Sigh

Aggravating.

That’s what it’s like to try and buy a plane ticket with Ethiopian Airlines.

It’s run by the government, which explains a lot.

I spent hours on the website, which the internet was going in and out so it couldn’t be booked and, when the page finally loaded, wouldn’t accept a credit card online. I went in 3 separate times to the office and it was frequently closed.

When I was finally able to get an agent, he booked my ticket, someone who came in after me, and someone on the phone all at the same time while his computer was going in and out of the internet network. I was just glad there was no one ahead of me in line. Nearly two hours later, I walked out the office with our tickets to Ethiopia—Lalibela in hand.

Now I have tried to book tickets out of Lalibela and back to Addis. The office, again, frequently and inconveniently closes, and the flights kept filling up. Someone from our hotel booked our flight, but neglected to tell us we had to confirm the same day, so it was cancelled. We finally have our flights booked to Addis for Thursday, but they won’t let us buy our tickets to Egypt until we get back to Addis. Because they think we need a visa. Which we don’t. It took me 45 minutes of sitting and waiting for me to be told that they weren’t going to give me a ticket. So I booked it online, then went to the office to ask them to print it out.

Then, when I went to confirm our flights just before our Thursday flight, I discovered the guy had only booked one ticket, even though Jacob was sitting next to me, and the flights were full again. I had a Home Alone mom moment.

I said quite dramatically, “I don’t care if I have to sit in the bathroom, in the aisle, or on Jacob’s lap, I want to get out of this city. Find me a seat. My husband and I are not going to travel on different days. And we have to get out of here.”

The worker, after searching the computer for about 30 more minutes, got me a seat. I walked out of the office, triumphant and relieved. I’d had to fight to get out of Lalibela and 5 days after the original planned departure date, we were finally going to leave.

Lalibela: Tastes like scam

Lalibela, as it turns out, is probably one of those tourist towns I mentioned, on par with Marrakesh, Morocco or the like. It’s THE holy city to Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, on par with Jerusalem, but it’s also the number one town to visit as a tourist. Consequently, there are scams here. Apparently the “sponsor my education” is a well-known line here, and the people of this town are just professional beggars. If I weren’t such a bleeding heart, I’d stop falling for it. Jacob is around to remind me, though, which is good because I need someone to save me from my naïve generosity.

The dictionary trick is apparently so the boys can sell it back immediately to the shopkeeper and everybody makes a little kickback. And the boy with the pink flipflops seemed so sincere…

What are you supposed to do if you help them and they take advantage of you? When they lie, steal, and cheat you under the pretense of friendship?

I guess the answer is: Kalli, stop giving people something for nothing. Don’t give money without people providing a service in return, don’t buy gifts, toys, or candy for children, don’t “help” beggars. This is my take away message and I hope I can live with it. The fact is, though, based on past experience, catch me at the right moment with the right sob story and I’ll do it again. Sigh.

Ethiopia, to us, feels like a peaceful, passive-aggressive, lazy Nigeria. You know, friendly scammers.

Funny story: I was taken to a police station with the tourist guide who scammed us, someone who told us he was security but in fact was another tour guide, and a police officer who was part of the scam. It was 3 against 1 (me) and little hope of justice being served.

Do you know what it’s like to live in a country where the entire system is corrupt and police officers can be bought off? When you can’t trust anyone around you to be honest, when everyone around you is hoping to steal from you and mislead, and outright lie to you? Where there is no one to be your advocate—you are a rich farenji, you deserve what happens to you? Where even in the hotel you are staying in, the place that should be looking out for its customers, is full of tricksters who even state different prices than the manager has instructed them to?

At least in Ethiopia, unlike Central and South America, the scammers aren’t armed. They’re wimpy and a little pathetic, so you feel sorry for them even as you are frustrated with them. You remind yourself:

Their situation is so much worse than mine, I shouldn’t get mad.

But then after all-day pestering you still do get mad and you tell the young, bright-eyed, talented-at-scamming boy who has asked for something in the exact same lying way the last boy asked: “You know what? In America we work for what we receive! We don’t ask for something from strangers without providing something in return! And even if I did buy a soccer ball, I wouldn’t give it to you!”

Ethiopia, the warm heart of Africa

Sorry for the hiatus—I believe the Ethiopian government blocks blogspot.

Ethiopia is everything I have wanted from Africa. In fact, it feels like the warm heart of Africa, like Turkey was the warm heart of the Middle East, India, the warm heart of Asia, and to some extent, Macedonia was for Europe (though we had Jacob’s brother to thank for that, perhaps.)

It’s a mix of Africa and the Middle East. Everything about it is unique.

It has its own calendar, its own time system, and the people have their own look.

The weather is similar to Utah’s; dry, not too hot, and mountainous.

 

The cuisine is actually unique—beyond the chicken/rice/plantain fare so common elsewhere. It’s easy to  be vegetarian here: it’s called fasting in their religion, so food is plentiful and delicious for me.

It’s been easy to make friends here.

 

The religion, they believe, is the earliest version of Christianity and that the Arc of the Covenant is found here. They dress all in white when they go to worship for unity’s sake, which I thought paralled my own religion. Pretty neat.

The dancing is CRAZY

The music is percussive, rhythmic, and overwhelming.

There are more naked, blind, handicapped, and poor people than any place we’ve been to. Someone told us that this is because of the wars Ethiopia has had for the last 20 years.

There is so much recorded history, of which Ethiopians are justly proud. This is Lucy, the oldest hominid ever found.

The traditional clothes feel Biblical—which they probably are.

Back to life…

Back to reality…

We are in Egypt now…inhaling modernity, ambition, and technology—those three things which overall are missing in sub Saharan Africa.

I can now publish my Ethiopian blog posts.

I’ve considered editing them, because my opinion of Ethiopia changed over time… I think I’ll still publish them as I wrote them though. I went to the Egyptian museum today. Now is a great time to visit Egypt—without the tourist crowds, it feels like we’re the only ones around to discover its treasures.