Ethiopia Wrap-Up

I’m sitting in Addis Ababa, only a few hours before flying back to Cairo. I have some time on my hands to reflect on this whole experience now. What stands out? What are my overall impressions? What was my favorite part of my time here? Was there something I didn’t like?

I guess I should start with the tourist attractions: the Lake Tana monasteries, the Blue Nile Falls, the Gondar castles and churches, the Aksumite stellae, tombs and palaces, Lalibela’s churches and, of course, the beautiful Simien Mountains. On this level, my verdict is indisputable: Ethiopia’s attractions are impressive, breathtaking, inspiring. The sheer variety of the attractions puts most countries to shame. We were lucky to visit them.

Along with the attractions, I should mention the country’s history and the role of the Orthodox Christian Church. The interplay between legend and reality is, to some extent, refreshing: here, there’s a side to history that involves imagination. I guess historians might not be too satisfied with the absence of much rigor in some of the explanations given for certain historical events (for example, that angels helped build the Lalibela churches), but I do think these “unorthodox” explanations portray a different way of looking at how the world works – a way marked by deeply held faith. And on second thought, I think that maybe many historical discoveries do start with stories and hearsay that historians then prove. In that sense, maybe history here is just in an embryonic state… regardless, what I can say is that I’ve found it to be very interesting.

One more thing I should mention about Ethiopia’s history is the fact that it is the only African country never colonized by Europeans. I think that does give the country a special feel, starting with local people’s fierce pride and love of country. It also calls into question some theories of development – or lack thereof – related to path dependence and colonization. But that, I think, is material for more academic work…

Regarding my impressions as a traveler, and more specifically, the ease and comfort of travel in Ethiopia, my opinions are mixed. It isn’t always interesting or comfortable to travel around Ethiopia (with the exception of Addis, to which I will come back later). Finding a decent hotel, with ok beds, a private bathroom, a shower with at least cold water, and a working toilet is relatively easy. But if you’re looking for something better, with a nice, spotless bathroom and a firm bed with fitted sheets, you’re usually out of luck. In essence, I would say that for the backpacker, like us, it’s great when it comes to cheap hotels with the basics, but for travelers looking for higher quality, it would be more of a challenge.

Beyond the comfort of hotels, one problem which afflicts all of Ethiopia is unreliable electricity. Many times we found ourselves in the dark at night, or unable to charge our camera battery or find a computer during the day. Sometimes the entire day would go by without power. Another similar problem involves the internet… suffice it to say that it is usually SLOW.

One last problem is the poor condition of the road network. Getting around from one place to another could take over two days on a bus! Luckily, Ethiopia Airlines flies to the major locations, so for the most part, we flew around.

Now, with these problems out of the way, I should get to one of Ethiopia’s treasures (and I don’t want to sound too cliché or cheesy): its people. With a few exceptions, most Ethiopians treated us, the foranyi (foreigners) well. They were graceful, welcoming and completely trustworthy. One outstanding thing about this country is that it is completely safe, which brings me to a question which I’ve already mentioned before: why is it so safe despite being so poor? Another interesting question for the academics…

I also want to quickly mention some of our fellow travelers (Kimmie will talk more about them in her blog entry). I think we were very lucky to meet some truly interesting people – and maybe that’s related to Ethiopia and the type of people interested in traveling here. In general, I think travelers here will find other travelers who’s company they’ll enjoy.

Finally, I should do some justice to Addis. In my first entry, I made it sound like a small, shack-covered city. Today we walked around quite a bit, and the city is actually pretty modern. Plus, the national university campus is gorgeous. I wish Guatemala had a national university campus like that one. It used to be Haile Sellassie’s palace and he donated it to start the university.