A WEEKEND IN YEMEN

My friend Rodrigo and I decided to go to Yemen for a weekend trip, and we headed off early Friday morning to spend 4 days in this country, only one and a half hours flight from Addis Ababa. I didn't know a lot about if before I left, excpet that it's a very conservative Muslim country, and that a group of Spanish tourists were killed in a terrorist attack there earlier this year. Iexpected to feel a bit uncomfortable, but after a few hours walking around in the old city, I realized I had nothing to fear. People were so friendly, and not bothering us at all. In many places I was the only woman present, but except for attracting a few extra looks from people around, they didn't seem to be bothered by my presence. I bought a burka the first day, and ended up wearing the dress for the rest of the stay. It is actually quite comfortable, and nice to wear.

We spent a lot of time walking around in the old city, with it's beautifully decorated houses, narrow streets and cute little shops (souqs). There were a lot of nice things to buy, and it wasn't very expensive either. The rest of the city, the new Sana'a, wasn't too interesting, so we went on a few day trips to explore some other places in the area. The landscape is fantastic; vast, arid and dry, but so majestic. The towns we visited are just magnificent, as you can see from the pictures. I wish I had more time to see other areas of the country, but that will have to be another time. At the airport on the way back, we discovered that we had forgotten to confirm our tickets, and at one point I thought we'll be stuck for another day or so in Sana'a. But somehow, well, thanks to Rodrigo:), we got seats on business class (for next to nothing!) and ended up having a very comfortable journey back home to Addis. We headed that way, whereas a large group of women in burkas and their men headed for Haj (pilgrimage) to Mekka. Different worlds, different lives. But so nice when they sometimes meet.

The city of Sana'a
The knife (jambiya) is an important part of the outfit of the men in Yemen.

This is what the houses in old Sana'a. Beautiful stonehouses, with these wonderful white decorations, making them look like "pepperkakehus":)

Me, trying on my first burka

Also Barbie is obliged to wear a burka

Yemeni food - lovely!

Food - yummy!:)

The streets in old Sana's

At around 2'o clock in the afternoon, the city slowed down and almost stopped. Shops closed, people disappeared from the streets, and there were no places to eat, which was a bit of a problem. It was time to chew khat. This guy was insisting that Rodrigo try some, and himself he had his mouth full. I was amazed at the amount of khat they were able to stuff into their cheek, and in the evening, when things started working as normal again, all the men would walk around with cheeks as big as apples, with green lips.

An old castle at Wahdi Dhar, 45 minutes drive outside Sana's.

Me, in my burka. Well, only part of it. Too hot for the head scarf......

Beautiful stained glass windows in the castle

We tried to get into the National Museum. It didn't work very well. Rodrigo, arguing with the guards, who insisted that it closed at one o'clock, but that we couldn't get inside, even though it was just 12.30.......

Bait Baws - an old, worn down little village in the outskirts of Sana'a. There used to be an old Jewish settlement there. People were still living in the ruins of the stone houses, and we spent a few hours walking around up there, talking with a bunch of young boys who all volunteered to be our guides. Very friendly, indeed:)

In the village

Me and the boys!

We are counting - I'm counting to ten in Amharic, the little fellow in front of me in Arabic. The two languages are actually quite similar!

Old Sana'a by night

A man in his souq, selling jambiyas

Spices!

Two men from Shibam, a city about an hours drive from Sana'a.

The Mosque in Shibam

Shibam, seen from Kawkaban, a small town on the mountain just close to Shibam. We walked from the top and down to Shibam, an amazing view!

In Thula, another small village, with beautiful houses. It's like walking through a fairytale city when walking through Thula.

DEBRE LIBANOS

Kenny and Øyvind taking in the amazing view....

Bernadette demonstrating how to do capoeira:)

Windy place....

There were lotsa hawks flying around, diving down to our dinner table.

Joyce and I by the waterfall, the background perfectly captured by one of the local Ethiopians who was very eager to help us......

Grand!

Photographer Øyvind

The Portuguese Bridge

A shy little fellow

We spent Saturday and early Sunday in Debre Libanos, a tiny town north of Addis. It is famous for its amazing view, and we stayed at this relatively new lodge (it was actually the house of the owner, 'cause he didn't have any other rooms left) overlooking this valley almost looking a bit like a fertile Grand Canyon. I went with Bernadette, Øyvind (studying at the University here), Joyce (working for the Clinton Foundation) and Kenny (doing research for his PhD in social anthropology). We had a really great time, relaxing, enjoying the view and just exploring the area. So nice to see more of Ethiopia!

TRIP TO WOLISO AND WENCHI

Look at the hill in the background...we could be mistaken for being in a Norwegian fjord, aidellem?:)

I got tired of running, so I got a ride the last few meters....

Wenchi crater lake

A grumpy little girl....must be sick and tired of having all these strange faranjis coming all the time.....

His hairstyle......means that he is not five years old yet, and if something happens to him, the hair will be God's means of grabbing and saving him before it's too late....I've heard.....

Negash Lodge

Last weekend I went with my colleagues to Woliso, to have sort of a retreat/seminar – just a get-together to get to know each other better and to discuss issues that has to do with us, the local staff. Woliso is about 2 hours drive from Addis, a small rural town, but very charming. We stayed at this amazing lodge, that almost had some kind of colonial style to it, reminding me very much of South Africa. There were different huts that we stayed in, that were specific for the different ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The compound was big, green, and situated close to a little hill with lots of nice trees with monkeys that were a constant nuisance to us. We spent about 3 hours discussing our working environment, which has been dramatically changed, as most of you probably know. It has been very demanding to all of us, in different ways. Two of my colleagues will also have to leave, as we are reducing the number of local staff as well. So we had a lot to talk about, and it was very interesting to share experiences. In the evening the ambassador came to join us, and we spent the evening sitting around the bonfire telling jokes and making fun of each other:)

On the Saturday we went to the market, and then we drove of to Wenchi, which is a crater lake an hours drive from Woliso, on a dirt road. It is only when you get out of Addis that you realize how truly beautiful Ethiopia is. Now, there are a lot of things you can say about this country, but the beauty of it – the landscape and the people – cannot be denied. We drove down some very steep hills to get to the bottom of the crater, and I was clinging to the car seat and making desperate sounds sometimes, I’m terrified of heights. My colleagues found this very amusing of course, and we had a really good time in the car. In fact, when I think about it, we spent most of the time mocking each other, but not to the point where anyone would get sensitive about it, so it was all good. Almost at the end of the road I decided to walk the last part, together with Fikru, the ambassador’s driver. We decided to run, so we raced each other and tried to reach the shores of the lake before the cars. We almost made it. I had to race these local boys who found it infinitely amusing to see this white, strange foreign girl running for life on their dirt roads, but I must admit that I haven’t really exercised that much lately, so running at the altitude of 3000m I could really feel it in my lungs. And the dust also found its way down there…….

At the shores of the lake there were boats, looking like huge tree trunks, really, that took us out to this small island where there was a church, a big ox and a hen. That was basically it. It was a nice little trip across to the island, but I don’t think any of us were sure that we would get back in a dry condition. We all did, though. And I decided to rest for a bit and ride a horse back to the cars, instead of walking. On the way up the steep hills one of the cars got stuck, but fortunately one of my colleagues is a very skilled driver, and he managed to get it back on track without problems. We then continued to Ambo, where we spent the night at a hotel, and drove back to Addis the next morning.

It’s so good to get out of town, and every time I do it I keep thinking that I should do it more often. There is nothing as beautiful as driving through the great Ethiopian landscape – the vast fields of grass and tef, the hills, looking like green waves swirling its way towards the horizon, the clear, blue, almost glassy sky, with white, white clouds, bubbly and perfect – like a drawing from a children’s book. The crisp air filling your lungs, so different from the dusty one that one breathes in every day in Addis. Now, before I get carried away, I’m going to stop this, it’s already a veeeeery long blog post…….so, enjoy the pictures!