A Week in Ethiopia Lemon Love

By Heidi Kingstone

Ethiopia is surprisingly not simply all fly covered starving babies, and while Addis Ababa is a polluted, bustling city, the fourth largest in Africa, with new hotels, modern cafes mostly sprouted up in the last five years and much construction, you cannot get away from the fragile existence of most of its people. Addis to Bahir Dar and then Gonder, known as Africa’s Camelot, takes you through some of the most striking, varied, fertile and constantly changing landscapes – sweeping, lush, and mountainous to a stark panoramas, all of it unexpected and breath-taking, a total contrast to the tragic images seared in most peoples’ minds about this historic country.

Driving through the country many unique images of Ethiopian life strike you. Boys with long skinny legs poking out of baggy shorts rest on long thin poles chatting by the roadside. Women, bent over from the weight of the flat dung patties or water urns loaded onto their backs, walk long distances often in bare feet. You pass sun-faded ping pong tables and equal numbers of Subuteo, table soccer games, parked along the road. With Ethiopia’s impressive record at the Olympics you see hopeful runners, male and female, striding ibex-like. Lemon Love, though, occurs only in Gonder, and only on January 18th. In the morning boys go to the market to pick a lemon to find their love. In the evening they go to Fasiladas’ Bath. When a man sees a girl he likes they start the shoulder dance – which is exactly what it sounds like – shaking shoulders at the love palace – a crowd gathers round clapping, (the girl dances too), and then the boy throws the lemon. If she catches it, they start to date. If she lets it drop, then they don’t. As for coffee lovers, they should take note, this is where the original source of Arabica, and it’s difficult to find a bad cup unless stewed by reheating.

ADDIS ABABA

WHAT TO SEE

Fight the rush-hour traffic, the ghastly plumes of black smoke and heavy-duty pollution as you pass men balancing a tower of cartons on their heads, donkeys carting everything imaginable, herds of goats and sheep, street children, Orthodox priests, and Fascist architecture. Somehow it combines to make it effortless Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a devoutly religious country, the Christians, mainly Orthodox, which means that you can wear anything you like – although you will want to cover up when visiting churches. If you only see one church, which is what I did, go to St George’s Cathedral (and Museum), built by Emperor Menelik and dedicated to Ethiopia’s patron saint. Our official guide was amazing, with a superior knowledge of English, history, a great story-telling ability and worth every birr (the local currency).

Don’t miss Lucy, the oldest and most complete hominid ever found, and named after the Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. She’s a small, tiny thing, 3.2 million years old, discovered in Hadar northeast Ethiopia in 1974 ?, and in her weird little way quite amazingly beautiful for a bi-pedal skeleton now living at the National Museum even if the two replicas are casts.

If you want to be inspired by the selfless work of others go to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital where Dr Catherine Hamlin has pioneered work for 50 years along with her extraordinary team – 17,000 of Oprah Winfrey’s viewers were moved to donate enough money to establish a centre there. The hospital, an oasis of calm and hope, depends on charity. PO Box 3609 tel 01137 165 44). Feven Haddis works there as the public relations officer also runs Blue & Rose Travel and Tours (cell +251 911 646 492 feven_haddis@yahoo.com), with her husband.

WHERE TO STAY

I stayed at the Ras Amba Hotel (tel. +2511 122 8080 rahot@ethionet.et, www.tourismethiopia.org PO Box 34063). The service is fabulous, the coffee virtually undrinkable (unique in Ethiopia) but they are friendly, efficient and enormously helpful. The hotel is clean and conveniently located. For more luxury, and higher prices, there is the Addis Ababa Hilton, some new hotels nearby in Kasabchise and also the luxurious Sheraton Hotel, which seems as far out of Africa as you can imagine.

WHERE TO HANG OUT

I got obsessed by the macchiatos at Yeshi Buna, a chain of restaurants, on Stadium Street. I drank absolutely perfect cups of coffee, and the painted coffee bean décor was modern Ethiopian. A fun place to hang out. Try the fasting (vegetarian) firfir and injera – a traditional staple – flat spongy sour bread the size of a flying saucer served with every meal and used with fingers to eat with instead of cutlery. It’s harder to master than you think. Only use your right hand.

As it happens the Addis Ababa Hilton was built in the classic 1961 Hilton-style that I particularly like. The recently redecorated lobby bar is also a great place to go for an early evening drink – not only for the delicious canapés that appear out of no where – and for the buzz-y atmosphere of the international and local scene. As a contrast there are also the national song and dance locations (‘asmari bet’ bet=house) -such as Fendika in Kasanchise.

WHAT TO BUY

Vegetarians beware. Animal skin is used for everything, particularly the lunchboxes you see farmers carrying. Goatskin covers woven baskets with a conical top and round bottom. Agelgil come in a huge variety of sizes and are so fabulous that a very chic French woman at the airport in Cairo wanted to buy mine. Despite being typically rural, as with much African art and artefacts, they blend in beautifully with modern design when you get back home. Ethiopian silver is also wonderful as is amber. I went for the cheaper resin – as I am not passionate about amber – you need to know how to identify the good quality stuff but it’s available. Remember that old Latin expression – caveat emptor – buyer beware. Everyone goes to the sprawling market that some claim is Africa’s largest – the Merkato – it’s well worth seeing – but be warned about pickpockets and confidence scams. Leba, thief in Amharic, seems to be the word all faranjis (foreigners) learn. Open 8:30-7pm Monday to Saturday.

I would avoid the Friendship Mall, except for Yadot Sovenirs (sic) where you can get a fair price for silver jewellery (2nd floor room SF215 +251 911 419934), gleaming but not interesting. Check out the Italian architecture of the Piazza, atop the hill at Churchill Avenue’s north end, which has many shops with piles of typically Ethiopian items to buy – wooden boxes painted with the faces of saints, Orthodox crosses, silver jewellery, traditional knives. I found the shops expensive and not willing to seriously bargain. Then again, you see something that’s cheap at one place you inevitably pay more for something else at another. Gallery 21 (Churchill Ave) is expensive but with a great selection. Ask to see the back room.

BAHIR DAR

The journey to Bahir Dar by car from Addis takes a good 12-hours, not always on the very best roads, but not by a long stretch the worst roads in the country or on the continent, and worth the trip (count on it costing just over $100.00 per day for a van). You drive through some of the country’s most beautiful and interesting scenery including a river canyon area. En route stop at a new restaurant and hotel called Dejene. It has lava floors, and traditional interiors, with a limited menu – when I was there it was scrambled eggs (firfir enkulal) with chilli and injera.

The town of Bahir Dar has wide palm-lined boulevards that lead to Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest and the source of the Blue Nile, making it a pretty big lake. The problem with a week in Ethiopia, a country the size of France and Spain, is there is so much to do. Have a drink in the gardens of the Tana Hotel, on the banks of the lake, but avoid dinner – the food isn’t great.

I stayed at the Summerland Hotel (0582 206566 www.enjoybahirdar.com) which was clean and convenient. I didn’t try the ‘fried lamp’ (I love foreign menus) on offer at the restaurant but strangely the pasta with meat sauce was excellent – thanks to the Italians who occupied the country from 1936 – 1941.

The first day started with a speed boat trip across the lake to Azuwa Maryam, on the Zege Peninsula, one of 37 monasteries. It is a five minute walk after a 45-minute boat trip on calm waters past pelicans and a lone hippo. Women can only visit certain monasteries, and this was one of them, and well worth it. The paintings of the saints and brightly coloured scenes from the bible and the Book of Mary are quite riveting, if not older than 100 years or so, and the guides (there are always guides and guides for guides so bring lots of birr in small change for tips, you need to tip everyone, and admission) are excellent. Recover from this little excursion (and the sickly smell of frankincense) after with a coffee offered outside. Then back to the speedboat to go to the source of the Blue Nile, which heads 5223k to the Mediterranean, and see the papyrus boats, tankwa.

Back on land and a brief stop at the roadside kiosks near the ANRS Tourism Commission to buy goatskin lunchboxes and pouffs used by Ethiopians to sit on.

Then on to the Blue Nile Falls, Tis Isat, the water that smokes, 32 kilometres southeast of Bahir Dar. Once the most fantastic falls in Africa, it is now 75 percent less due to a hydroelectric project. Still worth a visit, you take s short boat ride, then walk past khat plants, lots of beautiful and tenacious little girls flogging typical (and wonderful) Ethiopian items/souvenirs, cows and stunning scenery.

Evening entertainment is first rate, especially if you enjoy being the butt of jokes you don’t understand. Head to Balageru Cultural Club to experience extraordinary feats of human coordination called traditional dancing from around the country. Azmari, wondering minstrels, and the accompanying masenko, single-strand fiddle, poke fun at everyone, but particularly faranji who have no choice but to laugh at themselves (and pay for the privilege) as a heaving room of Ethiopians look and then collapse in hysterics. Charming.

Next head to the African stone castles of GONDER Ethiopia’s once new capital that was established in 1636, when Emperor Fasiladas relocated there and since 1979 a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Old palaces, banqueting halls, saunas – used as a cure for syphilis – ghost gardens, it is shockingly wonderful. Take the 90-minute tour of the Royal Enclosure (and the Lion House, where Abyssinian lions were kept until 1992). Head next 2k to Fasiladas’ Bath (admission included with Royal Enclosure ticket). Once a year during Timket, Orthodox Epiphany celebrated on January 19th, the day after lemon love, the bath is filled and after a blessing from a priest, to resemble Christ’s baptism in the River Jordan, everyone jumps in.

End or begin the trip with a coffee made from an old Italian coffee machine in the Italianite piazza in Gonder.

WOLLENKA (FALASHA VILLAGE)

It’s a sad place to visit, only 6k from Gonder, and once the home to Ethiopia’s Jewish community that was largely airlifted to Israel between 1985 – 1991. The synagogue’s key holder is a woman is with a tattoo of a cross on her forehead. Even if you claim to be one of the Queen of Sheba’s descendants, it would be hard to convince the Israeli government that you are a member of the lost tribe. The synagogue is not particularly interesting, it’s a round decaying building that has a disintegrating star of David on the ceiling. The adjacent building is locked, used for storage and surrounded by dried out dung patties used as fuel. To remind you of the religious history you forgot, the Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian, went to Israel where she met Solomon, king of the Jews. She returned to Ethiopia to have his child, Menelik I, the first Emperor of Ethiopia. Before Christianity took root, Judaism was the country’s dominant religion. The dozens of handmade pottery pieces showing the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon in bed together under a Jewish star are badly crafted, but buying them goes to support a good cause. The poverty is overwhelming, as is the lack of hygiene, but walking through the village, seeing where injera is made and how villagers actually live, was the most intriguing part.