Ethiopian buses! Required: heaps of patience, a need to deal with crowds and shady characters, a very cooperative bladder, getting up at an unholy hour, and a sense of adventure unmatched by anything you've ever experienced. Awake at 3:40 AM to take a taxi to the bus station next to the Merkato, rumoured to be one of the worst sections of town. During the day I'd have walked but there's too much risk. Upon getting out of the taxi I was being hassled and I got my ass into the bus station straight away where I immediately bought a ticket to Bahir Dar. It was 165 birr but they don't give you change on the spot; instead they write it down on the ticket and then it's given to me on the bus. A little boy showed me my seat (expecting a tip) and then I sat there, and sat there, and sat there, inhaling the faint scent of exhaust and watching people as the sky became lighter. Vendors came onto the bus, selling bread, chewing gum, water, Coke, magazines, or whatever. For more than two hours I sat, and I was the only faranji on the bus. A young man got upset as I was taking photos out of the bus window and people were watching me, being the only foreigner. Addis is a large city but it didn't take all that long to get out of town. The drive was long and slow, and it was a joy being the only white person in a sea of Ethiopians aboard a packed bus. Sitting next to me was a colourfully dressed lady named Fernus and her brother Kergalew, and Fernus fell asleep with her head on my shoulder as we drove north. The drive was mostly boring for the first hour or so, but as we approached the Blue Nile Gorge it suddenly became otherworldly.
Encountering hairpin turns, monkeys approached the bus as locals tossed bread out the window. Suddenly one of our tyres went flat. It gave us some time to use the toilet (there is none on the bus) and have a coffee or tea. One local was so intrigued by me that he wanted a photo with me.
The new bridge across the Blue Nile was completed in the year 2000 on the Julian calendar (2007 on the Gregorian calendar). The tourism slogan is "come to Ethiopia and be seven years younger" so in Ethiopian years I'm only 21 and just old enough to drink. As a "faranji bus" (minibus) pulled up, one local asked me why I chose this bus and not the faranji bus, and I explained that when I'm in Ethiopia I'm an Ethiopian. I shall take Ethiopian transport, eat Ethiopian food, and stay with Ethiopians as much as possible. When we stopped in the town of Dejen for lunch a local invited me to have some injera with him. The food is very tasty and seemingly not much different to Ethiopian food in LA. I was really hoping I'd get to Bahir Dar tonight; Ethiopian buses by law aren't allowed to be on the roads past 6 PM and my guidebook states that if the bus doesn't make it, we'd overnight in Dangla, somewhat south of Bahir Dar. Ethiopians don't like to open the windows on buses since there's a fear they'll get tuberculosis; therefore even if it's very hot or if there's someone stinky and sweaty next to me, chances are the person behind me will reach and try to shut the window. The Northern Circuit will require a lot of bus travel, so today was a bit of preparation for what's yet to come. 6 PM was approaching, but we stopped in Dangla only for petrol and I was glad we were making it to Bahir Dar tonight. As the sun set we pulled into Ethiopia's "Riviera" with its clean and tree-lined streets. Locals were offering me hotels and services as I walked past them and toward the lakefront. My CS host Mengistu works at the Ghion Hotel and there I went to meet him. He said his house is in an inconvenient location in town and said it'd be better to put me up in a communal meeting room at the hotel. Bahir Dar sometimes has periodic outbreaks of malaria so my best bet would be to cover up as much as possible, meaning trousers, socks, and a long-sleeve shirt. Tonight I was up for pizza and some tej, so we went to several places in search of pizza. It happens a lot where half of what's on the menu isn't available. After eating I sipped some intoxicating tej whilst a local was giving a show whilst playing a local instrument. A little tipsy from the tej, I realize today was one hell of a day! I spent 13 hours or so on a bus, but it's the first of many Ethiopian bus adventures to come!
