ok and the guacamole is great). I'm not really missing that many foods as one might expect. The Ethiopian food here is great (much better than home), I do miss real black pepper a little bit, but I digress. The one thing I have really been on a quest for is dark chocolate.

One might think since so much coffee grows here, they could grow a little cacao. But you would be wrong (Julia maybe you can explain it). There is milk chocolate here, and there are plenty of bad packaged choco-cookies (I even resorted to TimTams), and there are pretty good pastries in many of the coffee shops, but not a lot of the high
percentage stuff.

I understand that some people prefer milk chocolate to dark, and while I do not claim to understand them, they would be quite content here. However personally I have been looking all over for the real deal. I even asked some of my Ethiopian friends, and while I think I adequately explained what dark chocolate was, they were unable to help.

One thing I have been doing recently, and not just in search of Scharffenberger, is stop into grocery stores when I am out and about. You see, no two grocery stores are the same, and while I can get my meatstockless ramen at one grocery store, it is non-existent at many others. In fact, just yesterday on such a expedition I found Crest toothpaste!

Anyway, I was heading to Mexico the other day, and low and behold I saw a Grand Opening sign for a store called Rose's Chocolates. Needless to stay this had to be investigated, so I made a special trip over there on Saturday. And, I am now the proud owner of a bar of Lindt dark chocolate, 75birr (about 8 bucks) and well worth it. It melted a little on the way home, I stopped at a grocery store, they
even had Gillette Sensor razor blades! they also had dark chocolate (only 30something birr).

I am happy, but someone really should start a cacao farm around here.

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Great Run

Here is a picture from last year.

http://www.ethiopianrun.org/

Music

I love the music here, and I don't mean Ethiopian music in particular. Everywhere you go, there is music, but there is quite a mix of hip-hop, R&B, reggae, Ethiopian, and African music (no indie rock !!!) And yes, Ethiopian music is as diverse as the society (20+ defined ethnic groups), but I don't understand a word of it, so I am lumping it all together, not to mention the wide range of African music, whatever..

Regardless, the music here truly exceeds all my expectations (not really sure what I was expecting) and preconceived notions, and I am happy about it. Whenever you climb into a taxivan you are as likely to hear Bob Marley as you are Tigrinya Christian hymns. Everyday on my way home I pass this one place that sells (and even rents for 20cents) VCDs and CDs, and it is undoubtedly blasting T-Pain or Rhianna. But even better, sometimes you hear really dated stuff that you wouldn't hear back home, ie Michael Jackson or SWV. The local (really great
bytheway) bar is a great example, it is a classy place, somewhat related to this nice new hotel (but I think it may have been there first). The drinks are a dollar or two, and the bartender has about a thousand VCDs including his favorite Lil Wayne and Chris Brown videos (surprisingly limited Kayne selection). One time we were sitting there, watching whatever video Timberland was making an appearance in, and without warning, We Are The World came on. More fun than the impromptu off-key sing-along was spotting all the washed up stars singing their hearts out for the children. This is Africa.

Ethiopia has not failed to live up to expectations musically, and thankfully hyphy music has not made it over here (yet).

Random Thoughts

I have not been blogging as regularly as I would like, but blogger sucks in Ethiopia, and I have been sick this week (possibly parasites), but here are some random ramblings straight from Ethiopia.

I’ve done a couple short excursions the last few weekends, and they have been amazing. We haven’t even gone that far from Addis, 100-200km, but it has been amazing. Really feels like rural Africa with all the accompanying wildlife and nature, with some great lunch spots as well. I’ve taken a lot of pictures, I will try to upload them soon..

Drinking a lot of juice recently. There are these great juice bars all over that have fresh juice. The offerings are inconsistent, but they are always pretty good. It isn’t really like juice, more like a smoothie, but they call it juice. They use mango, papaya, avocado, banana, and some other fruits I don’t know the names of. I usually get a ‘spris’, which is a mix of what ever they have, but they don’t mix it, it’s just layers of each fruit sitting on top of each other. Very good. But I can’t figure out how they make them all the same consistency, no matter what fruits are in it, no matter where you go, they are all about the consistency of pureed banana (even when there is no banana in it), and they stay separated unless you mix them with the spoon they give you. I’m not complaining, it is really good, well worth the 40 cents and chance that they didn’t clean the glass out that well. Of course I squeeze fresh orange juice with breakfast every morning as well. Gotta get my vitamins.

I haven’t read any of the comments on the blog yet. Ethiopian internet won’t let me. Blogger.

I am participating in the Great Ethiopian Run next Sunday. Supposedly it’s the biggest race (most participants) in Africa, something like 24,000 people run 10K. Should be a lot of fun. We are supposed to be taking some of our kids as well, as AHOPE is actually one of the beneficiary charities this year, but it doesn’t seem very organized thus far. I am looking forward to it though.

How bout those Celtics.

I’m looking forward to my parents coming out here in December, though planning things here is always a little tough. Getting straight answers out of people can be challenging, but I guess it is tough in the US as well.

The weeks are flying by. I’ve been sick this week, and I mostly just read, watched tv and slept and it is already Friday. I have less than two months left in Ethiopia, and I haven’t explored half of Addis. This is really an amazing country. I highly recommend it to any Bolivia fans.

Email me your address, and I might send you a postcard. The Ethiopian postal system is amazingly efficient. I am daily astounded.

the photos

Addis Ababa

Merkato

As I have mentioned before, Addis Ababa seems like a very safe city. I
walk alone by myself at night and never fear for my personal safety or
even worry much about theft. Even groups of teenage boys walking
around at night do not seem to have the same pack mentality for
stupidity that their American counterparts often do. Sometime people
will try to engage you in conversation against your will and then ask
you for money, but they are not aggressive. As my guidebook warns, the
one exception to this is at the merkato.

The merkato is supposedly the biggest market in Africa (though the
souk in Cairo seemed bigger to me). It is a confabulation of streets
and alleys in the northwest of the city with ill-defined boundaries,
and everything you can imagine for sale. It is very confusing, even
for locals, as there are no street signs (much like the rest of the
city), and the grimy pavement is packed with people. The busiest day
is Saturday, when people for all over come to sell and shop. This is
also evidently is primetime for pickpockets.

So, looking for adventure, one of my first Saturdays in Addis, I went
out to the test the wisdom of Phillip Briggs and hopped on a vantaxi
headed toward the merkato. The sun was out, and imminent danger to my
faranji skin added to the frenzy. I jumped off the vantaxi somewhere
in the middle of it all, and with my wallet deep down in my front
pocket started to make concentric not-quite circles from my starting
point. I had vague notions about buying a sweater or some sandals, but
mostly I just fended off hawkers and attempted to get my bearings.

I bought some overpriced hangers, because despite the generous size of
my closet it was bereft of hangers. I looked at some sweaters, but
couldn't really find what I was looking for, and the noise and the
smells really doesn't make it a great shopping experience. I started
to wander a little more aimlessly, while at the same time looked for a
vantaxi back to Mexico (yes the intersection I needed to go is called
Mexico). Finding the correct vantaxi started to seem hopeless as I had
no idea where I was, nor any idea where they left from, and I was
considering ponying up the two dollars for a private taxi.

I asked a few people where to go, and unsure of their English
comprehension and their halfhearted pointing in general directions I
continued to wander the streets under the mid-day sun. Someone bumped
into me and grabbed my arm as if he was angry with me for bumping into
him. It took me a few seconds to realize there was someone else
digging in my pocket at the same time.

As soon as I realized what was going on, I yelled something and
grabbed at his arm. He started to move away and I swung wildly at him.
They both ran in different directions, and despite a momentary
inclination, I did not run after them.

I assured the people around me that I was in fact unharmed and still
in possession of all of my belongings. And possibly because of the
adrenaline, I quickly found a vantaxi back to Mexico.

I may venture back to the merkato one of the these days. I still
haven't found a sweater to my liking, but for the most part I am
trying to keep that kind of action and excitement to a minimum, even
if it makes a good blog post.

Giving Dap

One thing I really love about Ethiopia is how everyone greets everyone
with some form of a handshake or hug. Pretty much whenever someone
enters a room, he or she gives dap to everyone in the room. There are
many variations much like in America. There are regular handshakes,
high-fives and pounds, and even the hand shake into the half-hug
(where the right shoulder/chest touches) is common. Some people add
the triple cheek kiss to the half-hug. There are even multi-step hand
shakes that would fit into any NBA warm-up routine. My kids do one
where after grabbing hands they touch pinkies and do a 180 degree
revolution. Needless to say, I am a big fan of all this affirmation
and an enthusiastic practitioner.