AIR NATION: Ethiopia Day #1 Addis Ababa Addis Abeba

will translate in French eventually will add some videos too...

I have been working like a nut since I came back frOm Ethiopia to Canada I went to Europe 3 times.

I needed to get away it was a necessary trip not a luxury trust me.
I had a very bad 2 years.

Our journey will take us to

Day1 Addis Abeba
Day 2 Arba Minch
Day 3 Arba Minch Omo valley Mago park to Jinka
Day 4 Jinka to the Mursi village to Konso
Day 5 Konso to the mech national park to Arba Minch to Addis Abeba
Frankfurt to Montreal

ETHIOPIA

ARRIVAL IN BEAUTIFUL ADDIS ABEBA

05:50 A.M.

ADDIS ABEBA
ADDIS ABABA

"I always want my mom to be part of my trip unfortunately these days its not possible so you will see all the pictures of my trips good or bad so you know every single inch of my trip like my mom will".

My sister is working in Ethiopia for a month and we decided to go away for a long week end in Ethiopia.

59 hours of fast preparation to get a stand by ticket.

1lost day
2days to get there
5 days of discoveries
extreme traveling

Trip on top of my list for best time in a long time.

2 days to come back
2 days rest
back to work

ss
one day couldn<t get on board
left the next day without my Ethiopian book with all precious infos on wich hotel, wich restaurant, I wanted to go. Stress and mad that I didn't get on board the day before. Waisted a day.

ARRIVAL IN ADDIS ABABA

VISA AT THE AIRPORT
50$US.
WAIT AVERAGE 30 MINUTES TO 2 HOURS

Beautiful !
I tought I landed in Vancouver Canada.

HOWEVER AS SOON AS YOU GET OUT THE AIRPORT PREMISES
TOO BAD YOU CAN NOT GO BACK IN SO BE AWARE
THE CASH MACHINE IS 100 METERS OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT ON YOUR LEFT KEEP WALKING SIDE WAYS NOT FORWARD OR AGAIN YOU WONT BE ABLE TO ACCESS IT PASS THE OUTSIDE STAIRS.

EVERYONE SAY GOODBYE TO THEIR LOVES ONE OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT BUILDING
SAME THING WHEN YOU GO BACK YOU HAD TO WAIT OUTSIDE FOR THE PROPER TIME TO GET IN.
BE AWARE.

AND REMEMBER THEY HAVE DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL THERE TOO.

MEETING MY SISTER AT THE HOTEL

SHE WILL BE HAVING BREAKFAST
NOT ME
MY STOMACH IS NOT GOOD
SOMETHING I ATE AT FRANKFURT AIRPORT OR ON BOARD THE PLANE...

I always tell people dont eat at the airport or on the plane but I waited 14 hours in Frankfurt...

We decided to go to the Mercato in Addis Ababa to spend the day there

Visiting and studying how people do business in a market tells you all about the people who live there.

GOING TO THE MERCATO

Meet my sister the expert in Africa

The expert on Africa

I JOIN MY SISTER WHO WORK THERE FOR HUMANITARIAN WORK HELPING START UP BUSINESSES.
THIS IS THE LONG WEEK END IN ETHIOPIA
CHRISTIAN ORTHODOX EASTER
SO WE CAN GO AROUND AND DO SOME SIGHTSEEING
Yeah!
BUT FIRST LETS VISIT THE BIGGEST MARKET IN AFRICA
THE MERCATO OF ADDIS ABEBA

COME ALONG FOR THE STREET RIDE
WE HAVE OUR NICE DRIVER WITH US ALL DAY

MAKE SURE YOU LOCK IN YOUR VALUABLE BEFORE BROWSING IN THE MARKET
SOMEONE WILL CHECK YOUR CAR EVEN IF ITS AN OLD LADA 89!

Studying the market

LET THE SHOPPING BEGIN
WISH I HAD MONEY FOR THAT
HERE IN ETHIOPIA THE CRAFTS ARE GOOD
BUT I HAVE NO MONEY FOR THIS
IM SAVING IT FOR MY TRIP TO THE SOUTH WEST

LOVELY WALKING CANE

I COULD HAVE BROUGHT THESE DRUMS BACK HOME

ALL OF THEM

HAVING FUN SO FAR SO GOOD

PRAYING TIME BIG TIME
HERE
SPECIALLY THIS WEEK END

THIS MAN CAUGHT MY ATTENTION I THINK HE WAS BLIND

Lets hope we have a great trip this is the first time we go together. I usualy travel alone.

ETHIOPIA IS HOME TO THE CHRISTIAN ORTHODOX A FEW MUSLIM AND SOME OTHER RELIGIONS: OTHER CHRISTIANISM, JEWISH RELIGION, ANIMIST.

A LOT OF THE RELIGIONS ALSO INCLUDE SOME ANIMIST RITUAL.

SO BE PREPARED NOT SO MUCH IN THE CITY BUT IN THE RURAL REGION YOU WILL HAVE TO WAKE UP AT 3 OCLOCK IN THE MORNING AT PRAYOR TIME

THIS MERCATO IS NOT A SOUK
THERE ARE LARGE STREETS HERE THAT SEPARATE SPECIAL SECTORS OF THE MERCATO CLOTHING, COFFEE, SPICES, ENCENT, FURNISHER...

I LOVE BELLS. I COLLECT BELLS, THESE WERE REAL CHEAP BUT IMPOSSIBLE TO LIFT UP! iii

construction sights every where in Ethiopia a booming country

You need to be Ethiopian to open up a shop or to have an Ethiopian partner. Government is hard on its people...
So sad to hear that.
Ask the expert if you need more informations.

shopping for old jewelry that is hard to find in Addis for a reasonable price...

EVERYTHING IS TOO EXPENSIVE

its too much, price too high, no fun, I don't get it, we are in a poor country

Since they are very religious, every where you go, you would find some religious crosses beautifuly made, ICONES...

A lot of religious painting too

but my favorite items were the drums

they have great sound

snif! snif! Too big to bring back and too expensive

nice view here of the market

You will see a lot of men with sewing machine. Yes men!

This man on the left has a nice secon level store but unfortunately the prices are too high but go ahead and have a look of exquisite items. The man on the right is our nice driver.

Building the future... the old fashion way will definetely take time...

yellow bananas in the city, while in the field, there are still green not ready to eat, hum interesting fact.

traffic jam, dunkies at work

everyone work hard here

everything here is presented in huge bags of over 100 kilos if I remember correctly

green coffee beans ready to be roasted

I bought my green coffee beans from this friendly lady as well as spicy spices

sometimes you can hardly see the seller behind these big bags.

selling khat at the mercato

Meet the lady who likes to smell garlic in her nose all day

everything here in this market is sold by the kilo or half a kilo
they place it on the balance put their little weight on and voila
no need for cash machine either
but you definetely need cash if you go shopping there

encent bags smell so good

it seems like the owner owns a car then he have his employees work right there on the side of the road screening the coffee beans.

man screening coffee beans
everyone does it in such a poor condition
in the middle of the side walk between cars on their hands and knees
working for very little money

babies in their arms they come to work
wish we could have sroll the side alleys but on the first day we needed to get the feel of the place.

women screening coffee beans

they do have big hats bigger then my sister hat
she always wear big huge hat not today tho

men wearing big hats too

sitting pretty selling her goods for the day

we did had a fall for this lady who was selling encent
a lot of women were buying from her
so they help us buy some for ourselves
everyone everywhere are very friendly

miles and miles of market vendors makes it the biggest market in Africa I enjoyed myself meeting everyone who works there I mean a lot of people
as this is endless shopping area

we didnt have the smell of exhaust fuel or sour I was surprised perhaps the smell of encent coffee and spices help a lot who knows.

my sister enjoying herself in her new home city for a month

people work hard in Ethiopia
everyone contribute to the economy here.

now when I drink my coffee, I remember this little girl sitting between 2 cars screening coffee beans to remove any impurities so I, miles away, can drink a good cup of coffee every morning.

selling the ingredients to make beer
actually was very surprised to drink excellent beer like the St George in Ethiopia

we can not escape the reality of Ethiopia either

if you want to send something this is the post office

piazza

italian area

taxi

Everyone said it was a nice car
1989 old lada
drove us where ever we wanted in the city thanks to our great driver

we wanted to go there but it was close so we went next door at the pizzeria where the pizza was delicious

oven bake pizza

my stomach needed some good food

I got some great food and we even found some coca cola

perfect lunch here

italian area the piazza

legacy left behind from the italians who lost their battle here
Ethiopian Victory day is big here. Luckily, for us tho, we find great italian food every where and great bread beside Konzo city where the bread taste.....brrrr....

went shopping there for leather accessories

nice leather old style stuff

but we met this cute little girl there

coffee stop at the hilton hotel

we needed it
wonderful experience not to be miss anywhere you go in Ethiopia you are going to be serve an excellent coffee like an espresso without the bitterness of it. They sometime put ereto branch in it and burn some encent to make it more flavorish but no too much so you loose the real taste of coffee no just perfect!

Every where you sip coffee, you will meet some new friends, sit down and chat with your new friends, eat roasted beans that are quite delicious, and smell the aroma of roasted beans, encent...very exotic indeed!