After three days of struggling to obtain an Ethiopian visa I was finally
successful. The first time I tried the place was shut due to the President having died recently and the second time I arrived at 08.30 which, due to the massive number of people there was far too late. The third day I got to the embassy at 07.30 and went to the window to hand in the form I’d filled out the day before.
After waiting in a scrum of about 150 people in the sun for two hours I discovered I had to fight ( literally ) my way back to this window to get a small plastic card with a number on it before they would let me in the building. When I say scrum I really mean it, no-body queues here it’s just push in shove in any way you can get in regardless. Being crushed in between that number of people for 2 hours was a nightmare , I knew that if I didn’t get in and get the visa the whole thing was off.
Made it into the building where all was calm and handed over my passport, and a copy of my passport, and two photo’s and the form and was told to come back at 13.00. $20 later I had the precious visa, valid for 60 days no less. Result.
Early the next day I caught a tuk-tuk to the chaotic al-minari bus station and got on the wrong bus. Got off the wrong bus and onto the right one and 7 hours later I was in Gedaref. From there it was another 4 hours to the border town of Gallabat through grasslands and circular thatched mud huts at the roadside. Much more African than the desert I’d been travelling through so far.
Gallabat. 300 metres from the Ethiopian border turned out to be the end of the earth. A terrible nowhere shanty town thrown up either side of the road with broken down shacks made of corrugated iron, torn plastic sheets, tyres and scrap timber. Deep pools of stagnant black water were everywhere providing an ideal breeding ground for thousands of mosquitoes which came out in droves as soon as the sun set.
The only available light was from the odd flickering low energy bulb and the glowing red charcoal fires underneath the blackened tin teapots. Were it not for the throbbing generators the scene could have been medieval.
No mains drainage no water except that which was hand pumped from the nearby river and no power apart from filthy diesel generators spewing black fumes into the air. The alleyways of this “town” were populated entirely by teashacks and filthy cafes serving beans and stew from huge metal containers. With nowhere else to eat I dug in and it was tasty, if you could ignore the flies crawling everywhere and the stink of sewage. Once again I find myself amazed that I’m not six feet under from cholera or typhoid.
And so we come to the “hotel”. A wooden sign nailed to a piece of car bumper announced the only place in town and what a delightful establishment it was! Constructed of forty foot steel shipping containers with the sides cut off Moon and I were shown a tiny space with three filthy beds in it and a bare light bulb hanging from a cable sticking through the wall. Not that the light mattered that much as there was no power at first.
Obviously with no water it was impossible even to wash let alone shower and the single hole in the ground toilet out the back was crawling with fat white maggots. The door was hanging on by one broken hinge and the whole cubicle was leaning over at a crazy angle.
We took the room which at $1.80 each was way overpriced. I have never stayed in a worse place anywhere but it was either that or nothing. Next into “town” to see how far away the border was to discover packs of kids, some looking as young as seven or eight prowling the street sniffing glue with eyes like blood oranges and drooling at the mouth.
I retired to the accommodation to discover the generator was now working 10 metres behind my head as I lay in bed. This made things much worse as you could now see the place. Just before retiring I was advised to stay inside after dark as it was too dangerous to go out. “People die here” I think were the words used and the guy who said it wasn’t joking.
Surprisingly I slept really well and the next morning, still caked in filth from the day before we crossed the border into Metema, Ethiopa. This turned out to be a bigger version of Gallabat only with bars and prostitutes.
Straight onto a minibus to Gonder through some amazing mountainous scenery with the driver stoned on Khat ( a narcotic plant chewed here ) and driving on the wrong side of the road most of the way. Five police checkpoints were passed through and at each one it was off the bus and passport, where are you going, where have you been and blah blah blah. I was surprised that the last one was a female cop. Guess I’ve been in Islamic countries too long.
Right now it’s the rainy season in northern Ethiopia and when they say rainy they mean absolute ****ing deluge. Approaching Gonder it was impossible to see through the minibus windows and the streets were a foot deep in water, they still are. Crossed a bridge over a river and the water was a raging brown torrent with parts of the river bank being torn away as I watched. Worrying.
Made it to a pension which seemed ok at first but has since proved to have no running water and six hour long power cuts. Moon left for Addis Ababa this morning ( a 24hr bus journey ) and I’m leaving for Bahir Dar on a no doubt extremely cramped and uncomfortable minibus tomorrow.
The rain is a serious problem as I have no waterproofs or warm clothes, it’s cold here too, and my only pair of jeans are as soaked as my holey trainers. ****ing weather. At least it only lasts another month!
Tell you more about Ethiopia next time if I haven’t died of Pneumonia.
Take it easy J xxx.
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