ToewsTravels – Page 22 – every country or bust!

don’t throw away your customs form in mexico!

at the end of june, my sister got married! ann and i went to my hometown of grande prairie, alberta for the wedding, which was excellent. we were also honored to be the co-emcees for the reception which was a lot of fun. in classic maria form, my sister had procured some indian-canadian guys who worked at the local tim hortons to cater curry and rice for the reception meal. it was nice to see a lot of people from our childhoods again!

ann then had to head back to the east coast for a summer language program, but i had a few more days off, so flew down to central america. i was supposed to have a short layover in mexico city before continuing to panama and then nicaragua. i went through customs as i was required to, and was given a customs card. after security i figured i was done with my customs card, and threw it away. i availed of some luxury lounge access i have through one of my amazing credit cards, and there filled up my backpack with some free canned beers for the rest of the trip. then i went to the gate to board the next flight. however, i wasn’t allowed to board without my customs card! an airline rep with a very flat affect continually reminded me despite my pleas that there were “no exceptions.” if i wanted to get on the flight, i would need to get a replacement customs card, outside of security. so i exited security and ran around the bowels of the massive terminal three of benito juarez international airport trying to find the applicable office. evidently, this happens to unsuspecting stupid foreigners with regularity, as there were a gaggle of others trying to do the same thing. they don’t make it easy though – you can’t just pay the $30 fee for a new customs card at that office, you need to pay it at a specific bank elsewhere in the airport. so i ran to that bank, but you need to have mexican pesos to pay. of course i had used all of mine, and the atm at the bank didn’t work, so had to try a few others to find some cash. back to the bank and back to the customs form office. new form in hand, i rushed through security, only to be pulled aside for having 20 cans of beer in my backpack. lol! the guys were pretty nice about it; hope they kept them. finally made it back to the gate as the airplane was pulling back. missed it.

procuring my checked bag after missing my connecting flight was another adventure, but it worked out. they let me into the underground baggage sorting area to wait while they located it, which was kinda cool. i was supposed to be in panama that night, and go to nicaragua two days later, but obviously needed to come up with another plan. new flights were prohibitively expensive, and missing mine was my fault. spent much of the rest of the day trying to figure out a plan. kind of exhilarating actually. flirted with all kinds of wacky ideas for getting to nicaragua before i finally found a multi-leg flight for the next day through panama and managua, nicaragua, with an overnight layover there before a final leg that i would skip, which saved a bunch of money. thankfully the next day they were amenable to checking my bag just to nicaragua, and it worked out! spent the night in mexico city, and ate some really great tacos multiple times. this was just two months after i had spent three days there earlier that spring. funny how it goes, but there could be worse places to be stuck!

mexico city!

in april i was lucky enough to be able to go to las vegas for the acep (american academy of emergency physicians) advanced pediatric emergency medicine assembly, which was of course an excellent conference! on my way home to philly, i decided to take a flight detour through mexico!

i had a layover in monterrey, mexico, during which i was excited to check out the vip lounge that i suddenly had access to thanks to my new credit card, but it was excessively crowded, to the point of multiple people sitting on each other’s laps.

i had two full days in mexico city, and it really hit the spot! great value for money, and a ton of things to do. i mostly just wandered around – huge, beautiful malls. there is a massive downtown park chulpuateca with many attractions including a colonial era castle with great views of the rapidly proliferating skyline. and, most famously, the excellent national museum of anthropology – one of the best museums i have ever been to! it is arranged around an open courtyard, with an iconic roof that has water falling from it. in the surrounding building is a very thorough history and present-day synopsis of mexico’s various regions, which are remarkably distinct from each other in many ways. a definite must see.

mexican national museum of anthropology, mexico city

i also went to the upscale polanco neighborhood which is where mexico city’s wealthy jewish and lebanese populations reside and shop, and downtown zocalo square, the third largest square in the world, which also has one of the largest flying flags in the world. nearby is the torre latinamericana, one of the tallest buildings in mexico city, which has a great viewing deck at its top. also perused some cathedrals and the place bella artes which is mexico city’s beautiful opera house, and the plaza girabaldi which is filled with mariachi bands at every time. and for the first time ever, on the flight home i got upgraded to first class!

mexico city from the torre latinamericana

somaliland!

i crossed overland from ethiopia, which was painless with my somaliland visa i had procured earlier in addis ababa. i waited for a little while at the bustling border area for my cousin, who lives in somaliland with his family, to come pick me up, along with his government-mandated armed guard.

somaliland is a de-facto independent state in the northwest of what the rest of the world considers somalia. it is a very stable, functioning, democratic entity that, in contrast to somalia proper, is very safe to visit! it was originally colonized by the british, while the rest of somalia was claimed by italy prior to independence. my cousin lives in a town called boramo, and we drove there through endless desert in his landcruiser. there are a few expatriates in boramo, and all live in walled compounds, which is the norm there. in addition to catching up with family, we explored some markets, and i went on a run through the dusty town. there is a university in the town, and a new nascent family medicine residency, which is great! i got to see the hospital, meet some of the residents, and even join them for rounds.

the last day we drove to the bustling capital hargeisa to fly out.

obviously somalia has a less than stellar reputation, and that is unfair to the vast majority of its people want nothing to do with al shabaab or pirating. the vast majority of people in somalia are basically just like the rest of us – trying to provide a better life for their families. the perception that all of somalia is lawless is especially damaging to somaliland, which is very safe – if the international community recognized somaliland, this would really help, as it is difficult for them to obtain foreign direct investment and the like while still technically being part of somalia. anyway, if you ever have the opportunity to visit somaliland don’t hold back, as it is a great place!

the ancient walled city of harar!

harar is one of the most fascinating places i have ever been. it is an ancient walled city in the far east of ethiopia with its own local language, and is said to be the fourth holiest site in islam. historically it was completely isolated from the outside world, and was infamously impenetrable by those from the west until someone sneaked in disguised as an arab merchant. the narrow cobble-stoned streets are filled with commerce and lounging men chewing qat.

the people of harar also have a remarkable symbiotic relationship with hyenas. rumor has it this began with townspeople leaving out porridge for the hyenas so they wouldn’t kill the livestock, and later tunnels were even built under the city walls so the hyenas could come in at night. two harari families have kept this tradition going by feeding the hyenas meat every night just outside the city. the location of this event is not well described, but i finally found it with the help of some local children who took me on a 15 minute walk out into the complete darkness. as the meat was brought out, we started hearing the howls of the encircling hyenas.

when they got close, they started eating the meat off sticks, and myself and two german anthropology students who were high on qat took turns feeding them. the next day, it was on to the city of jijiga, then to somaliland!

dire dawa to harar

i flew into an industrial city called dire dawa, built about 100 years ago to service the addis ababa to djibouti railway, which runs through it. i made a beeline in a very old, sputtering taxi to the minibus station, where i jumped in one headed to harar. along the route, absolutely everyone was chewing and carrying huge bundles of qat, a stimulant plant very prevalent in this part of the world.

at one point the minibus was pulled off to the side of the road by some local vigilantes, and everyone was told to get off. they tried to elicit a bribe for each of the many bundles of qat on the bus, which people tried to resist paying until fists started flying. then the police showed up, and there was more yelling and pushing, and it looked like the police ended up getting some of the bribe too. what do i know though, i was just standing there watching. never did i feel endangered. once all that was done, it was on to harar!

northern ethiopia roadtrip – axum to mekele

we hired a van to drive us from axum to mekele. we drove through the town of adwa, the site where the ethiopians defeated the italians, perhaps the most famous historical instance of successful african resistance of colonial power.

we also stopped at yeha, an ancient temple from before the time of christ, as well as a few monastaries along the route. at one, a priest showed us a 700 year old book, with pictures, still colorful, inside.

we stopped for lunch in adigrat, right on the border with eritrea, which split from ethiopia in 1998 after a deadly civil war. the border between ethiopia and eritrea is currently closed.

we stopped at another rock-hewn church in wukro, before leaving ann off in a small town north of mekele. we had planned this in advance, but i felt a bit bad leaving her alone. she was going to a lodge in the tigray countryside to see some more rock-hewn churches, while i continued on to somaliland. the problem was, the lodge was a few hours off the main road, and we didn’t yet know how she was going to get there, and the sun was already setting in this small, dusty town we barely knew the name of, where no one spoke english. we kissed goodbye and hoped for the best, and thankfully i found a few days later when she was back in a place with mobile service that she had made it!

i then got to mekele that night, and on the next place the neck morning: harar!

axum

we next flew north to the the ancient city of axum. this was the capital of the earliest ethiopian kingdom, and is also rumored to be the home of the biblical queen of sheba. it is famous for its ancient obelisks and tombs, and also believed by some to be the resting place of the ark of the covenant of old testament fame.

there is a field in town with multiple stellae/obelisks, which have stood for many centuries. many have also fallen down and are in varying states of disarray. one of the obelisks was taken by mussolini during the italian wartime occupation of ethiopia, and only returned to axum by the italians in 2005. there is a nice museum with a good overview of ethiopian history.

across the street from the stellae field is the oldest church in ethiopia, and a chapel which is said to house the ark of the covenant. one cannot look at it, due to the continuing belief that one would perish if this were to happen, so i cannot confirm its true presence in this location. the surrounding buildings are only accessible to men. a priest showed me some very impressive ancient mural which he will uncover for some cash.

presumed location of the ark of the covenant, axum

the rest of axum was rather underwhelming. we stayed at a $12 hotel in which there was a bed. we went to a restaurant, ordered, waited two hours, and then were told “oh, the power is out, we can’t make any food right now.” if you have limited time in ethiopia this might be the place to skip. amazing history in axum though.

nearing the oldest church in ethiopia, axum

off the beaten path in amhara

from the moment we decided to visit ethiopia, we wanted to visit mikedes, a girl ann has sponsored through world vision. she lives in mersa, a little town in the amhara region about eight hours from the nearest airport. we figured we would arrange our transport there once in lalibela, and as things have a tendency to do in africa, that turned into a saga. we talked to a few travel fixer types in lalibela about our desires, and they all had many fanciful brochures and promises of luxury transport options. each of them basically had people following us around lalibela, asking us about our most recent plans for getting to the next town, and offering us different prices for jeeps, vans, etc. also comments about how the other guys wouldn’t come through. but when the time came to actually go, no one could come through. our guide addis in lalibela promised he could get us there by bus if he could come with, so we took the 5:30 am local bus with him from lalibela to weldia. it was an austere african journey, fjording streams and picking folks up every five minutes.

the folks from world vision met us at a hotel in weldia, about two hours after the agreed meeting time, but its all good. they had a van, and now things were official, so a guy from the government had to join us to keep an eye on us. so now we had three cooks in the kitchen – the world vision area director, the government minder, and our guide addis from lalibela. and as such, always three different views on what should happen next. we just sat back to see the turf war unfold!

before visiting our sponsor child, they insisted we see some world vision water projects in the area. then they took us to the local world vision office for a tour. apparently we were the only sponsors to ever have come to this place, and, they said, the first white people to visit the town in as long as they could remember. when they found out i was a physician they also brought us to a world vision-run local health clinic. then finally, we went to the mikedes’ house and met her and her father. her mother passed away so she cooks and keeps the house up for her and her father, who is a farmer. world vision allows her to attend school and pays for supplies, etc as well as food at school, which is great, as without that support she probably wouldn’t be able to attend school. they live in a mud hut with their ox outside, and we sat on their floor and drank some impeccably prepared ethiopian coffee and it was a really special time.

now that world vision could trust us, they offered to give us a ride all the way back to lalibela the next day. on the way we stopped for some kitfo, raw goat hamburger sprinkled with cayenne pepper. mmmmm!

with random children and our government minder, mersa

lalibela!

lalibela’s iconic rock-hewn churches are the spiritual epicenter of ethiopian orthodoxy. ethiopia has ancient connections with the land of israel – the biblical queen of sheba is believed to have been from ethiopia. as such, christianity spread to ethiopia quite quickly as well. ethiopian orthodoxy is very unique, however, thanks to its relative isolation. there are dozens of churches carved out of the rock, and lalibela is referred to as the “new jeruslaem.” much of the churches’ architecture represent biblical motifs, such as moats to symbolize the jordan river, and pitch-black tunnel entrances to symbolize hell. the interior of the churches are cool and dark, with ancient rugs on the floor and icons on the walls. the locals wear white robes when going to the churches. we hired a guide named addis and spent 1.5 days exploring the churches, and it was fascinating.

the most iconic of lalibelas churches is st. georges. it is the shape of a cross, and hewn deep into the rock. the courtyard surrounding the church is accessible only by a single tunnel, and apparently recently some tourists were accidentally left down there when the tunnel was locked up for the night and had to spend the night!

the ben abeba restaurant on a mountain precipice on the outskirts of lalibela is modeled after a spaceship, perhaps an intentional juxtaposition of the future compared with lalibela’s strong connections to the past. they have great injera and local ethiopian wine, and while we were there we were interviewed on camera by a travel show on the ethiopian broadcasting service!

ben abeba spaceship restaurant, lalibela

we were on the ethiopian broadcasting service’s travel show!

we stayed at the tukul village, a little cluster of tourist huts. we also went to the lalibela outdoor market, which was huge, and had every agrarian thing one could want. i went on a nighttime run, and soon became accompanied by a large group of local boys running with me.

we also hiked (all day) up a local mountain to a monastary called ashetan maryam. we were accompanied by some local boys who became our de-facto tour guides. on our way back down we stopped for some impromptu foosball, which is all the rage in lalibela these days.

lalibela is one of the greatest wonders of the world as far as i am concerned. it was an amazing place to visit!

tour guides to mountaintop monastery, lalibela

ethiopia! – first stop, addis ababa

ann and i were able to go to ethiopia for about ten days, and it was amazing!

we spent the first day in addis ababa. we stayed at the bow hotel, which is run by an ethiopian-canadian geologist who used to live in calgary. the first order of business for me was to get a visa for somaliland, where i would visit later in the trip. i had read only sparse reports online about people traveling overland from ethiopia, and an advance visa is required when taking this route, so i hoped i’d be able to procure one, though reports on this were sparse as well. the somaliland embassy in addis has moved three times in the past three years, so we finally found it after arriving to the third location in a residential area. they let us right in, and it was basically a house where the ambassador’s family was living, with kids sitting on the opulent couches surfing facebook, etc. they took my passport and told me to come back in a week, but i incessantly insisted until they gave me the visa on the spot!

our next stop was world vision’s ethiopian headquarters to arrange a visit to a child ann has been sponsoring through world vision for a few years! we met with one of their directors and said we just wanted to visit, getting there (a town in central ethiopia called mersa) on our own. he really wanted to arrange all our transportation and our entire vacation for us but we finally got him to agree to just a visit, though it eventually still turned out to be a heavily supervised one. world vision ethiopia is a pretty impressive operation, with dozens of development projects around the country, and all very well organized with local staff.

next, we needed to buy some flights! in ethiopia, like some other countries, domestic flights are much cheaper if purchased at the airline office inside the country compared to online from abroad. luckily none were sold out!

we then walked around downtown, including the famously nice sheraton hotel, and got dinner in a pretty hip club on the sixth floor roof of a shopping center, before heading to the airport early the next morning for our flight to lalibela!