Ethiopia Intense and In-tents.
I am lying in my tent, on the ground of a very solid paddock. There is a clod (I think kiwis have another phrase for this?!) of earth to my right, forcing me to lie against the wall of the inner tent. Mind you the slight incline is rolling me in that direction too. This was the flattest area I could find. There is also a man with a Ak47 lying on the ground about 50m away, I almost walked into him on my pre-bed bathroom jaunt. We are camped on a plateau behind a little Ethiopian village, about 100km from the Ethiopian/Sudanese border town of Metema.
The border crossing took about 3.5hours this morning. Woken by some very tuneful mosques/calls to prayer at 4am. Usually it is 5, yesterday was 4.15, today 4. Someone suggested we might have been hearing the Ethiopian churches, as Ethiopia is an hour ahead of Sudan. Interestingly Sudanese time is meant to be an hour ahead of Cairo, but they chanted their mind, so it's not so clear cut if there should have been a time change going from Egypt to Sudan or not... We had a relaxed sunrise breakfast, weetbix, banana, Nutella and fig jam- even time for a cup of tea. The border was 1.4km away, but didnt open until 7.30am. We had an easy cycle down to the border town. It was really pretty coasting down the hill (on the still very rough tar), with the mist over the hills. The town was bustling for that time in the morning. Donkeys, men, lorries, women, motorbikes all over the streets. The women were dressed less covertly than those wenhave seen through Sudan. There was a distinctive 'border feel' to the town - transient, dodgy dealings, it felt Promiscuous (if a town can feel that way?!). 'You want, I can get'. Most people had a Cappuccino from one of the stalls while we were waiting. We decided that we're actually glasses of tea made with some condensed Milk. Tasted a bit like a warm tea milkshake, would be great on a cold morning. They were served with a metal dish of donut holes and sugar. I have been searching for donut holes since arriving in Sudan (apparently they're a Sudanese specialty), and finally on the last day, literally the last hour I managed to try them. Not as good as I hoped, pretty non descript. Would have gone really well with the cappuccino, if I hadn't just had tea with breakfast. We had to wait first to be cleared by the Sudanese customs. We sat outside the customs office and
watch the trucks. It appeared that they had the weight of their cargo estimated, and then more often than not they seemed to be overweight, and then had three or four 20l jerry cans siphoned off. These cans were then wheeled off to the Customs Offfice (read: disappeared through a gap in the wall which had Customs hand painted on it). We assumed that the process was a payment of duty/levy/bribery to the Sudanese office so as they could leave without hassle.
When I went to the toilet, on the other side of the wall, there was a collection of oil drums and more of these jerry cans- clearly a regular occurrence. The next poor chap to be stopped was a man driving a truck laden with god knows what, parcels and boxes haphazardly tied down in he back of the truck...we started to watch as it was all unloaded and piled beside the truck! What could the possibly be smuggling out of Sudan- drug free, alcohol free, Islamic Sudan; into chat chewing, alcohol drinking, Christian Ethiopia?! We put it down to levys and mint making again. Sudanese immigration involved sitting on a metal seat in a queue to have your oassport and exit form photocopied. This was done by a man in the corner of the room, sitting behind a wooden desk with only a photocopier and stapler. Heaven forbid the photocopier should run out of toner! You then took the copies, and your passport, to a man behind a window (there was only one man and window), who passed it to another man, who disappeared. Take your place on the train station seat again. Wait. 10mins later a pile of 5 passports appears. You are free to leave Sudan. We walked across a bridge. There's about 200m of no mans land between the two offices. This no mans land is the busiest place I have seen since Dongola at midday. It seems like it is an open border to locals/pedestrians as there was free movement of people between the open wooden gate on the Ethiopian side, and the piece of rope across the road that everyone was ducking under o enter Sudan. Nevertheless, we waited. This time in the shade, and on wooden benches. It was actually pretty comfortable. Much to people's delight and entertainment there was a man selling beer in No Man's Land. I think Frank and Dylan had four a piece, others restrained themselves to one or two. I changed my last 600 Sudanese pounds into Ethiopian birr. They should have been worth $18 US, I got $9 US of Ethiopian birr. Moral of the story=be the guy who works at the border! Soft drinks were selling for 20 Sudanese pounds, when we had been paying 7 yesterday! Eventually we were through. We wheeled our bikes through the wooden gate, and were set free by the crew, hitting the road between 10.30-11am. I was kind of nervous starting the cycle so late. T was only 98km but there was about 1000m of climbing and it was already pushing 30C. Fortunately the tar was like marble in comparison to the last few days! And the wind slightly across to non existent. As soon as we went through the border the road started climbing. It
undulated all the way to 78km. It was like riding a roller coaster, gentle climb and then try and get up speed on a short downhill before repeating. For some reason I was km counting, so the 60 odd kms to lunch felt quite long. I think it's just because I was stressed, rather than just settled. We stopped at 35km to meet a black market money man. He took us into a nearby pharmacy one by one and swapped usd for Ethiopian birr at a rate of 1:29. Promptly went next door and purchased 7 cold soft drinks for everyone! Sugared and cooled we continued. Once again the contest between the countries is as instant as crossing the border. Ethiopia = intense. I am already sick of the incessant 'You. You. You.' From all adults and children that you pass. These are kids as young as four, they come running to the road shouting 'you', some ask for money, some ask 'where you go'. It is much more abrasive and in your face than Sudan. The word 'you' feels non respectful. It is a means to get your attention but there is no interest behind it. It feels almost like habit. I am not sure what the best way to deal with it is yet. Maybe I will learn how to say 'you' in Amarhic so I can shout it back to them. Cycling feels more hazardous too. The roads are just busier. Not necessarily with traffic, yet. We haven't had the get out of my way or die air conditioned coaches yet, but there are people who walk out into the road waving their hands at you so as your not sure if they will move out the way or try and grab you. There are herds of cows passing. Donkeys meandering. Tuk Tuks pulling in front of you and then out again. We had a near miss with some cows when we were steaming downhill. David and Jenna were just in front of Alistair and I. There were some cows just beginning to cross a few hundred meters away. I could hear Jenna braking but I wouldn't have time to stop for her, I moved to the right around her. David was ahead. One of the cows got a fright and slipped on the road, stalling it so it was in front of me. David thought it was about to charge him. I managed to serve and avoid it too. Gave us all a slight increase in heart rate! Lunch was beside the road, just down a little dip. There were some kids with flagging tape (which they had obviously removed from whatever landmark it was identifying for us) and so we almost carried on straight past the truck. So begins Ethiopia. We have been warned about thieving fingers here, indeed when I was in Addis a few years ago I was pick pocketed twice. The kids are good st what they do. It was very hot by the time we reached lunch. The steam train were still there, so can't have been that far ahead of us on coming in. Ryan had picked up some watermelons which was exactly what we wanted, and there was egg salad, which is always a fav. I didn't eat too much though because of the heat, and we had 'the climb' looming.
We set out again to do the last 38km. Passing through villages made of round mud huts, and stick fences to hold livestock in. Villages are much more frequent that Sudan, and population bigger. They have people living there, numerous little stalls, washing hanging out, one even had a mud building which was open at the front with a pool table in and men hanging around- Ethiopian sports bar?!?
The climb began at about 78km. My legs were feeling strong, despite my general fatigue of having done over 600km in 6 days. I managed to pull away and get up the top. I am glad to have done some mountain biking as I just pretended I was cycling up the hill to the back of the farm, I even imagined I had Maisy with me. Really the incline in places was no different, and the riding style the same. Probably easier because it was tar. Surprisingly after about 7km the road fell away and there was a great downhill. I got over 50km/h. Then the last climb. All the way to camp at 98km. I passed Marty and Neal (who I like to thi k of the Steam in the Steam Train). I am anticompetitive, but overtaking them pulled up in the shade halfway up the hill, and then getting to camp before them was a perk! I think I was fourth into camp today. Partly because of the climb, but actually I honk I cope with the heat better than many people. I like to be warm. Today was hot though.
Very pretty. Camp has been cordoned off to keep locals out. The locals have been very lucrative. They set up three bucket showers in shacks just outside our 'compound'. I paid my 30birr (1$ Us) for a bucket of water and managed to wash my hair and myself. Once again the sponge was a great thin to pack. Having wangled a shower without a queue (perk of arriving before the others), I pitched my tent and set up the solar panel. The locals have also set up shop selling beers, soft drinks and biscuits at the edge of the cordon. 20birr for a congratulatory tepid beer, Jenna and I took advantage. The solar panel is fantastic. I use it to charge a power pack with then charged my phone, watch and camera. Unfortunately its ability to charge the power pack is dependent on what time you arrive I at camp. Today's 3.15 arrival has provided enough juice for my phone but would need a full charge tomorrow. Pitching my tent turned out to be a spectator sport. I had 15 kids standing on the cordon. 'You' 'what's your name?' 'how old are you?' 'Where you go' I answered all their questions and quite enjoyed the interaction, until 10mins later when they were repeating countries back to me and then running through the countries again! One day to Gondar. Maybe I will stay in a hotel again. Two rest days in Gondar. Tomorrow is apparently the biggest climbing day on the trip. It looks like the worst is between 20-32km, and there's a town at 35km...so I'm cycling to the top for an infamous Ethiopian Coffee. Hopefully! ...just need to sleep through the chorus of dogs, donkeys and cows that seems to echo through the camp every 15mins. The donkey sets off the cows, the cows set off the dogs, and then it spreads like wild fire.
