Mt Wenchi – the Crater Lake

What a fantastic weekend! I just returned from my first excursion out of Addis. It certainly took long enough! This weekend Anja, my fellow intern at the UN, and I made the trek to Mt Wenchi, a large crater lake a few hours west of Addis in Oromoia. I stumbled upon thus destination last weekend when we could see Mt Wenchi from our hike to the rock church in Addis.

I was lucky enough to meet up with a fellow from trip advisor who gave me the number of Merisa, an amazing man who founded the community based eco-tourism association in Wenchi. Wenchi is a relatively remote town located around 3,000 meters about 3 hrs outside of Addis. The ‘modern’ town is right next to the ring of the crater, about 8,000 people, while inside the crater the ‘old’ town consists of about 4,000 folks.

On Friday we met with Merisa and his friend Kifle at the Mercato bus station which is one CRAZY place. That night, we took a 3 hr minibus out to Woliso, a small but lovely town to the south of Wenchi. There’s the famed Negash lodge there, which is supposed to be one of the nicest in Ethiopia, but we didn’t stay there since we’d be there less than 12 hrs.

The following morning we jumped on the once a week bus to Wenchi! It takes off on Saturday morning in anticipation of the Sunday market, returning Sunday afternoon after everyone has done their shopping. The drive up was magnificent, with enset (false banana), barley, cattle, and tuktuks everywhere.

Arriving around noon in Woliso we were treated to a nice lunch and coffee made by Merisa’s wife in the back of his small shop in town. Once this was wolfed down, we quickly went to the community tourist office to head out for our 4-5 hr hike around the lake!

Starting at the top of the crater we took the shortcut, consisting of very very steep switchbacks down the mountain. While the views of the lake were beautiful, the houses and farms are what made it for me. After completing the steep climb down we found ourselves in a lovely small village. Realizing most the farmers subsisted off enset here (they also grow potatoes and barley) I asked the guide if it is possible to try some! He promptly took us to his aunt’s house where she prepared the enset bread for us.

In this region enset takes 10 years to mature, at which point the cut down the plant, strip its outside leaves/bark, and put it in the ground to ferment. Once this process is complete the enset can be stored in the ground for up to five years. Talk about food security!

Once we crossed the lake there was majestic scenery right out of Lord of the Rings.

After wandering past the hot springs we started the trek back up the crater, however it was starting to get dark and next thing we knew we were in the midst of a major thunderstorm. Now, it’s currently the dry season here and it hasn’t rained in the entire 2 months since I’ve been here, but it sure rained cats and dogs for the last hour of our trip. When we got back to the house it was almost pitch black, we were drenched, and it was frigid! Nights here are freezing, and the temp probably dropped from 60 down to 40 in the last stretch of our hike, making for one frozen Mark.

Luckily when we returned to Merisa’s house they had already started a charcoal fire for us to warm over. I had brought bread, peanut butter, and jelly, and proceeded to make everyone PB&Js which they found peculiar yet delicious! In this region none of these exist, though they had eaten peanut butter before. Dinner was Injera (the flat Ethiopian bread made from teff) and two types of Shiro (powdered lentils turned into a delicious deep red peppery stew and another made of Chickpea flower mixed with whole chickpeas, providing a rich yellow color). The dinner was fantastic, and we had a great time laughing with everyone. 

The following morning we tried to sleep in, but seeing as it was Sunday the prayers started around 6:30 and went through most of the morning. The load speaker, a recent installation since the town only received electricity 2 years ago, makes it sound like the priest is right in your room up close and personal!

In response, we hit the local Tej (honey wine) joint and enjoyed a morning drink with fried bread as we awaited the market to get going. While most markets start early in the morning in the city, the one in Wenchi didn’t get cranking till around noon since many people trek in with their horses and donkeys from up 30 or more kilometers away.

After the market we hung out and enjoyed the scenary for a while prior to catching a ride to Addis in the back of a SUV. Miresa had arranged this for us which was fantastic, because it only took 2.5 hrs to get from Wenchi back to addis, a HUGE time saver. I really loved spending time in Wenchi and would love to go back soon.

This community is one of the few success stories in Ethiopia, reflecting the power of community organization. Now the community based tourism office provides hundreds of jobs to the locals and keeps tourism dollars right here in Wenchi. Since it’s a weekend destination from Addis this frees them up to work the farms during the week. Given that the community is located inside a crater land is extremely scarce, with families farming only about an acre each. 

While the town had only recently received electricity and had no running water one thing that really struck me was the lack of extreme poverty here. Virtually everyone in town looked healthy, with no beggars and everyone appearing to be cared for, representing a stark difference from Addis. When discussing this with community members, everyone explained that starvation has never been a problem here; after all they rely on enset, which is very drought resistant and can be stored for years. Additionally the community charges everyone a 15% tax on income to provide for the ‘community fund’, which takes care of those in need and ensures the local school is well supported. Wenchi was a wonderful place, and one that I hope to return to soon.

December 1, 2014

Well, I’m 6 weeks into my time here in Ethiopia and things are going well.

This weekend I went for a jaunt up to Washa-Mikael, the only rock hewn church in the Addis region. While some priests and early scholars of the Orthodox church date the ruins to 380 A.D. recent scholars suggest the church was built in the 12^th or 13^th century. The church is nevertheless the oldest structure of its type in Sub-Saharan Africa.

I met up with Anja, another UN intern, and took a taxi out to the British Embassy where we started our 1.5 hr hike up to the church. While there were no signs or directions to be found anywhere online or near the church, we relied on locals for help. Luckily after our first 15 minutes we met a lovely women hiking up to her home, perhaps 400 meters above the city limit.

She gladly took us along and showed us the way until we came up to a small collection of houses in the mountains where she lived. The journey up took us through eucalyptus forests, first planted around the turn of the 20^th century with the help of the Australians. The trees ‘saved’ the relatively new city (Addis) since their fast growth supplied the capital with ample firewood. In fact Menelik II, the emperor of Ethiopia from 1889-1913 started building a new capital city to replace Addis due to the fuel shortage, though this project was abandoned thanks to the eucalyptus.

From there we continued towards the church, passing next to a small village that combined livestock rearing and crop production. About 2/3 of the houses in this village had sheet metal roofs, while the remaining were the traditional round thatch roof huts.

Continuing on our trek we passed by cattle on the outskirts of the village and soon arrived at the church entrance. One thing that’s frustrating here is foreigners (ferenji) have to pay 100 birr ($5) to enter this, or any other church in the city for that matter. Granted, I’m happy to support the churches and the communities they reside in, but my understanding is that the church administration receives all the money, providing no funds for either the priests or local communities.

 When approaching from the back, you can’t tell anything is there.

Walk about 40 feet away however and you’re blown away by the ruins of a church that provided services for 1,500 years!

To enter, you walk into this long narrow tunnel, taking off your shoes beforehand.

We then spent the next half hour or so exploring the ruins, and appreciating this beautiful piece of history. Sadly the ruins are in great disrepair and are in dire need of funds to ensure no further damage ensues. Scholars are currently working to get UNESCO to denote the church a world heritage site, which would provided a great deal of financial support, however this is still in the works.

Daily Life

Being is Addis is a bit strange seeing as I’m living here as opposed traveling. Most days are sadly eaten up by work, especially due to the major setbacks with surgery prior to leaving. I wish I’d had more time to explore the city these first few weeks, but work and a major conference last weekend I’ve now had a total of 4 days off since I’ve arrived.

Of course we can’t always let work get in the way! The goal moving forward is to try and get out of the city a bit and see the country. After all only about 15% of the countries population lives in cities, so it’s hard to get a feel for Ethiopia sitting in the capital…especially behind a desk in the UN compound!

Although I’ve been cooped up working most the weekend, I finally had a chance to explore the city a bit by night without the group of local guys I usually hang out with. On Friday I met Claudio for a drink at one of the local bars. Most the local bars are small rooms, maybe 10’ X 10’, where you hang out, throw back a few local beers, and snack of peanuts and a variety of dried peas. The drink of choice is usually beer since it’s local and cheap. There are a few decent local varieties including St. George, Walla, and Amber. Although wine has just begun to be produced in the country, primarily under the French conglomerate Castle, it’s really expensive! Beer it is.

On Saturday I met up with two of the fellow interns, Anja and Amanda, to seek out a French restaurant with rave reviews. I know what you’re thinking, “French food in Ethiopia!?” Well, too many people recommended it to pass it up. Prior to journeying to La Mandoline we had to take a few minutes to explore the small, but moving Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum.

The Red Terror (1974-1976) was a terrible time in Ethiopian History. The Derg, a military regime, had just overthrown the Emperor Haile Selassie and proceed to exterminate any and all opposition. In a short period of time, the Derg killed an estimated 500,000 people. The Museum is a reminder of this horrific past, providing a heartbreaking but notable display.

Following a 45 minute walk and some U-turns we found the restaurant! Whenever you try to get anywhere here you need a landmark. First, most streets don’t have names. The ones that do change constantly. What’s printed in the guidebook may be recognizable to other ex pats, but certainly not to the local population. If you come from one region of the city, you may refer to a street by a certain name, while another region of the city calls that same street by another! To boot, the city is under more construction than I’ve ever seen, with roads appearing and disappearing daily.

Once we got to the restaurant I quickly realized this would be my first night really hitting the ex pat spots. The Restaurant was decent, though didn’t live up to my expectations. What did hit me was the fact that it clearly primarily catered to the ex pat community which was a strange feeling since I hadn’t been to that kind of place yet. Luckily the meal finished with a lemon tart that was good…though nothing compared to what Emily can make!

After three hours it was off to another almost exclusively ex pat place O’ Cananda. I’d had many people recommend the place, though I hadn’t ventured out since night travel here is a bit of a challenge and very expensive. It was a fine time, though I’d much preferred to have been in a local place. It was an interesting change of pace though to see what the weekends are like for that community within Addis.

Alright, off to the market to get a bit of food for the week! I’ve been scheming how to make Thanksgiving dinner, knowing ingredients may be limited. Since turkey isn’t available, chicken it is! You see beef available everywhere, but I’ve only seen live chickens. I’ll keep you posted as I figure out what I’ll make!

O, and here is a street snack I ate the other day. I usually love street food, but I've now had 2 locals warn me strongly against it. Perhaps I'll stop eating it? Haven't had any tummy issues yet! 

And since many asked for more photos, here are my two favorite puppies I see every morning! 

Settling in

Well, it’s been a week and a half now and I’ve slowly been settling into life in Addis. Perhaps the most challenging part of being here thus far is the battle between working hours and the sun. A typical day for me starts out around 7:00 AM when the Genet (the maid/cook) comes and wakes me up with 2 glasses of juice, some coffee, and whatever the inspires her that morning. Actually I was pleasantly surprised with warm chocolate cake with strawberries on Monday, boy what a breakfast! Then it’s off to work on foot. Walking through my neighbor in the morning is always a joy, as there are school children everywhere in adorable uniforms! Whenever a group in front of me sees me they always whisper to all their friends who can’t help but look and giggle at the goofy foreigner. They get suck a kick at of using their English and telling me their names.

Once I’m on the main street the first thing that hits you is the air. Addis  has by far the worst air quality I have ever experienced! Part of this is from the fact that no emission standards exist and cars and trucks constantly douche you in huge black clouds of smoke, but the fact that it’s so dry here is almost worst. The dust is unrelenting as it penetrated everywhere, covering you in a not so fine layer of the brown stuff. It really took me a few days to get used to it, and there’s no way I can make it walking the 35 minutes from my home to work without drinking almost an entire Nalgene! I’ve never felt parched 24/7 before and boy is that unpleasant. Then it’s back into the slums (as they call it) to take a short cut which drops me on top of Meskel Square. Now if you haven’t heard of this place before, look it up! Every morning and evening you see hundreds of runners gather here to train, from the weekend worrier to Olympic athlete. If you can actually make it through the entire thing you’ve just completed an entire marathon! After this place the walk is a bit boring, just heading up some streets and crossing INSANE roads to get to work. The drivers and beyond crazy and nobody stops for pedestrians. You just say your prayers and run! Now the main difficulty for me is heading home. Work runs every day from 8:30-5:30 and if I don’t leave by 5:45 it’s rather dark when I arrive back home. This wouldn’t bother me too much, but I’ve been having to carry my laptop with me every day which concerns me in the evening. The first week has been a real challenge, as I’d be harassed multiple times a day every day, BUT the past two days have been hassle free which has been a fantastic change. Nevertheless, I’m certainly not comfortable walking around after dark and taxis are rather expensive, making social life in the evenings rather impossible during the week.

Now for the fun!

On the weekend Claudio, my host, brought me to the market with him after showing me around his workshop for a few hours. What a great experience that was! This is the stall where we bought all our food. I splurged on the following items:

3 kilo papaya

3 kilo banana

2 kilo avocado

1 kilo red onion

1 kilo hot peppers (not too spice, but they are fantastic)

1 kilo sweet potatoes

1 kilo tomatoes

½ kilo garlic

And the grand total? $10! I couldn’t believe it! I have to be honest though, I had grant plans of cooking but I’ve just been to worn out since I’ve been here so I’ve sadly left most of that up to Genet, though later I’ll tell you a bit about my brief stint cooking Thursday evening!

Next I decided I wasn’t being adventurous enough so I decided to get some street food. On my way out of the neighborhood to meet some of the other interns from the UN I stopped and grabbed a lentil sambussa. I have to say, it was warm, crispy, spicy, and overall delicious, though when I got home and told the house about it they all scolded me and told me never to do that again! They (the locals I’m living with) claim that nobody eats street food here and it’s generally considered very very low quality. They said that most people may only change the oil every few months, and certainly the sanitation conditions are non existent. Well, lucky for me I enjoyed it and my stomach has been strong ever since I arrived!

Later that day we headed up to Mt. Entoto to get a nice view of the city. The view was OK, but by far the best part was the fresh air! O to breath deep again! We took 2 minibuses to get there, then had to take a taxi for the last little bit which proved to be a frustrating experience but all was worked out. After viewing the church and museum, we stopped at a lovely buna (coffee) spot overlooking both the city and the country. Here they made us fantastic coffee as we relax, enjoyed, the view, and laughed at each other as I attempted to make conversation in Amharic.

On another note, I’m dealing with all my silly 1^st world problems. The internet has basically been down for my first eleven days (though it works at the UN most the time) and finally came back on last night! I was so excited to have the chance to skype and check my e-mail from home, though sometimes not being connected is relaxing.

Tonight when I got home Genet told me I could help her cook, but of course not till I ate my diner first! She served me up three lovely dishes on Injera, including stewed green beans and garlic, a chick pea tomato stew, and some oniony collard greens. Next, Salesh (the guard) was building a fire to start the doro wat for Sunday’s celebration. It’s Lydia (Claudio’s daughter) first birthday! I’ve been really excited about experiencing an Ethiopian BBQ, though I just found out from work that this weekend it the African Economic Summit at the UN and I’m expected to be there taking notes and reporting back. Don’t get me wrong, I like the opportunities, but I just want to relax and take in as many experiences here as possible.

That’s all for now! If you have any questions about life in Addis let me know and I’ll do my best!

Chow (left over from the Italian occupation of course),

Mark