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East Africa

January - March 2016
A 88-day adventure by Vee Read more
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  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 23

    Aksum

    January 24, 2016 in Ethiopia ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    Now that Timkat is over, well there's a third day of celebrations but after 5 nights in Gonder, we needed to move on, we started making our way through the North.

    We first made our way to Aksum (or Axum) which consisted of a bus to Shire (8 hours) and a minibus to Aksum (1.5 hours). They say Aksum is often skipped by travelers on a time restraint, and few stay in this town. We loved it! Apparently civilization started to establish themselves here as early as 400 BC.
    One of the many great things - 1 tickets, 25 birr (if you're a student, which we still conveniently are according to our card), give you access to all of Aksum's historical sights. The Aksumite Stelae field and Tombs showed the Aksumite period to be of great importance in building structures. They say only 10% of Aksum has been excavated, leaving 90% to the imagination ! What were we stepping on... these tombs and stelae were from 4th century AD showing more advanced and persist building methods then the pyramids in Egypt. Granted, none of this sounds interesting, but we had a great time visiting. The Archaeological Museum was actually pretty legit! First museum we see with English markings and information.

    We loved best of this town was probably more the feel of it. Hardly any tourist, very few, if any, haggling and annoyance from kids asking for things. We got a great room in Walia Hotel, central, cheap (150 or 200 birr) and brand new ! We've learned that the new hotels are the cheapest because they are still trying to make a name for themselves. And toilet seats are still intact ! There's actually 2 markings on the tourist book map saying "Fig tree", which we thought was hilarious so of course we went to both. Turns out its these huge open areas, all cobblestones around these huge fig trees. So majestic and gorgeous.

    Before heading to the next town the next morning we checked out the market and the animal market. Quite overwhelming in scents and things to see, tons of people all selling the same things in sections. Like this is the isle for garlic, this one for red peppers, this one for onions... The animal market was slightly less interesting, long walk outside of town to find a large brick enclosure (bigger then a gymnasium) with tons of goats, sheep, cows, all for sale I would imagine...

    30 minutes of minibus took to Adwa, where we were hoping to find a certain monastery and monument. We found neither. No one spoke English. We kept being offered a Bajaj (tuk tuk). So we left. Onto Yeha.

    In Yeha was the Great temple, something built in the 7th century BC. It is considered the birthplace of Ethiopia's earliest known civilization nearly 3 millennia ago, according of Lonely Planet. Scaffolds everywhere made it difficult to appreciate, but the "museum" next to it was great! The priest from the church showed us a bunch of old relics, was passionate, and of course finished with "tip?" He showed us some Christian scripts he said was up to 1000 years old, we got to flip through one that was 300 years old... apparently...

    This tiny town of Yeha was great to walk through the side streets. It was obvious that tourist mostly came only by tour bus, saw the great temple, and left. We were left to ourselves, except for the mandatory "Salam" to everyone. We got to peer into some courtyards, saw the straw and mud home with fire "ovens", mats on the ground... Simple, great experiences.

    In front of the temple, we spoke with a tour bus driver who informed us their group was driving to Adigrat after. We had just learned that we needed to bus back to Adwa to make our way to Adigrat, so we were hoping this was our chance to save some time! The bus driver told us the group was French though, which apparently lowered our chances of getting on... still we were determined to try!

    About 30 minutes, we hear the bus leaving. We make our way out of the side streets of Yeha onto the only street out to wave the bus down. Once it stopped, we asked the tour guide if he would let us on, with our best french accents and smiles! He turned to his group, turned back to us and said "sorry, no room" and they drove off. Hmm, funny because the bus driver had already assured us there were empty seats. So we bitched to ourselves, the damn french ! And low and behold, the bus re-appeared 5 minutes later! They turned back around for us! Turns out, the guy I sat next to spoke up for us, stating it was absurd not to help a fellow traveler! Yay for us!

    So here we were, sitting on a private tour bus, air conditioning, guy on the microphone pointing things out... Stopping every 5 minutes for them to get out and get a picture from the same view as the last picture... It was surprising how negative these people were... complaining about the roads, complaining about the lack of information from the guide, too hot, too cold... boy oh boy.
    We even got to drive by Debre Damo, a monastery both Jack and I really wanted to see because it was at the very top of a mountain, only accessible by climbing up a stone wall ! We chose against going because only men can access the monastery it was too far for public transportation. But we got to see it!

    Finally in Adigrat, we find a hotel (its dark at this point, 6.30pm ish) not too far from where the bus dropped us off. The next day was spent lazing around, trying to catch up on blogging and internet, which clearly was unsuccessful. The wi-fi here is in a class of it's own... Saw some churches, since it was Sunday we got to observe (and participate) with some of the celebrations inside the church compounds.

    Making our way to Mekele in the afternoon was stress free, we just needed to get there for our tour to the Danakil Depression leaving the next day. The best part of the day was the guy we sat next to on the bus to Mekele. He worked for a medical equipment company, was the first person to recognize what my wrist tattoo stood for, and spoke to us about his culture. One story blew my mind :

    Every church in Ethiopia is painting with the colors of the flag, red yellow and green. We always assumed they were proud of their country, and displayed their colors.
    Actually, something like 400BC, there's a belief that 3 birds came down from heaven, singing the songs of God. A historically famous musician wrote these songs down, and they are now an important part of any cultural music. These 3 birds were Green, Yellow and Red. So the colors were actually the church's first, and eventually became the flag colors because at the time, church and government were the same. Mind blown.    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 28

    Danakil Depression in Mekele

    January 29, 2016 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    Our lovely friend Mulish from Gonder has done it again, his friend Ababa was ready for our arrival in Mekele and had already organized our seats for the Danakil Depression tour. Their credit card machine wasn't working, no surprise there, but since we were leaving one of our backpacks behind, she said we could pay on our return. We paid 300$us for 3 nights 4 days, which was the least expensive I have heard yet from other travellers, including people on our tour and even in our Jeep who paid anywhere from 350$-380$-some even 500$. Yay for farengi pricing, anything they can get away with!

    I don't know what I was expecting here... We had skipped over this part in the travel book because we saw it was too expensive... We heard there was a volcano and sulfuric lakes but not much about them was described... And yet every traveler we met along the way assured us we absolutely needed to do this tour, so we did.

    Turns out, Holy Fuck! Excuse my French.

    This was honestly one of the coolest experiences of my life.

    You start by a drive down what they call "the worst road in Africa", if you want to call it a road at all, the last 12km takes an hour to drive it. The way it worked - the tour needs to be done in 4x4 jeeps, or else we wouldn't get there, we were 15 people so 4 jeeps following each other, and we need a military escort vehicle (ever since the attack years ago), and there's a guide in one of the jeeps with a cook. This cook would make her way to wherever we were stopping for lunch and prepare everything for our arrival. I was fed incredibly well! Huge meals, delicious, water provided by them. Our cook Mary was this super bubbly, quite modern young lady. I say modern because she had a tattoo and tighter clothing then your usual, tradition Ethiopian.

    The towns we stopped in for lunch pretty much just had the shack in which we ate, the rest was just rural Ethiopia. The Afar people, who live in this region, are said to be incredibly resilient, they live in the hottest "most inhabitablle" place on earth according to some research somewhere. They do so by being nomad, where every couple of months they pick up everything and move towards the water source, or crop land, or whatever they need at that time.

    Tiny bit of negative before the awesome, they say these wonderful things about Afar people to you, but the only people we saw and interacted with were those begging for things, or simply pointing and laughing. Give me money, give me pen, give me candy, chocolate, and when all else fails, they point to something on you and say give me, plain and simple. Aggressive, annoying little ones, and you got to wonder "who's the idiot still giving them these things?". Well we found out.

    There was this one particularly bad town, where you were literally swarmed with kids the second you stepped out of the jeep, also where the company decided we would have to spend half a day and the night. The second night of the tour, everyone basically agrees it's just to elongate the tour, but it's completely unnecessary. They bring you to a family compound, lay mattresses on the ground of 2 large rooms for the 15 of us, and you spend from around 2pm until the next morning at 10am here. As I mentioned, leaving the compound meant you were surrounded by kids grabbing your arm, pointing at you, and asking for things. They scream hello at you, and scream louder and louder until you answer them. Problem is you already said hello about 5 times, but dammit they want it a 6th time!

    After a while, we started ignoring them. That failed. We then started being more direct, telling them to leave, go away.

    It took me walking around this town of about 8 minutes, no more, to start getting rocks thrown at me. At first, smaller rocks, and to Jack also. We obviously turned, told them to stop and kept walking. I then started getting larger rocks. Jack, not so much. And larger. To the point where I got bruised in 2 places on my back from 2 rocks that nailed me. At this point, there are about 25 kids following us and laughing. Jack and I realized at that moment that I was apparently a little too different looking for them. It was very clearly aimed at me.

    Obviously at this point, I headed back to the compound, where I had to spend from 3pm until the next morning sitting in one little court yard, not exploring. Others also went for walks and returned within 5 minutes because of the overwhelming kids. Small rocks thrown around them, not on them. This was probably my most disappointing evening.

    Disappointing because as a traveler, you want to trust the people around you, you want to know you can get help, or just having an interaction with someone can be pleasant. But it was that evening that I realized I had no trust in any of my interactions with Ethiopians. They see us as wallets, entirely unwelcomed to their country unless we just walk around with an automatic tip or donation dispenser. A big part of travelling for me is the relationship you form with locals, and the experiences gained through them, but I won't find that here.

    And then these two Americans, who apparently loved the kids, thought they were cute, decided to reward them all by giving them candy right outside our compound gates. They were surprised when the kids tore the bag away from them and ran away with it. Rewarding them. I couldn't believe it. I guess that's why they keep asking.

    Enough negative, I saw a f***ing lava lake! The first day, we drove out as close to the Irta'ale volcano as possible, we ate, then started our 3 hour hike to the crater. We start this hike only at 5pm because apparently the goal is to walk with a headlamp in the dark for half of it, just for fun and games. This was the longest 3 hours ever, mostly because we could see the glow of the lava once it got dark, shining into the clouds. We all just wanted to get there!

    Arriving at the top was just magical. You arrive at the top of the crater, looking down on this far, yet so reachable lava lake, just dancing around, spiting up every once in a while. Looked like the ocean side, crashing against the reef, only its firey lava! Once we got the go ahead from the military keeping guard, we actually descended into the crater and walked over this cooled off magma, crackling under our feet as if we were walking on giant charcoal. We got, without exaggerating, within 15 feet from the lava itself! Wind was strong and blowing the spiting bits away from us. The level of the lava must have been 2-3 meters from the rim. Seeing it bubble up, spit up, crashing against the side, absolutely mind blowing. Hot also. We were only permitted to stay about 40 minutes, and had to head back to the top of the crater to settle in for the night. Our accommodation for the evening - old, dirty foam mattresses, about 2-3 inches thick, depending how lucky you were, set into the dirt ground right smack outside around the crater top. The mattresses are laid out in groups of 3 within these 2 feet tall stone enclosures, almost like you would build around a fire pit, to help protect us from the wind. Thank God for our sleeping bags! Created this artificial cocoon I could pretend I was safe inside. The next day Jack told me there were mice in the rocks around us but chose not to tell me before because she knew I wouldn't have slept. Well played, well played.

    We were woken at 5am so we could go back down for a second lava lake visit, only 20 minutes this time. I didn't want to leave. But eventually did, and we hiked down the 3 hours to our breakfast! The rest of the day was spent driving to that not so lovely town I told you about, where these same mattresses were laid out for us.

    Day 3 we drove out to the salt lakes Lake Asale where these huge groups, caravans of camels and mules are still being used to carry the mined salt blocks back into town. Apparently, despite the fact that you can drive onto these lakes with large trucks, the locals are choosing to keep doing it the way they were taught traditionally, lifting all the salt blocks from the ground by hand, shaping them into squares to allow for easier transport and balance on the animals, and walking it all back. You couldn't see the end of this incredible white surface. We stayed here for the sunset (although too cloudy to see one) and had the music from one the trucks blasting, we danced and drank some local wine, had ourselves a great time. It was entertaining to see our military escorts have wine and dance with us...

    Again, our accommodation for the night, weaved beds, with our usual mattresses over top, again outside. No walls, no markings of rooms or anything, just the Jeep parked at one end to "protect us from the wind" apparently. Where our 300$US each went, no one knows. But again, interesting experience! Apparently the star gazing is beautiful here, but unfortunately it was cloudy our whole stay. It was also supposed to be the warmest place on earth, averaging 34 celsius daily, but the clouds kept us cool all day.

    And lastly, the sulfuric lakes in Dallol. The mixture of magnesium and sulfur and potash made these incredibly colourful formations... I was in awe of what nature could create. Yay for science.

    All in all, 4 days of being driven around to these incredible sites, being fed amazingFood, in good company, what more could I ask for! All of it made my having to use the great outdoors as my toilet for 4 full days very easy to take !

    And Jack can't stop talking about the volcano. Says she's going to stay to hang out with it, see how it's doing...    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 29

    Ah Lalibela.

    January 30, 2016 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We doubted you. We considered not coming. And we would have been right.

    Every tourist who comes to Ethiopia eventually goes to Lalibela. It is here you can see the huge rock hewn churches. We didn't want to go just because we "were supposed to", we tried to evaluate whether or not we actually wanted to come. Our doubts came from 2 main arguments - it's 50$US each for a ticket to the churches, a price unheard of in Ethiopia, and it's where all the tourists are. But ultimately, we didn't think the country would be completed otherwise. Also helped that we were encouraged by other travellers to get the church tickets off other tourists because they were valid for 5 days...

    We saved on an 8 hour bus to Waldia and 4 hour minibus over to Lalibela thanks to a lovely Dutch couple we met on the Danakil tour, who had already booked their private transportation straight to Lalibela and invited us along. Free ride. Well, I paid for the guy's lunch, 80 birr, and the ride only took 9 hours total. That includes a pit stop at the garage for a quick break fluid and pressure top up. Upon arriving in the town's centre, which isn't to say much - it's one street maybe 1 km long - we were met with, this time, adults, mostly men, asking where do we want to go? Where are staying? Do you need a guide for the churches? We literally just stepped off the minibus, no room to breath.

    Jack usually enjoys the slower style of travelling where you can just walk around town with your backpack on, eventually stumble upon a hostel or hotel that you want to check out, see the room... Nothing rushed. But here, having your backpack on announced to everyone you're fresh bait so it encourages all the guides and people looking for commission to come talk to you. I may sound harsh about this, it may not seem problematic to some of you, but when you can't finish a single sentence amongst yourselves, you can't even discuss a plan for accommodation, without someone interrupting, trust me, it's incredibly rude, disrespectful, and simply put, annoying. So we made it our mission to find a hotel to drop our bags off.

    First couple places we check out charged anywhere from 350-800 birr. We finally stumble upon what looked like a new hotel. Score! No English signage yet. We see the room - everything is new, small but sparkling clean, with a shared bathroom that's just as sparkling. 200birr. The next day, we asked to stay 2 more nights if she let us pay 150 (that's about 7.50$US), which she accepted. We rock at this hotel thing.

    Bags dropped, off we go. Walking around town, we still get hellos from everyone, this time with occasional "do you need a husband"s and" hey sexy where you go?"s and the classic "male or female?"s.

    We walked to what seemed like the very end of the world (I was hungry) to this restaurant Ben Abeba, to get out of the centre. Absolutely beautiful place, the architecture was beautiful, all open air and mountain's edge tables set in these floating pod like platforms. We had ourselves a beautiful sunset diner. All that was missing was the incredibly tempting hand holding, and even steeling a kiss from your partner while watching the sun set. At the end of our meal, we approached a table that had 2 girls, talking about the churches they visited. We not so subtly asked for their tickets which they gave to us! Two girls from Toronto actually, and believe it or, the name I now had to go by (since it's written on the ticket) was Genevieve. It's perfect, I already respond to that name. Jack being Debra was a little more challenging. For our ride back to town, seeing it was dark now, we tried taking a bajaj. Locals here pay 2-5 to cross the town in bajaj. We were quoted 50birr. Right. So we started walking.

    About half way a bajaj stopped and said he would bring us to the center. Our first instinct, as we have now been shown is a must, is to ask how much. He looked confused and answered "it's OK, I'm going that way". Now we're confused. A helpful Ethiopian? So we said, "no really, how much?". Confused still, he answered "5-10birr". So we hop in, still incredibly skeptical of this person... And turns out, he dropped us in the centre, and looked confused when I gave him 10. Who would have thought. It's here that I needed to remind myself of the few positive interactions we've had with locals. They are just so few and far in between the negative interactions that I tend to forget about them. Like the lovely medical equipment guy on the bus. The next day we had a kid start talking to us during our walk again, but this time he seemed to just practice his English, was doing great at keeping conversation, and when we were ready to turn directions, he said nice to meet you and walked away. So pleasant.

    Saturday went a little off track with what we had planned... We had a cooking class booked for the morning where we learner to make the traditional Ethiopian fasting dish. It combines 7 vegetarian dishes onto their classic injera. I've loved the food here, so it was perfect to learn! Shiro being my favourite, I got to learn how to make it! Their kitchen consisted of rocks on which to rest 3 pots, wood fire burning underneath. All the tools used were so simplistic and yet more then what we needed. You quickly realize the extent at which we can be materialistic. Our food was delicious if I do say so myself!

    We then went to try and book our flight out of Lalibela for the 1st. The man informed us there was just 1 seat available but that the power was down. So there's nothing he can do for us. He also informed us flying from Addis Ababa to Kigali, Rwanda, was 729$CAD. What the hell. So off to the Internet Cafe we go. Turns out, flying to Kigali was at best 650$CAD, yet flying to Entebbe, Uganda, was 450$CAD. Change of plans!

    When we eventually went back to the flight office around 2pm, we got him to book us the flight on the 2nd (at this point everything earlier was booked) to Dire Dawa, where we want to visit Harar. And then we went back to a Wi-Fi spot to book our flight from Dire Dawa to Entebbe on the 4th. We figure from Entebbe, we'll work our way down overland into Rwanda, and then loop back around.

    That frustration over with (took around 2 hours to book these 2 flights), we decided to do the churches only the next day, seeing that Sunday is usually the perfect time to do so anyway. Instead we visited the market.

    I needed a belt (sorry Pierre, the metal pin kept falling and I finally lost it). This market was not huge, but tons of people. An enclosure for the animal market. An area for spices, for clothing, for a bunch of plastic colourful things I will never understand, etc. Upon arriving, I asked a girl at a stall how much her belt was so I could use it as a price point for negotiations. She said 50birr. Now I know that's just 3$ once converted, but still for us that meant dinner. So we kept walking and explored the market. Once in the clothing area, all the stalls have basically the same items. So you ask the first person how much, then by the time your at the next one they already have to same belt out ready for you to inspect. Problem is - they started at 150birr for the same belt as earlier. Here comes the wallet again. I laughed and walked away. Next person says "OK OK hebasha price", which means local price, and quotes 100birr. And the next, and the next, all 100birr. Let's all keep in mind that if these belts were actually worth 100birr, no one in Ethiopia would be clothed. There's even a stall that when I approached looking at their belts, I asked how much, and the man asked the guy behind the stall how much it was. We then heard the man respond "forenji or habesha?". For once, just once, it would be nice to not be seen as rich. So I went back to my original lady, and asked if she could do better then 50birr. The girl next door says 100birr. I laughed and said that's more then my original quote, so she responded 60birr last price, while the girl I was speaking with stayed silent. So at this point, I paid the damn 50birr and bought myself a belt.

    The rest of the day was spent staying away from people. Jack read for an hour at the coffee shop while I updated this new blog of mine at the Internet Cafe. After resting some more in the room, reading about Uganda, we decided we needed to go out! We dropped by to see if our cooking teacher wanted to join us for a drink. She had wedding preparations to attend to so off we went on our own. We went to Torpedo, a "traditional" tej house. Tej is a local honey wine here, very popular amongst the locals. It's 8pm, dark out, street had just a few people, enough to make us feel safe yet not enough to bother us at all. It was perfect. We got prime seating along the wall, was welcomed by the guy next to us with the usual pleasant bar small talk. We chatted around a bit. And got to enjoy the musicians and dancers entertain the crowd with traditional shoulder dancing. Fun, fantastic evening it a town where that seemed impossible.    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 30

    Lalibela churches. Or not.

    January 31, 2016 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Now it's Sunday morning, we wake up at 530 am to make it to the churches for 6am, as the locals do. We walked around a little. Got to hear the chanting playing over loud speakers. People crouched down a little everywhere praying. Everyone with their usual white scarfs around their heads. Slight lighting made the ambiance perfect. These churches are so impressive, standing what seems to be 30 feet tall, red tint, all carved from a rock. Then a man asks for our tickets. We present them. No problem. Once we get to the next church, a man asks for our tickets. Again we show them, no problem. By the third church, the man asks for our tickets, and then asks for our passport (passport number were written on the ticket). We say we don't have them on us. He argues. We argue. He then demands we follow him to the ticket office. Great.

    Once at the ticket office, they inform us they think it's someone else's ticket. We obviously argue. The man asks us to write our names, countries and age on this little piece of paper. First two I had down, the age in the other hand, I invented. Why not. Jack did the same, or should I say Debra. I was pretty sure Debra was spelt this way on her ticket, but Jack wrote Deborah. Either way, these guys were not believing us, and yet had no reason not to. We argued. Said they were taking 100$US away from us, they had no right.... Argue argue argue, until both Jack and I looked at each other and decided it wasn't worth it. The experience was ruin. Now we were both frustrated and angry. So we left and decided we may have to spent 4 days in this town we would both leave now, but we're not doing the churches!

    Still being early, I suggested we walk to whatever high point we could find to watch the sun rise. Perfect idea. With just enough light, we made our way to what seemed like our own little secluded spot at the edge of a mountain side, and watched the sun rise. Mood set back to zero. The scenery is honestly some of the best I've ever seen, and that goes for most of Ethiopia. It is absolutely beautiful.

    We eventually (around 8am) walk down and make our way to this other part of town for breakfast. A part completely separate from the usual tourists centre. Here, no one spoke to us, no one yelled at us, the women were saying a simple Salem as we walked by, to which we returned the hello. We eventually got the a row of mini huts mostly just selling coffee and breads in from of the bus station. At this point, I knew we only had 65birr on us, but assumed our 1 egg, 1 bread and 2 coffee breakfast would be no where near that. Everyone was pleasant. Of course there was a group of women in the stall next door having a full conversation on how I look, all starring and pointing, but this felt more like curiosity because I'm different and not judgement. I was OK with this.

    Then we try to leave. 80birr is quoted to us. To put that in perspective, we usually have breakfast in the bigger towns that's called Special Full. It consists of an egg, veggies, a bean and tomato mix and yogourt that you mix all together and eat by scooping bread. That breakfast, with 2 teas, usually costs us 30birr. That's in a proper restaurant, not in a shack in front of the bus station. So we argue. Remember, I only have 65birr. They claim coffees are 10 and the egg and bread was 50 (adding to 80 with the water bottle we wanted which is always 10). Again, we argue. We say we've been here for 3 weeks, and named all the towns we've been in and had this type of meal and the usual price. They finally brought the price down to 50birr. From 80 to 50. F***ing walking wallet again. Even 50 is entirely over priced, but we weren't getting any further. So we paid and left angry, after such a promising morning. I managed to very quickly put it behind me, deciding that my morning (not including the ticket annoyance) was too good to let them ruin it. Jack had more trouble. I think both because she really wants to be able to trust people, and because we both know we have another day here.

    The rest of the day was spent reading and writing from our hotels balcony and from coffer shops. It was actually quite funny - our hotel is set about 25 feet from the side walk down the cement courtyard, and we were sitting in the second floor. So quite far from the street. Yet kids still stopped to yell hello from the street in their usual mocking matter, and all Jack kept answering back is "untouchable!"
    She was absolutely excited at the idea that we were untouchable. They can't bug us here. It turned out to be a relaxing, almost vacation like day. Rebooted ourselves.

    Finished the day with a relaxing dinner at Mountain View hotel. Slightly expensive, but with the right to be. Great food, and amazing views of the wonderful sunset.

    One more day in this town, and off to Harar we go!    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 32

    Started February with a bang!

    February 2, 2016 in Ethiopia ⋅ ⛅ -1 °C

    One heck of a bang actually, just not a good one.
    Jack got food poisoning. At least that's what we assume. I recently saw what food poisoning can do to someone I love and I got scared. She got the kind you bring a bowl with you to the washroom just in case. It started at 3am yesterday (Feb 1st) and is ongoing. As nice and new as our hotel is, it's still a shared bathroom. No one wants to feel like this, and then have to walk down the hallway to see if the washroom is available. I offered to get us a room elsewhere, I'd even carry her, but she didn't have the energy to move. By around 1pm yesterday she was able to start hydrating, it took her the rest of the day to finish one 1L bottle including 2 glasses of our hydralyte tablets. Problem is, it's still coming out. We've gotten the nausea mostly under control with our strict gravol every 6 hour regiment, but at the other end, that's a different story.

    According to our book, and we believe it, the better health care available in the country, really the only facilities worth going to for treatment, are in Addis. So we were determined to make our flight to Addis this morning. We decided that on the flight to Addis we would decide if she was well enough to continue to Dire Dawa. Otherwise we can just stay in Addis, and make our connection flight to Entebbe in 2 days. Simple.

    She's breaking my heart. No energy what so ever. She's currently lying on the airport floor, waiting to board. Cheeks sunken in, but definitely better then they were yesterday afternoon! She couldn't stand without help yesterday, today she can walk short distances. We walked from our ride to the airport to the entrance and sat. We passed security and sat. She wanted to try eating bread, which she actually managed to do, including an egg. I think we're looking up. Problem is, drinking water all day isn't much fun when you know you'll just have to go back to the washroom so I'm spending the day encouraging her to hydrate. It's now 1015am. Boarding the flight soon. Let's see how the day goes. What's making me want to cry right now is that I can't hold her, I can't kiss her forehead or tell her I love her, because we're in public.

    It's now 1.30pm and we've made it to the room! Success! Jack slept sitting up in the airport in Lalibela, slept on the floor once passed security, slept the whole way on the plane... It was clear we weren't making it to Harar today, and that's OK. I had already made the decision in my mind that we would stay in Addis, and once I woke Jack up after the plane landed, she said she didn't have the strength to argue with me. I think we did Ethiopia justice. We saw absolutely beautiful things, we got to know the culture and the people, and we both feel very satisfied with the Ethiopia portion of the trip. I'm ready to move on.

    I actually got a partial refund of the flight we didn't take today to Dire Dawa. I wanted to inform them we wouldn't be on the flight back from Dire Dawa obviously, but that we planned on taking the flight from Addis to Entebbe. They said they needed to reimburse my ticket, and sell me a flight only from Addis to Entebbe. Problem is, we paid 6300 for our flight and they want to sell me a flight that's 9300. The same flight I'm currently booked on, minus a leg, would cost me more... According to them, because they were booked together I can not take one leg only. So we decided to gamble, show up on the 4th and argue our way on. We'll see how that goes.

    Jack barely made it up that stairs once at the hotel room and hit the bed. She's finished another water bottle, kept the egg and bread... We're on the right path! We went for luxury this time. And by that, I mean it's 31$us and we get our own satellite TV, mini fridge, private washroom... Score! Everything I need to entertain myself while she sleeps.

    Longer term traveling means you have the time to fully recover, you don't have to be miserable on somekind of time restraint. We will get Jack back to 100% before starting Uganda. More good times to come!

    It's now 7pm, and she's doing fantastic! I wanted to wait for a positive outcome before posting about this, and the time has come! She slept all afternoon. I brought back my left over rice which she ate, ate some bread, still drinking water. Nausea under control. She even peed! She's now awake, for the first time in 2 days, eyes wide open, watching a movie in bed, eating a mango. Her colour is back. Best of all, her smile is back. Tomorrow is another relax day in our luxury room, and maybe a 5 minute for Jack... Stretch her legs. She'll be back up and running in no time!

    Jack says : Uganda here we come! Oh and if my parents are reading this, I'm fine. Vee just gets nervous.    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 33

    My Ethiopian Conclusion

    February 3, 2016 in Ethiopia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    A month in Ethiopia has left me satisfied and confident I have explored all that I wanted. My lasting impressions are a little mixed.

    I know I've had a few harsher things to stay about Ethiopian people. Let's keep in mind, this only my experience, and I do not want others to feel the need to defend it's people. I'm very aware we all have different experiences, and that there are wonderful Ethiopian people out there.

    My lasting impression of the people is they really don't seem to care about helping you... Sounds harsh, but I've mentioned a few examples already. Small yet frequent things like when a waiter has difficulty understanding you, they leave, disappear. But minutes later you find them doing nothing, just standing somewhere else. They didn't understand so they gave up and left. No bill was ever coming, no food. They can always go get someone with better English. Or ask me to say it different ways. But no, they just leave.

    The kids all mock faranjis, their hellos and "give me money" all sound like a game to them. One where they've aloud themselves to grab onto whatever they can, to fully reach their arms out and point and laugh at you, to have full conversations about you in front of you... They act as if we owe them these things, offended when we don't comply. I really wish I could meet the first white person who decided it was a good idea to give out candy to all the kids. As if that would help their nutrition, or further their education, or health.

    I find it very difficult to leave with this impression, but my few positive experiences were overshadowed by the number of negative experiences.

    The country itself, absolutely beautiful! The towns themselves were incredibly interesting, with so much character and history. Following the travel book was one way to go about exploring, but some of my favourite moments were those where we just went for a walk, off the usual path, and see what the country gives us. I still think my favourite walk was in Bahir Dar where we just walked down the main road until it was no longer a main road... Some nature mixed in with villages, gives a deeper understanding of the true Ethiopia. The nature was gorgeous, mountain after mountain leading to incredible views. I mean, the volcano, and the whole Danakil Depression speaks for itself. I honestly, truly enjoyed my experiences here.

    Most of my travels have been in South East Asia, with some of Europe more recently. I have never seen the continent of Africa, and it has opened my eyes to a whole new world needing to be explored. The way of life, culture, traditions are all so unique and beautiful. Granted, the poverty is also at a level I haven't seen, except maybe my little time spend in Cambodia. People seem to help each other out here. From what I've understood of their interactions, they appear to share with themselves, they give their seats up to others, they show affection amongst friends and family, their greetings to each other always appear sincere and respectful... Like when we were on an 8 hour bus to Shire, there was a baby (maybe 5-6 months old) that was being passed around to probably 10 people to give mom a break, the little sister being around 5 was sitting on her brothers one by one. Why us faranjis don't deserve the same respect, I will never understand.

    Onto new discoveries! Ethiopia, thank you.    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 35

    We're in Uganda!

    February 5, 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We moved on! As usual, my anxiety came into full force in the airport. I asked our hotel to drop us at the airport for 2pm, we got there at 245pm. Our flight was only scheduled for 415pm but I wanted to be at the airport before our schedule flight left from Dire Dawa, the one we weren't on, to make sure they didn't cancel our tickets for the whole flight like they had said they would. Turns out, we presented our passports, my heart beating into my throat, and nothing. No questions about the missed flight. No arguing. Just a hand over of boarding passes and that's it. Hm.

    Once passed security, it was around 305pm when Jack decided she was hungry and wanted to sit down for some food. Boarding in 25 mins. So we get her food that the bar promises in 5 minutes. 10 minutes later food comes out, scorching hot spring rolls. Now it's 325pm. I can see a relatively long line up to get through security, but I was comforted by the long boarding line up. Once my anxiety of getting into the flight on time bothered Jack enough, we got in line to pass security, for me to notice I was looking at the wrong gate, and our gate was almost empty. Panic! Heart beating. I was being a monster to Jack, blaming her for things out of her control... After security I ran to the gate only to find out our flight had just started boarding, there just so happens to be about 12 passengers on this 100+ passenger plane... I can breath again. I really don't do well in airports. Good thing Jack can recognize that and give me some slack on how I treat her...

    Ugandans have given me hope! So far, mostly nice, helpful people! The lady at immigration didn't want to accept my 50$US bill because of a minuscule tear in it. But she was very good at instructing me on how to get to an ATM to get Ugandans shillings out. They were pleasant. Smiling. Even the driver Jack was chatting with had a smile on the whole time we were negotiating the price of our ride into town. It was a very pleasant interaction that got his price down from 10$US (34,000 shillings) to 25,000 and then down to the 15,000 I was insisting on. Thank you lonely planet! We chatted the whole way to our hostel, learnt how to great someone in the local language, which of course I forgot by now. He says 80% of Ugandans speak English, I have a feeling this will be a whole new world compared to Ethiopia. Our hostel was also great, they gave us a room for the same price as 2 dorm beds, the room usually only for one person. It's our first real backpacker style hostel, so we got to socialize all evening with other travellers, including 2 guys who were here for a 6 week placement as medical residence. Nice to get some medical talk in.

    I have a good feeling about this! I've decided to reboot and trust people again, new country, new trust. Let's do it.    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 36

    My Faith has been Restored

    February 6, 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ☀️ 4 °C

    I am loving Uganda! The people have been incredibly nice, and actually wanting to help us! The kids still sometimes say hi, but with a smile, authentic attempt at just saying hi! Who would have thought. None of them have tried following us. None asking for anything. Just saying hi. Actually many of the Ugandans, kids or not, say hi. As if to welcome us to their homes. Maybe Ethiopia has made me excited at simple things, but this is wonderful. I'm still getting gender mix ups, but none of which have made me feel awkward or judged.

    Our walk around Entebbe started off very positive and light, but after 2 hours of me expressing my hunger and not finding anywhere that serves breakfast, I got slightly frustrated. It's hot, humid, and I'm hungry! We're not used to this heat and humidity in the morning, we actually had our sweaters on in the morning in Ethiopia because of the altitude, temperatures dropped at night. Here, it's 9am and we're already sweating. Water was available everywhere in Ethiopia, you couldn't pass 2 shops without water bottles being sold. Here I actually walked 3-4 blocks before finding someone who sold small bottles of water, odd.

    In case it was too much suspense for you, we found food, lots of little street vendors set up in front of a construction zone. I got to try my first chapati, and I loved it! Rolex (eggs rolled into a chapati), also amazing breakfast! We finally got to the botanical gardens, and they were so worth it! As soon as you come in, you spot the area all the monkeys hang out in, we just sat with them for like 30 minutes while they played around us...

    The walk through these gardens brought us through incredible trees and tropical like forests, to the water front of Lake Victoria. Peaceful and wonderful. We had to eventually boda boda (motorcycle taxi) back to our hostel because Jack was exhausted, it was her first full day out since she was sick.... Well full, it was 1pm. But she did amazing! This same boda driver waiting while we grabbed our bags from the hostel to head out to the pier where we would head to the Ssese Islands. The 3.5 hour ferry ride should be relaxing enough for Jack... Lol.

    We bought the second class tickets, having read there's no real difference between first and second... Of course once on the boat, there's no signage as to which is where, so we make ourself comfy on a seat, the rest of the seats fill up, and just before leaving they come around checking tickets, and sure enough we're in the wrong section. There's no seats left in our section. Damn.

    Eventually people were curious to see outside and get some fresh air so we score 1.5 seats. Jack sat down, exhausted, and I get half a butt cheek on. Just enough to be able to read my book, and watch the bags as she slept with her head against the table. She's absolutely amazing in her abilities to sleep anywhere, anyhow. Again, the people on the boat, no stairs, no awkwardness. The people on our bench squished in to make space for us. Honestly wonderful people. Some saying hi, trying to practice whatever English they can manage, some of which actually welcomed us, and said "I hope you like Uganda" or "you will love Uganda". I do already.

    Ssese islands, more specifically Baggala Island, was peaceful, beautiful, and welcoming. We arrived at the dock and there was literally a line up of women with signs from all their accommodations. Jack and I started from opposite ends, asking each of them about their options. There was about 10. Turns out, literally the first place to our right, where we had already wanted to check out since we could see it from the pier, was the least expensive. A third of the next best price actually. Camping it is! They had these strong, sturdy tents up, with an actual running shower and flushing toilet... Seems like a lot of luxury for such a tiny, not developed town at all! We've gathered, Uganda and Ethiopia are very different, different in its people, in its weather, in its religion, in its humidity, but also in it's finances! Uganda has money. For 30,000 shillings (12$CAD) we had flushing toilets and a running shower!

    No actual beach at our camp site despite being at the water front, but we had read that we could just go to the nicer ground places and pay for pool access. Walking through the downtown (which is a funny statement if you look at the picture), we got some local food and met a man that would take us on a tour the next day! The food, which was the only thing this particular place sold, was boiled plantain, white rice and a fried fish. Mmm mm good. Surprising what I'll allow myself to eat when I'm travelling. FYI Jack and I have been sharing every meal since day 3 of our trip. Portions are huge. We have yet to pay for 2 meals in a restaurant. Not a budget question, there's just too much food... And kind of a budget question....

    Because of Jack's rencent stint in bed, we were both looking to get active, and not just lounge on a beach or pool side all day, so we got Abraham Thompson (awesome name) to tour us around the island from his motorbike. The whole tour brought me back to the day my dad and I spent riding in the Gatineau hills, he brought me for ice cream, I always remembered that day so fondly... 4 hours with this guy, we saw a pineapple farm, palm tree plantations for palm oil, a mini cave in which a "medium" stayed and helped communicate with spirits of the dead ancestors (an ancient religion here, still practiced by some), some view points, some villages, fishermen prepping their boats and nets... Abraham was able to explain everything, it was fascinating. He drops us off at the resort next to ours where we paid for their pool access (after bargaining it down of course) and had a late, but wonderful lunch while enjoying the water and the sun by the lake side! Absolutely beautiful day.

    We watched the sunset from the pier, having brought over our lawn chairs from the camp site and bought a beer in town. Talk about québecer! Lawn chairs and beers on the pier. Beautiful sunset. To finish the night off, like the previous night, our Lovely King Fisher camp site staff made us a bonfire. Just for us 2. 4 employees running around every time we just mentioning wanting something. At the fire Jack mentioned to me she'd like some tea. Next thing you know, there's a kettle on the fire and we're served fresh ginger and African mint... Perfect! I did some laundry using the buckets that were left in the shower, and they ran over with laundry soap. Funny bunch. All for a whopping 30,000 shillings (12$CAD), after negotiating from 40,000 of course.

    Fantastic staff, fantastic people, and a true rural Ugandan experience.    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 37

    Onwards we go!

    February 7, 2016 in Uganda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Still keen on keeping active, we decided we had seen what we needed on Baggala Island, and wanted to move on! While getting my new favourite quick breakfast Rolex, our friend Abraham came to see us and offered us a free ride to the town from which we could get a shard taxi over to the ferry. We are now heading to Masaka which was west, so getting the ferry from a different town on the island. The shared taxi was an experience of its own!

    The driver very casually tried to point as to who goes where, but really we just followed suit. I was pointed to go in along with the other boys. I didn't make anything of it at the time but eventually I noticed all the women were on top of the boys - I of course being on the bottom (there's a first! wink wink). So the back seat consisted of 4 boys (that's including me) on the seats with Jack and another lady shared amongst our laps. Funny part is, boy or not, I'm small and don't weigh much. They lady sitting on the guy next to me was relatively large and heavy. I just remember telling Jack the second time we got into the car to make sure she was on top of me because I don't think I could support that lady for the hour long ride! There was another 4 people in front, leaving just enough room for the driver to drive while squeezed against the door, head bent sideways. We added in a 10ish year old boy once back in the car after the ferry. In case you're not following, this taxi brought us to a ferry, on which we sat on benches, then we sat back in the car and it continued onto the town we wanted, Masaka.

    11 people total in a 5 seat passenger car. And let's not forget the 3 lives chickens in a box in the front seat. Even the driver had trouble closing his door once seated because of the 2 women and child next to him. I couldn't feel my right leg for most of the trip. Jack being on top had her head pined against the ceiling of the car, sitting half on my lap and half on the guy next to us. Funny how all ideas of a personal bubbles and space melts away in these countries. Even when your sitting on a boda boda, you hold onto the guys waist in hills or press your thighs against his to hold on. You become friends very quickly!

    The ferry ride, being just under an hour, was a welcomed, open and breezy moment of freedom before getting back into that car. As for Masaka, and once the feeling returned to my leg, we walked around with our backpacks and found our lunch spot. We had Greek! Legit and wonderful Greek! Fresh Greek salad. Actual feta cheese. Tzaziki! We even allowed ourselves to go all out and order desert - ice cream! I was in heaven. After ordering it, we noticed it had been 1 month since our departure from Ottawa. Desert for a celebration!

    The rest of the day was just spent walking through this wonderful, busy, small shops kind of town, eventually stumbling upon what became our accommodation for the night. According to the travel book, there was not much to do but wonder around in this town, and it was right. But we both loved it! It's hard to explain why one town hits you in a really positive way, more then another. Especially when you don't have reference points to compare. I can't say the museum was nicer, or the restaurant better, or the parks nicer, just the feeling of the place was great. Still, Ugandans are impressing me. No one bothering us, everyone actually giving us real pricing for things like accommodation and transportation. We walked by a minibus station and were approached by two men, I automatically though they would sell me something but they just wanted to help - gave us the information we needed for tomorrow's bus to Kabale.

    The evening was spent having a drink on a patio, people watching, and eating food from the street vendors around. It's cool, here - you can sit in any restaurant or coffee shop, buy something or not, doesn't matter, bring in something from outside, anything goes. Food with the vendors was cheaper and more interesting, do that's what we ate at the bar! A slight miscommunication - Jack wanted to try a different bier, so she asked the waiting if she could have his favourite beer. He got so excited, thanked us both and walked away. Maybe 10 minutes later, no beer, I call him over again and say "the beer, she wanted to try your favourite beer". And he goes "oh! She wants to try?" and again very happily walks away, eventually to return with Bell beer. Once the bill was in, turns out I had bought him a beer! Lol oops. He seemed so happy about it, I guess it's one good deed.

    I've actually noticed - Ugandans drink... A lot... Well men do. I've seen an incredible amount of men drinking straight from these tiny mickeys of vodka. Even our spiritual medium from yesterday was drinking from his mickey while he was telling us about his religion. According to them, if you drink and have a job, no problem. If you drink and don't have a job, that's an issue. More often then I probably should, I find myself wondering "is that guy off or waisted?"

    Side note - traveling is surprisingly tiring. We thought jet-lag was the reason we were in bed so early at first. I think at this point, it's safe to say we're just old! In bed by 8-9pm. Up by 630-7am. Going out for those drinks, we thought we would have a night on the town! 9pm, we're in bed, lights out. Party!

    Second side note - check out the big ugly birds we keep spotting everywhere! They're literally everywhere. They're balding, long necked and about 3-4 feet tall... Creepy.    Read more

  • Vee LEast Africa
    Day 38

    Rwanda!

    February 8, 2016 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    We're in Rwanda! Kigali to be exact! We treated ourselves - I'm writing this blog while laying in bed, eating my first chocolate bar since I've arrived, and drinking from our mini wine bottle. Simple pleasures.

    To save on the details, we took a boda-boda for 10 minutes, a minibus for 2.5 hours, another minibus for 3 hours, a shared taxi for 30 minutes to the border, and this same shared taxi for another 2.5 hours. And done!

    As you'll notice in the photos, the first bus stop we were dropped at this morning was very official. Obviously they pack the minibuses very well - 12 official seats, with up to 23 people in them at any given time.

    Timing was flawless though, we'd get off and there was another bus leaving... And we scored big time with the last shared taxi! For the same price as what our book was telling us it would cost for a ride to Kigali after crossing the border, this taxi picked us up in Kabale, brought us to the border, where we all crossed by foot, then picked us up and we drove into Kigali. And this time, unlike the one on the island, Jack and I shared the back row of the car with one person, one seat per person! Luxury!

    The border was hilarious. A wooden gate lifted by a person to let the car in, which pulled over to the side to let us out. We all go in line at the exiting Uganda office, where we filled out an exit card, got a stamp, and were told to go on. We had our east Africa visa so no charge for us. We then walk about 6 minutes on a dirt road surrounded by construction trucks over to the Gatuna Immigration office. We hand over our passports, simple questions, thumb print and photo and that's it. We walk back to the car, they looked through our bags really quickly, and off we go to Kigali!

    We've been told by many travellers that Kigali was something special! It was organized, and clean, and welcoming. I was expecting to be wow'd. Meh. It was hot, we decided to walk up to town from the bus station, which even the book says you need "gorilla legs" if you decide to walk it instead of taking public transportation. I do not have gorilla legs. But we made it! One soaked freshly washed t-shirt later we were at the top of the hill! We asked about 5 different people where this central roundabout was called Place de l'unité Nationale. We were pointed in all kinds of directions. Turns out, if Rwandans don't know where something is, they point somewhere anyway.

    A 3km walk took 2 hours. And at this point, with all the transportation, my last meal was an egg and chapati at 10am. It's now 5pm and we've just dropped our bags off at our room. I'm hungry! FYI our lonely planet map blows for this town, nothing makes sense on it. Restaurants aren't where they should be. Roads entirely are missing or just wrong... It was so frustrating.

    The town appears at times just as disorganized and chaotic as any other city we've seen, and at other times there's street names displayed, actual roundabouts, street lighting, well manicured landscaping along the streets all making it appear organized.

    Our home for the night - a nuns convent! We're room A1, that means the very first room after passing the group of nuns sitting at a table reviewing the Bible together. How perfect! It's the cheapest place in town, and quite the ambiance! Once we got back to our room in the evening after diner, we could hear their choir practising, seranating us!

    I got to call my mom from a coffee shop today, best Wi-Fi we've had yet! Felt nice to hear her voice. Jack was asking me the other day if I missed anything from home, I told her I didn't miss anything at all, just people. My friends, my family, being surrounded by people I love and I know love me... A month into this trip, and I don't miss any foods, or my bed, or my shower or clothes, just my people.    Read more

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