(semi) Sweet 16

After amazing experiences in Nepal and Oman, we were anxious to see what Ethiopia, the 16th country on our trip & our first country on the African continent, held in store for us.  As the title of this post probably gives away, Ethiopia was a mixed bag.

First, here's what we liked: 

~ Checking out the university that many of Stephanie's students in Colorado attended before they emigrated to the US ~

~ Meeting Lucy & some of our other prehistoric ancestors ~ 

 

~ Enjoying a night of jazz music (Ethiopian jazz is a genre all its own) ~

~ Eating tibbs (meat & injera) ~ 

~ Exploring early Christianity at Bahir Dar ~

~ The road trip from Bahir Dar to Gondar ~ 

~ Hanging out in castles in Gondar ~

~ Visiting the famed monolithic churches in Lalibela ~ 

~ Walking through the Saturday market in Lalibela ~

~ Hiking to Asheten Mariam Monastery on a Sunday morning and seeing Ethiopian churches in action ~

~ Discovering that Denver is Axum's sister city! ~

~ Seeing Queen Sheba's bath & ancient stelae in Axum, Ethiopia's first capital ~

~ Taking part in several Ethiopian coffee ceremonies ~

 

After all this, we imagine you're wondering why we aren't head-over-heels in love with Ethiopia.  We've been trying to figure that out ourselves and after two months of processing (we were there June 5-19), we think we have some clarity.

We are ferenj (white) and for many in Ethiopia that means we are rich.  There wasn't a day during our two weeks there when we weren't synonymous with money.  We'd book and pay for a tour and then once we got to the sites, we'd discover that the "tour" was actually just transportation and we had to pay more to enter and more for a guide.  We'd board the bus, pay for our ticket, and then were the only ones who also had to pay for our luggage.  Twenty times a day (I kid you not - I counted) we had this conversation:   

Ethiopian: Hello!

Brian: Hello!

Ethiopian: Where are you from?

Brian: America.

Ethiopian: I have friends in America. 

Brian: Where?

Ethiopian:  In Washington, D.C.

Brian: Really?!  I used to live near there.  What's your name?

Ethiopian: Will you buy me a dictionary/juice/a jersey?  (sometimes people even asked Brian for the shirt he was wearing)

Brian: No.

Ethiopian: But you are from America.  You are rich.

Brian: No, I'm not buying you anything. 

Ethiopian: But these other Americans bought my friend a dictionary/juice/a jersey.

Brian: No, I'm not buying you anything.

Ethiopian: But I have no money.

Brian: No, I'm not buying you anything.  Good-bye.

We grew terribly frustrated at having this same apathetic interaction over and over again, at always having to pay exorbitant prices (it cost more to see churches in Ethiopia than the pyramids in Egypt), at repeatedly being singled out.  It got to the point that we started telling people we were from Uzbekistan or talking to each other in Espanol or ignoring people who started talking to us so that they wouldn't ask us for anything.  We protested paying $2 extra for our luggage and wouldn't pay the entrance fees to go to sites (even after paying for the transportation there) sheerly on principle.   

Feeling like we had to be detached and disingenuous in our interactions with people wasn't natural for us and wore us down.  But we were also disheartened because we knew we were treated as merely dollar signs as a result of the culture the west has facilitated around aid and charity.  We met more aid workers than tourists in Ethiopia and only one of them actually lived in the country, so the fact that our interactions with many Ethiopians were give-and-take type exchanges and not at all relational ultimately wasn't a surprise…but it was a bummer.  

And that's why Ethiopia is our (semi) Sweet 16.   

Brian being asked for his shirt.