Bele Bound

Day Two, June 12,  2014

We began our day with the hotel breakfast at 6:30 AM. A driver, Ashanafi, which literally means winner, came to pick us up around 7:30 to begin our trip south to Hailey's town of Bele. After discussion about the broken seatbelt in the front seat, and figuring out a way to fix it, we left on our journey a little before 8:00AM.

We started on our way on a freeway out of Addis Ababa. We immediately hit traffic, but this time cars were coming the wrong way down our side of the freeway. Turns out there was an accident and we had to turn around to double back and take a side street back to an adjacent road to meet back up with the freeway. We then began our nine hour journey. Thanks to the Angel family for the recommendation of the stress relieving gum. I think it really worked. Either that or it was the power of positive thought. Either way, for a person who has trouble driving on Topanga Canyon, I was pretty relaxed and enjoyed watching the scenery during the course of the long drive. 

As we experienced yesterday, you have to watch out for other cars on the road, however, after leaving the city we transitioned to a different view. We drove through town after town, village after village, now adding the components of cows, horses, donkeys, and goats sharing the road. We learned that the trick is that you have to honk as you come up on them, well that's actually the procedure for humans as well. Sometimes they move and other times they don't. If a man is walking with his donkey and the donkey becomes stubborn, they throw the donkey into the street. First, this is to protect themselves but it is also used for monetary gain. If you hit a horse, cow, donkey, or goat you have to pay the owner because it is illegal. They don't care about the dogs though. 

The scenery was beautiful and although I had little sleep the night before, I was unable to tear my eyes away and didn't sleep at all. It was a scene that is not that difficult to describe, but more so, difficult to believe. Children and donkey carts, traditional Ethiopian huts and trees, enset (similar to banana) trees, and other vegetation I am not familiar with, growing greener and greener the further south we traveled, were seen throughout the course of the drive. 

We stopped in Butajira, the town where Hailey spent her first three months in Ethiopia for training. We tried to get a juice from her favorite shop, but the power was out so the blenders couldn't work. We got a snack called tabo kolo, roasted bread chopped into fine pieces, and headed back on our journey. We traveled about five more hours down a mostly paved road blanketed by one town after another. There were men sitting in groups, children playing and bathing in brownish, red rivers, women, men and boys, and some girls pulling donkey carts, filled with materials like rocks and lumber, and young children running around playing without pants. We even saw a girl about 4 or 5 with a baby strapped to her body. One thing they all had in common was that they stared at us. If we waved, they waved and yelled ferengi, which means foreigner. During my observations, I was continuously reminded of my teachings of the Gold Rush and Colonial times, which is exactly how they live. 

We finally passed through the town of Areca and began our hour and a half descent down the mountain into Haileys town. What an amazing, expansive view we were treated to! 

We arrived at her compound where she was surprised that they had installed a new gate while she was gone, and unloaded our luggage into her 10 x 10 room. There were not that many people in the compound at the time, so we got some bags and headed to the market. The big market happens weekly in Bele, every Thursday, and people come from all around to buy fruit and vegetables, which we observed on our ride down into Bele. People walking down to the market and those returning from market, lugging bags on their heads, backs, and shoulders. I was eager to witness what it was all about, and was excited to be arriving on a Thursday. My eagerness matched Haiely's hesitation. We were given instructions to have nothing with us, except our  camera, and to follow her closely and take pictures only when she was purchasing something. We headed off, confidently thinking she was overreacting. She was not! We were a spectacle! Think Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie or Justin Beiber, depending on your age bracket, possibly even to the extent of the Beatles, or a two headed giraffe walking through your local neighborhood. I am not exaggerating! From the second we began this venture, we were followed by hoardes of mostly children and some women wanting to touch us, yelling Ferengi, China (because Chinese people had built their roads and to them, anyone white is often seen as Chinese,) and Money. Many of them just wanted to touch us, but everyone was yelling and word got around quickly. I have to admit it got a bit scary at times, and the people selling goods who knew Hailey literally used umbrellas and sticks to try to get them away from us. They were so close and invading that thoughts of being trampled certainly crossed my mind, however the absolute electricity of it all was somehow entertaining. A man with obvious mental illness, someone I would, uncharacteristically, call crazy took specific interest in us as well. He followed us, waving his cane and yelling unintelligible words directed at us. A market worker pushed him away and he landed in a vat of tomatoes, from which he proceeded to recover, regaining his upright potion to find us again. He bent down to the ground by Hailey's feet, yelled something and opened his mouth to bite her toes. She kicked him in the head! His interest in us, not deterred. However, because Hailey is a regular, we had support of many, so she quickly finished her shopping, as quickly as possible, considering our entourage in an environment of obstacles. She successfully obtained her onions, eggs, mangos, gomen, and corrian peppers, necessary for breakfast preparation tomorrow morning, as well as coffee beans, an Ethiopian staple to present to her landlady. After creating photo evidence, we escaped into Hailey's favorite juice shop for a reprise from our paparazzi and the unyielding heat, and enjoyed mango and mango avocado smoothies, hidden in the back room of the restaurant. 

We returned to her home and met more of her compound family. Marta, an 11 year old with a great smile and sparkling eyes, was roasting chickpeas in the back kitchen sitting atop a ledge for the Bunna Ceremony they were preparing for us. Alemitu, Hailey's landlady, affectionately referred to as her Ethiopian mother and Nice, her brilliant, mature Ethiopian sister helped explain the process of a Bunna Ceremony. They drink and prepare coffee everyday, but a Bunna Ceremony is reserved for special occasions, and we were fortunate enough to be the recipients. The ground is laid with leaves under a charcoal fire and tray holding small coffee cups and saucers. Incense is burning in the front. First, Nice roasted the coffee in the pan atop the fire until it was blackened. The beans are then taken out and ground in a small cylindrical container by slamming a metal rod down briskly, time after time. We were able to help with this part of the ceremony. The grounds were taken out and brewed in a jebina, a unique Ethiopian coffee pot set upon the charcoal fire. While the coffee was brewing popcorn was made on the fire and added to the roasted chickpeas to create the traditional accompanying snack, called shasha in Wolitik, and kolo in Amharic. The guests are served first, followed by the elders, the men, and finally the women. The women sit separately from the men and guests, and Hailey has earned her spot as a "non guest," so I sat with John, Nagatu, and Aboosh, Hailey's Ethiopian father and brother. We enjoyed the traditional 3 cups of coffee while we chatted. During the ceremony, the power went out, which is a common occurrence, so they were prepared with a flashlight in a stand to light their front porch. What an amazing honor and way to be welcomed!

Hailey tucked us in under a mosquito net and we went to sleep. She covered herself from head to toe to avoid more mosquito bites. 

Some of you are probably curious about the shint bet, place to go to the bathroom. It is literally a hole in the ground, in a room made of mud walls and cement floors, with a door that locks and a light, when there's power. It smells as you would expect, and there are bugs on the walls and flies buzzing all around, but that being said, it is kept very clean, there is no choice and it is not as hard as I thought it might be!