Adventure In Ethiopia: Journey Out of Jimma

Well it may appear like Manny and I have fallen off the face of the earth but in reality we escaped Jimma to explore more of Ethiopia. We were very lucky this week because Professor Solomon and the dean of JUCAVM and another professor were headed out of town to three days of meetings to present a project proposal. They realized that we’ve been getting antsy to get out of Jimma and brought us along to explore. The journey began with an early morning departure for the long 6-7 hour journey to Addis Ababa. The drive is an incredible drive down a perfect road through the mountains, the Gibe valley and passing through the rural villages watching people plow fields and work their fingers to the bone. The road zigzags through the mountains and can be rough on the tummy as Mannfred learned the hard way. Perhaps next time he’ll take my advice about gravol because he had the pleasure of enjoying breakfast twice along the trip.

Our afternoon in Addis started by dropped off the dean at the Netherlands Embassy and we continued to do some touristy things like visiting Mount Entoto the highest peak that looks over the city of Addis. We saw one of the first Orthox churchs, the Palace of King Menelik and Taitu as well as the incredible view of the city. Remember we’re at the top of a mountain and approximately 3000m above sea level and once again Mannfred and I can feel the drop in oxygen level as we panted everywhere we walked. My camera even recognized the height change and automatically went to airplane mode (isn’t that telling).

We continued from Addis to a small town about 45 minutes away (depending on traffic) called Debrezeit also known as Bishooftu (recent name change) which is where the meetings would be taking place in the following days. Once settled into our hotel Mannfred and I couldn’t help but laugh at the design of my Austin Powers suite. I had sweet gold bed covering, blue and pink curtains, 70’s style upholstered chairs, a lava lamp and a drawer full of contraceptives and candles.

During our days when the professors were in meetings we did some touring around with our driver Tilahun. Tilahun’s English is rough but my Amharic is even rougher, needless to say we spent a good portion of the time having language lessons and I’ve learned the most important phrase yet, “I don’t know”. Tilahun drove us around Bishooftu where we got to see some of the many lakes in the area which Mannfred realized is the first time we’ve seen a large body of water since leaving home. We also visited a large farm which is extremely developed and has poultry, dairy and plant sections where they produce their own yoghurt and pasteurized milk as well as a small grocer where they sell all their fresh vegetables. It was quite an impressive operation to see. One of our favourite things we did in town was visit the Lemma Guya Art Center. This was so cool to see because I’ve primarily been exposed to western art techniques and the style of the artist brought in some folksy elements but at the same time remaining quite realistic. The majority of the paintings were done on animal hide and he used the fur on the hide as a way of texturizing the clothing in the painting while removing the fur where faces and arms were. It also became apparent in the art how much he love his country with the focus of the paintings either being on a geographical or cultural element of the country or a famous or influential person in Ethiopian history whether it was a painting of Aba Jaffar or Haile Gebreselassie.

Not only did Mannfred and I get to explore touristy sites but we were also able to visit some supermarkets which may sound pathetic but it was super exciting for us and we made our first purchase of Peanut M&Ms since being in Ethiopia. Our excitement level was through the roof. Stay Tuned and Mannfred will fill you in on the remainder of the trip.

Suze

View of Bishooftu Lake