Lizzie meets me as I'm having a cup of tea at a small restaurant in downtown Maychew. She's a Peace Corps volunteer (PCV) whom I've been in touch with for awhile via CS, and I'm finally here to take up her offer. Maychew is pronounced like "my chow" (easy to remember because that's what your dog would say about his food). We drop off my stuff at Lizzie's house/compound before we chat for awhile.
I must tell you a bit about Lizzie: she's a throwback hippie of a PCV with tattoos on her chest and arm, she's passionate about Burning Man and seems willing to do extraordinary things. She's also an excellent conversationalist. She's from Austin, TX, which she describes as "the San Francisco of Texas" with its huge CS community and abundance of vegetarian restaurants. As a result she describes Texas a "purple state" with a pragmatic mixture of Republicans and Democrats. And people tell me I'm bold for going to Ethiopia, I reckon Lizzie is bold-ER since the only other place she's been other than Ethiopia and the USA is Ireland. She works at a hospital here in Maychew and spreads awareness about HIV/AIDS. Infection rates are somewhat higher in Maychew than Ethiopia's average due to it being on a major highway; hence there's a lot of prostitutes. Maychew has an incredible setting! Mountains on all sides and it seems somewhat lush. The water is very pure; in fact it's one of the few places in the country where you can safely drink from the tap. Unlike many other places I've been, this is a strictly Ethiopian setting. There are no "normal" toilets, few people speak English or even Amharic, and you won't see pizza on the restaurant menus (if they even have a menu at all). As Lizzie is at work I shoot pool with some locals, getting my ass kicked. Pool and foosball are very popular in Ethiopia. When we met up with fellow PCV Bernard, we went to their favourite cafe for some creme cake.
A cup of tea was tasty but it didn't come without the stench of piss that force all three of us to run outside! Smelly "shit bets" and Ethiopia are two things that really go hand in hand. As we opted for dinner at the Yekatit Hotel we feast on some fasting food. Mine was a tad too spicy so I constantly sipped water with mine. Lizzie suddenly got really sick and we made a B-Line for her house. Going to her house we reach a 3-way intersection that she colloquially calls the "devil's 3 way" (threesome with a girl and two guys) because it's one cobblestone road that connects with two dirt roads. We reach her house and she's feeling so terrible that she asks if I mind staying with Bernard. It wasn't a problem at for me, though I was worried about Lizzie. Bernard picks me up and with my 50+ lbs of gear we stroll on over to his crash pad. We chat for awhile, swap travel stories and passport stamps, and the whole lot. His passport photo looks as though he just got out of prison, or perhaps something out of a 70's African American TV show. Cooking up a light dinner of chicken soup we watch a documentary called "No Reservations." This particular one is about a chef navigating the various restaurants of Hanoi, where people seemingly eat anything and everything. Lizzie's not feeling well, and I'm staying at Bernard's. Earlier I was kind of kicking myself because I feel like I've been travelling a little too slowly, and I rearranged my plans so I could meet Lizzie. But now, she's not feeling well. Still though, it's great to be spending time in a real Ethiopian town where the only foreigners are PCVs and true explorers like myself.
After hearing the dog bark all night I wake up to a pound on the door at 7:30 AM. It's Lizzie: refreshed and rejuvinated after puking more than a dozen times last night. It seemed like she was never sick. Eager she was to host me and spend some time with me. With my gear back at her place we go for a leisurely stroll around this beautiful Ethiopian highland town. With the setting and the 8,000 feet elevation it takes your breath away, literally and figuratively. We stroll past the mosque and this colourfully dressed woman who had to have been like 85 years old shakes our hands and gives us each a hug, seemingly happy we're in her part of Ethiopia. Lizzie does her best to dress like a habesha woman, and she's beautiful doing so. We've chatted about HIV/AIDS and the work Lizzie does, and then we come across this stern sign.
We then go to the same stench-of-piss cafe we went to yesterday (only without the stench of piss) and this time I indulge and try the creme cake. Tasty it is! Bernard joins us again sometime later and we eat some simple Ethiopian fare and then get some tej. Lizzie warns me the tej in Maychew is cheap and designed to get you drunk, even though weeks ago she seemed to deify it as being tasty and only 10 birr a litre. After two flasks of tej, I was buzzed, and Lizzie had to go to work so I was up for an afternoon nap. Wearing off the tej and then having a cold shower I'm ready to hone my skills at the pool table again. Again my ass was kicked, and again I was off to meet Lizzie and share some more memories. She states in her profile about how visitors to Africa complain about getting their nails and hands dirty, and how they seem to expect the comforts of home. The three of us chatted tonight about how Africa is often portrays as being one country (enter George "Dubya") and that if there's problems in Algeria or Mali then there must be problems in Ethiopia. Over a plate of bayanetu (mixed veggies) I learned that Ethiopian Lent (Fasika) is approaching and there'll be 55 days in which no meat dishes are available at most restaurants. Heaven for me! The moon is bright and full tonight and it was time to say goodbye to Bernard. Lizzie is a great host and she's definitely one of my better conversationalist CSers. Lizzie and Maychew. The two of them go together like a mortar and pestle. She loves the place and is passionate about showing people who want to see the place she's calling home for 27 months (the length of a PCV contract). Come to Maychew, pronounce it right, and get hosted by this lovely lady from the heart of Texas.
