Addis Ababa

[emo_snal]

Wednesday, November 26th, Addis Ababa - The plan this day was to catch a flight to Mek'ele in the northern highlands of Ethiopia. As luck would have it, this was not to be

Comments

[clevortrevor]

I just started reading a book set in Ethiopia over the weekend, so this post was especially relevant to my interests! Thanks for sharing your adventures. That museum sounds fascinating and horrifying (as does Ethiopia and Eritrea's history in general).

[emo_snal]

Oh what book? I've been looking for books set in Ethiopia.

It's definitely a really interesting place. I'll try to sneak more on the recent history into one of these entries, it's really interesting. Basically Eritrea used to be part of Ethiopia but when the Derg was finally overthrown Eritrea was basically like "you know what, we're just out" and seceded ... and then a few years later war broke out between Eritrea and Ethiopia and the border has been closed ever since. I think part of the reason for the war was that Ethiopia found themselves landlocked and Eritrea had all the ports so they were trying to capture one / they couldn't reach an agreement in import/exports through Eritrea. Also Eritrea is a dictatorship and that tends to lead to tension with democracies.

[clevortrevor]

I'm reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, and really like it so far. At this point in the book, Haile Selassie is in power, and the narrator has been explaining a little bit about how Eritrea ended up as part of Ethiopia after WWII.

Looking forward to your next posts!

[sistrmoon]

I have that book sitting in my to read pile. I'll pull it out next:)

[nightspore]

Great post and photos.

If you're looking for Ethiopia fiction, the one I read recently, a bit of which takes place there, is Steve Ericson's These Dreams of You.

[emo_snal]

I read the synopsis just now, its hard to make heads or tails of it, Plz to be describing it?

[nightspore]

http://nightspore.livejournal.com/489408.html

[zhelana]

That food on that bottom plate looks amazing!

[emo_snal]

Ethiopian food is some of the most unique and distinctive in the world I think, it's not like anything else! (:

[twicet]

I would think that museum would be a very interesting place though not for the squeamish.

Your photographs are great.

[emo_snal]

For me the worst of all was the torture deviced, including I think they had a diorama of someone having their hands broken or something, of all things. The skull room was just... very sobering. esp since each one was in a cubicle with some personal effects found with it such as a belt or shoes. This ain't ancient skulls, these are people! WERE people. ):

[fbhjr]

Very cool!

[emo_snal]

Ethiopia is very cool! (: