Sep
4
For those of you who have never been to Ethiopia, here are some pictures that will give you a taste of the captial, Addis Ababa. For those that have been, you will also remember the sounds
horns honking, donkeys braying, children laughing, machiato cups clinking, blind ladies begging, diesel trucks roaring, friends greeting
and the smells
coffee roasting, popcorn popping, sewer seeping, mud caking, spices cooking, smog sputtering, unbleached cotton drying
Here are some of the sites (click on a photo to see a bigger view, and then click again to see the really big version).
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- Sugarcan "store" - a popular treat amoung those with little money. Notice all the mud and stones.
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- Children are everywhere in the burbs and low income neighborhoods. They run free - no fences. And the neighborhood looks after them.
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- A pottery "store" in the Shiro-mar (sp?) Entoto Market
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- When your donations to the Sally Ann don't get sold, they end up here - the clothing market for the average Ethiopian
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- Religion is very much a part of most Ethiopian's lives - both Orthodox and Muslim
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- It's a Saturday market AND graduation at Addis Ababa University, so everyone is out at the market today!
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- Driving around you see things from a different view than walking. It's easier on the feet but not on the back. Any road not paved by the Chinese is pretty dicey.
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- Signage is in Amharic and English, almost universally.
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- This donkey looks pstoral just outside Addis, but you see them everywhere, carrying firewood, water, etc. Sometimes noone is driving them and you wonder how they know where they are going, darting across traffic.
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- I don'tknow how many foosball tables I saw out in the streets - usually surrounded by men from the neighborhood.
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- Typical storefronts. Shops are usually grouped by sector or wares.
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- This is a coffee intake station - the "plant" is next door. Everything is labour intensive in Ethiopia, including industry.
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- A typical furniture store with the wares outside - I have no idea what they do when it rains every afternoon.
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- This is Bole, one of the main avenues. It's paved and has sidewalks (with big open manholes) and shopping malls and restaurants. Pretty cosmopolitan.
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- One of the views from my hotel window looking out on Bole Road, and the internet cafe. Notice all the trees - Ethiopians value their plants.
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- And through the gates right beside a major shopping mall, is a mre modest neighborhood. The contrasts in Addis are astounding.
September 4th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing these pictures!
Mary
September 4th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Oh yes, that brings me right back. Great pictures with great commentaries. Thanks for sharing.
k