If you don't go far, you'll be old 2

Chapter 6 Ethiopia: No longer a refugee camp

I know Ethiopia because history textbooks say that she is a refugee camp and the image of Africa. After more than 20 years, she has been shedding the past and working on her image, and I want to see what she looks like now.

Is Ethiopia full of refugees?
The Sahara has been far behind me, and there is no yellow sand raging. Outside the car window, there are green grass everywhere, cattle and sheep roaming, and black women in colorful clothes with buckets on their heads, crossing the grass in groups.Pieces of pointed round thatched cottages, like yurts made of straw.These houses appeared together, as if they were small tribes.Huoshaoyun reflected the sky into a fiery red.The pouring rain came suddenly, and the green field was gray, and the raindrops hit the glass and slid down.

The car drove away from the thunderstorm area, and a rainbow hung in the sky at some point, like a colorful arch bridge on a green field, visible but intangible, existing like a dream.

Dreams are beautiful, reality is cruel.The rain leaked into the trunk and my backpack was half wet.The pile of clothes in the bag that can wring out water collectively exudes an unappetizing musty smell, as if it has not been washed in ten years.I just crossed the Sudanese border half-wet and came to Ethiopia.

Compared with many African countries that the Chinese cannot name, Ethiopia should be regarded as a household name.From childhood to adulthood, as long as the name of this country appears, it must be accompanied by words such as "refugee", "drought", "famine", "poverty" and "hot".Ethiopia on TV is always dilapidated slums, famine victims with big heads and small bodies, black children in ragged clothes blinking their big eyes innocently... I remember when I was a child, adults always joked from time to time: No matter how bad it is, it is better than Ethiopian refugees!In this country that always lives at the bottom for us, are her people really struggling on the line of life and death as we imagined?

The first thing that confuses me is the climate.Ethiopia is not hot at all, it is a country that is like spring all the year round.The annual average temperature is 20°C, neither hot in summer nor cold in winter.Coming here from Sudan, where the temperature is 3000 degrees, is like going from hell to heaven, and the whole body is relaxed.Here, two-thirds of the land is a plateau, with an average altitude of 4 meters, known as the "roof of Africa".Every year from April to October is the rainy season. It rains non-stop for half a year, heavy rain and light rain. There are three thunderstorms a day.The abundant rain moistens the earth, the flowers and trees grow lushly, and there is a piece of green everywhere.The beautiful natural scenery and fresh air make people addicted.

The whole area is mountainous, and those S-shaped winding mountain roads that can't be finished in many twists and turns, even a Cadillac can only drive less than 40 yards obediently here.Therefore, it is not uncommon to drive for a full 300 hours for a 11-kilometer journey.Just when I thought I would never reach the end of my life, the conductor walked slowly through the aisle with a small plastic bag, and the passengers threw some change into it.Everyone is spontaneously donating to a church ahead.Ethiopia is a country with a strong religious atmosphere, and most people are devout Christians or Muslims.The car stopped near the church, and the two priests boarded.The woman sitting next to me lightly touched the wooden cross in the priest's hand with her forehead. After getting permission from the priest, the woman kissed the cross.

I talked myself out of thinking about the finish line and instead listened to the local pop music playing in the car, a bit of R&B.Humming along in his mouth, he shook his head in step with the rhythm.However, the beautiful song was overwhelmed by the prayers full of original ecological power ahead.The car stopped, and the passengers stood up and looked out the window, talking a lot.Some people covered their mouths, others were silently praying.

There has just been a car accident here.A large truck rolled over on the side of the road, and the driver died at the scene.People in nearby villages stood by the truck and prayed for the dead with unique rituals, crying and praying.This religious song, although I can't understand it, seems to understand the lyrics.Spiritual voices penetrated my body.I recalled the chanting I met in the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

Life is really fragile.Maybe it's only a few seconds difference, but it's already separated by yin and yang.

journey of a century
这趟漫长的300公里，像驶过了一个世纪。当我终于抵达贡德尔，竟发现我来到了2005年。在埃塞俄比亚历法里，外界的2012年9月中旬正是埃塞俄比亚新年，埃塞俄比亚这时候则从2004年进入崭新的2005年。喜迎2005年的贴画贴得满城都是。至于2013年？还早得很呢。

Not only are the calendars different, Ethiopia also has a very unique time system.When buying a long-distance bus ticket, the conductor told me: This is the bus at 11:5 tomorrow.But, didn't I buy the ticket for the 11 o'clock in the morning?5 o'clock local time is exactly 6 o'clock foreign time, that's right.When I went out at 12 am, a local greeted me: Hey, good morning, it will be 6 o'clock soon. ——There is a six-hour difference between the Ethiopian local time and the international time algorithm.At sunrise, around 6:6 in the morning, it is 6:12 Ethiopian time; at lunch it is 11:5 Ethiopian time; so what time is Ethiopian time around sunset? [-] plus [-], the answer is [-] points.It’s okay to be confused on weekdays, but when it comes to buying train tickets, you have to be extremely careful and always check whether the other party is talking about Ethiopian time or foreign time.Otherwise, if you take the "[-] o'clock" bus leisurely when the sun is shining, you will find that the bus has left as early as [-] o'clock in the morning.

Wandering in the streets of "2005", the city is filled with the aroma of coffee.Speaking of coffee, this is the pride of Ethiopians.This is the hometown of coffee, and it is also the first country to discover and drink coffee. Even the local cola has added coffee flavor, which shows the love of Ethiopians for coffee.Every household has a complete set of coffee drinking equipment, not to mention small restaurants and coffee stands everywhere.A cup of pure Ethiopian coffee costs only one or two yuan. It is a daily drink that every ordinary person can afford, just like drinking tea in China.

China has an elaborate tradition of drinking tea, and Ethiopia has an elaborate coffee ceremony.The ground is covered with fresh grass, and the "coffee girl" in a lace skirt carefully washes the coffee beans, roasts them, grinds them into powder with a mortar, puts them into a high-necked clay pot, and cooks them slowly on a charcoal stove.The aroma of the freshly brewed coffee using such an original method is compelling, and a small cup is served, sitting on the side of the road and drinking slowly, even I, who almost never drinks coffee, was firmly captured.

Ethiopians love cleanliness and pay attention to etiquette. Not only drinking coffee has rituals, but also eating at ordinary times. They must take off their hats and wash their hands.Even if you eat at a roadside stall, the host will bring a small bucket of water, a small basin and soap, and make a temporary faucet for you.I walked into a small restaurant, imitated the locals, completed the pre-dinner etiquette, and then ordered a cup of coffee and an Injera.Injera is a kind of honeycomb colloidal flatbread, about 40 cm in diameter, which is placed on a large dinner plate and served on the table as a whole.It tastes soft, elastic, slightly sour, and the taste is unexpectedly good.This is a staple food in Ethiopia.The most common food is Injera with stewed beef or mutton. The stewed meat is poured on the Injera flatbread, tear off a piece of pie, wrap a few pieces of meat, dip some chili powder, and put it in your mouth. Injera itself The tartness and gelatinous texture are just right to blend perfectly with the stewed slices.Oh and I love injera with stew, it's one of the tastiest things I've had in Africa.The price of such a delicious plate is about 30 birr, which is about 10 yuan.In a big city in China, even if you turn the city upside down, you can’t find a place where you can eat such a big plate of stewed beef and mutton for ten yuan!I secretly made up my mind to eat my fill of beef and mutton here.

Another common food is raw beef.People slice carpaccio like sashimi and put it in their mouths.The three big brothers who were eating raw beef in the small restaurant advised me to try something new, which is a local specialty.I stared at them eating the raw beef on the table with wide eyes, swallowed, and a few images of parasites floated in my mind, and finally gave up, and ordered a plate of Injera with beef stew.After all, I'm still not fat enough.

Church bells sounded.People sit on the street drinking freshly brewed coffee or drinking a glass of sweet and sour mead.Young people gathered in the billiard room to play billiards, and young people with dreadlocks were beckoning friends on the street, humming No woman no cry, and wearing Bob Marley T-shirts—a native of Ethiopia The godfather of reggae music, Jamaica's national hero.Reggae tunes are floating all over the street, and the notes are drawn across the ancient Italian castle. The distant Simmons Mountain has a vague outline with a ghostly smell.This is Ethiopia in front of my eyes, a country completely different from my impression.

african miracle
Sitting on a long-distance car that never ends, I admire the charming green mountains outside the car window and forget the passage of time.Go to Lalibela on the other side of the mountain, just to see the style of the rock church.

It is said that in the 12th century, when the king was born, a swarm of bees flew around his swaddling baby, unable to get rid of it.The mother recognized that it was a symbol of royal power, and named the child Lalibela, which means "the bee proclaims the royal power".The elder brother in power became ill-intentioned and poured poison on Lalibela. Lalibela could not wake up for three days.In the dream, God guided him to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and he got an oracle: build a new Jerusalem in Ethiopia, and use a whole rock to build the church.Lalibela spent 24 years and 2 manpower digging eleven churches from the plateau at an altitude of 2600 meters, and this is where the unique rock churches in the world come from.The church site was also renamed Lalibela.

This is a medieval world carved out of a huge rock without any cracks. Skilled craftsmen carefully carved the walls, roofs, altars, pillars, doors and windows into shape gradually, and finally became a building with special texture and appearance. church.This World Heritage Site is worthy of its title of "African Wonder".Lalibela has become a holy place for Ethiopians. Every January 1th is Ethiopian Christmas, and believers will gather here.

Ethiopia's road construction has made great progress in recent years. From the gap between the driving distance described in the guide book and the current one, it can be seen that the time-consuming is mostly cut in half.Even so, the road from Lalibela to the capital Addis Ababa, which looks short on the map, still took me two days.The locals persuaded me to be content. If it was a few years ago, this journey would have taken five days.If we go back in time, there are no decent roads, and people even have to ride donkeys to the Holy Land.

For Ethiopians, the country's culture, language, and calendar are very unique and distinct from other African countries.This is not entirely because of patriotism. In fact, Ethiopia is almost the only country on the African continent that has not been affected by European colonization. Except for a few years of brief occupation by Italy, it has always maintained its independence.Ethiopians are deeply proud of this.

However, the terrible famine in the 80s has become a nightmare that the proud Ethiopian people will never get rid of.Do you still remember the song We are the world composed by Michael Jackson and Leno Leech? This song that is popular all over the world is a charity song created by American musicians to help the victims of the famine in Ethiopia.Fortunately, everything is over.Today's Ethiopia is no longer that horrible hellish look.Although not rich, it is by no means impoverished as I imagined.Everything is so orderly, with a little warmth, a little excitement, mixed with African-style sentiments, floating in the old city of Addis Ababa, where the house number can't be found.

"Come on, let's eat three meals a day." In the small restaurant, an Ethiopian guy was eating beef stew and joked at me.A gigantic fly dangled unwelcomely, and seemed to want to join in the fun and taste the mead in my hand.I feel like the flies and mosquitos in Ethiopia have been given a booster, the mosquitoes are as big as flies and the flies are almost as big as bedbugs.In contrast, the domestic variety is "Wu Dalang".The guy told me calmly that these are just small ones, much bigger than them.Fat flies buzzed around in front of me like a bomber, and my eyes followed the bomber.

Hey, This is Africa. (Hey, this is Africa.) The guy shrugged his shoulders at me.I can't remember the first time I heard this sentence.Whenever something comes up that is beyond my common sense, this sentence is thrown at me from a certain direction.People get away with self-deprecating, and the implication is: Come on, this is Africa, what else do you want.

Amharic is the common language in Ethiopia.But no matter in big cities or small places, many Ethiopians can speak fluent English.Because of the language I could communicate with, the guy opened up and told me stories about the darker blacks in the southern tribes.

In the eyes of East Asians, "black Africans" are all blacks.In the black world, there are detailed divisions.There are obvious differences in appearance between purebred blacks and mixed races in the black-and-white transition zone, and their skins are also divided into different colors such as black, white, and coffee.Most of the people living in north-central Ethiopia are not pure-bred blacks, their skin is brown, and their facial features and outlines are exquisite and beautiful. It can even be said that they are white people in black Africa.The black primitive tribes in the southern rainforest are much more purebred.In the words of the young man, those people are so dark that they shine.The boy danced and described those black people who were so dark, he probably forgot that he was also very dark in front of East Asians.

"... Is that the guy with the big eyes at the front desk of the hotel?" The guy chatted enthusiastically.I looked at this buddy who was blinking with big eyes, and said faintly: "Everyone here is a guy with big eyes..." The kid didn't hear my whimper at all, and laughed heartily: "Aha, you little boy Eye!"

Arabs all have big eyes. Unexpectedly, after "escaping" from the Middle East, almost all Ethiopians have thick eyebrows and big eyes.When it comes to facial features, I finally understand why the East Asian women I see in European and American TV shows have phoenix eyes, and why if a white man has an East Asian woman on his arm, the appearance of that woman will probably disappoint his compatriots.Aesthetics are often lacking and loving.East Asians are extremely envious of big eyes and deep contours, perhaps because most of us do not have such conditions.People who are born with big eyes don't care about eyes like copper bells, everyone in the front, back, left, and right is like this, it's boring.In their view, the slender eyes of East Asian women are unique and full of exotic charm.I once sighed to an Arab boy, Arab women have big eyes, double eyelids, high nose bridge, three-dimensional faces, fair skin, fair skin and plump bodies, so beautiful that they are ecstasy.The Arab guy shook his head repeatedly: Arab women are so ordinary, East Asian women with willow leaf eyebrows and phoenix eyes are petite and exquisite, with a small waist, full of oriental flavor, this is the ultimate beauty!It seems that things are rare and expensive, and this is the case everywhere.

Speaking of excitement, the young man enthusiastically took me to visit the Addis Ababa Museum and meet the ancient human ancestor "Lucy".

Ethiopia has a human history dating back 440 million years, making it firmly the cradle of humanity in East Africa.Lucy is a 320 million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, a major discovery in paleoanthropology.Next to it sits the skull of Selam, a little girl who lived 330 million years ago and is the oldest known child on Earth.I heard that what is displayed in the window is a replica of a mold, and the precious original is closely guarded.Even so, looking at this elderly senior and imagining the length of 330 million years, the sense of emptiness rapidly expands in the brain, and the movie screen of "This Man From Earth" is skipped in front of my eyes.

I once saw an interesting saying in an American documentary: If the life of the earth is condensed into 24 hours, human beings only exist for 0.1 second.From this point of view, it may be too presumptuous to say that "human beings change the earth".All things have a way, and the universe has its own orbit. The way of the earth has not been changed by the appearance of human beings, a small and short-lived race, nor will it be changed by the demise of human beings. Life and death are part of the way. Just a small chapter in the way of the earth.You and I follow the Tao, follow the nature, from nothing to existence, from existence to nothing, everything goes round and round.Be it destruction or Nirvana, this world will continue to run along her own trajectory.

Humans may not be the first race to establish a civilization on this planet, and they may not be the last.Hundreds of millions of years ago and hundreds of millions of years later, the world has undergone tremendous changes, and who can know the mystery of it.

Dunmore

If you count how many construction sites you will pass by in a half-hour bus ride, it is not difficult to find that Addis Ababa is a rapidly developing capital.The construction sites looked odd, and I stared at one of them for a long time before I realized that the problem was the scaffolding.Most domestic construction site scaffolding uses straight bamboo poles, but here is another unknown tree pole, none of which is straight, and the scaffolding looks crooked, as if the entire building is slanted.

I don't mind the sloping scaffolding, but have to mind the arrogant bugs.After India, I was once again bitten by bedbugs and itched all over, with little red spots everywhere.I hate bed bugs, they keep me from even sleeping.The touch of those sesame dots lightly brushing against the skin is uncomfortable.It's the rainy season again, the sun can't be seen, and even if the clothes are washed, there is no sunlight to sterilize them.I know bed bugs are social animals and the best way to get rid of them is to get out of here.I decided to move south to Konso after attending the Find the Cross festival.

The Cross Finding Festival, also known as Meskel, is another grand day after the Ethiopian New Year.The history of the Ethiopian people celebrating the Muscao Festival can be traced back to the 14th century to commemorate the day when St. Helena found the True Cross on which Jesus died.

September 9 coincides with the junction of the rainy season and the dry season, and the Musco Festival also marks the end of the rainy season and the beginning of field work.

In the morning, the impatient people had already set up "Dan Moruo" in front of their respective doors.It was a haystack made of branches and daisies, with a cross on top.The huge parade, dressed in white clothes and holding wreaths, clapped and sang in the streets, and the streets were filled with joyful songs and laughter.By chance, I was invited to be a guest of a local family. It was an old simple two-story house with mottled wooden window lattices and creaking sounds from the old stairs.The room is not big, but warm and pleasant.I sat on the sofa in the living room, drank the coffee made by the owner, and chatted with several friends of the owner.The BBC headlines broadcast on the satellite TV happened to be related to China. At this time, it was inevitable that everyone gathered around me, a guest from afar, chatting about some vague political topics, and gasped from time to time.This is a special habit of Ethiopians, expressing agreement by taking a breath, which is equivalent to Yes.The owner of the house is a funny elder brother who showed me a photo album of his eldest son, second son and third son—in Ethiopia, most ordinary families have four or five children.They looked at me, born in a one-child family, as if they were looking at a rare giant panda.

At night, people light "Dan Moro".The small bonfire on the side of the road could not withstand the attack of flames and was quickly reduced to ashes.And a huge "Dan Moruo" will be set up near the apartment complex, the flames will soar into the sky, and the menacing flames will rise to the height of two or three floors, which is an amazing scene.The national style music is played loudly in the stereo, full of Ethiopian style.People have already gathered around, singing and dancing around the huge bonfire.Young people were running and playing around the fire, and several excited young people lifted a guy over their heads and ran wildly around the flames.The elderly people moved out their chairs and sat aside, watching the rambunctious girls and boys with a smile.The more ferocious the fire, the more boiling the crowd, cheering, clapping tambourines and singing happily.Until "Dan Moruo" was gradually swallowed up by the flames, people were still reluctant to leave.

In front of the happy power of the city, the negative energy was driven away without a trace.

sick in the sahara

Time flies between your fingers.

On the last day in Ethiopia, I took an unreadable bus ticket, asked around, and finally found a long-distance bus from Konso to Moyale.

The uncle who got on the bus with me was wearing a top hat and had a kind face. "How much did you pay for that ticket?" the uncle in the top hat asked me. "210 birr." "210 birr? You've been scammed, it's only 100 birr to go to Moiale. Tell me, who sold you this ticket?"

In retrospect, the process of buying a ticket was a bit unusual.The day before, I stayed at a hotel in the central area of ​​Konso and asked the staff where to buy a bus ticket to the port of Moyale.Two or three staff members took turns telling me that the conductor will come to the hotel to sell tickets in one hour, and the price is 210 birr.An hour later, a young guy came to the hotel to sell tickets, and the price he quoted was exactly 210 birr.

210 birr is equivalent to 70 yuan.Some expensive.But thinking that it would take more than ten hours to drive this section of the road, it is not too much, but I didn't expect the price to be severely doubled.Even if it is purchased by a hotel, it will only add a little errand fee, and it will never be so expensive.

I told the uncle the story, describing the hotel staff and the ticket guy.The uncle couldn't sit still anymore and pulled me out of the car. "I probably know who it is, and I can't let them do this." The uncle in the top hat was filled with righteous indignation.

Konso is a palm-sized place, everyone knows everyone, and there are only a few people coming and going.The uncle took the high-priced ticket and strode towards the Konso Center. He asked two or three places in succession, but he couldn't find the target person.Along the way, the acquaintances that the uncle met asked about the reason one after another, and they joined the team after some explanations and mobilization by the uncle.In this way, the "crusade brigade" changed from two people to three, four, five...Two or ten minutes later, more than a dozen black brothers and uncles formed a group together, rushing aggressively to the next target person who might appear location.I followed the big team so closely that I almost forgot that I was the person involved.Finally, near an auto repair stall, a large-scale crusade team took out the young guy who sold me a high-priced bus ticket, and asked him why he cheated me, a foreign girl, into such a black-hearted business.After being reprimanded, the young guy was hemmed and hawed by the questioning, and there was almost no room for retaliation, so he obediently returned the overcharged 10 birr.

Holding those banknotes, I thanked every uncle and elder brother in the crusade brigade.In fact, 110 birr is only equivalent to more than 30 RMB. Although the money is not big, it makes my heart warm.I am used to being wronged in a foreign land, and I am so lucky to have a kind-hearted local help me out!

The kindness those lovely people have shown me will always be the most unforgettable chapter of my travels.

Maybe it was this early morning relief that used up all my good luck for the day.When the long-distance car blew out on the dirt road, I suddenly remembered that someone had joked with me the day before that the time to reach Moale depended on the number of punctures on the road.It's hard to make fun of facts.This is a full-stacked car, and if two cars go together to one car, one can imagine how crowded it will be.The dumplings are not as crowded on the bus during the domestic rush hour.I feel like my internal organs are about to be squeezed out.

Several pairs of plump breasts flashed in front of my eyes, and my eyeballs were about to fall out of shock.They were women from ethnic minorities in southern Ethiopia. They wore colorful national costumes. The gowns were baggy and almost bare-chested, but the women didn't mind showing their breasts at all.The bright big flower pattern and sexy breasts reveal a frightening wild beauty.

When the car drove through the desert, across the plains, through the road being built by the China Railway Fourth Bureau, and finally arrived at the port town of Moyale, I felt bad.Chilled all over, groggy, and weak.I touched my forehead, oops, I have a fever.

Under the night, I stood alone in a remote border town where mobile phone signals were difficult to cover.To make matters worse, most of sub-Saharan Africa is a malaria zone, and the early symptoms of malaria are very similar to flu.If I had malaria, there was no delay, and I had to go to the hospital right away.But here is at least an eight to ten hour drive from the nearest big city.Thinking of this, I, who was always calm, was a little at a loss. In addition, my head was getting hot, and I couldn't help thinking about things in a bad direction.I seriously doubt that I'm going to die here.

I was a little unsteady and had a terrible headache, so I walked two steps forward crookedly.A slippery guy jumped out and offered to help me, asking where I was going.More than a year of travel experience tells me that he is not a simple and kind person, but a gangster who plays with the wind and makes money by playing with foreigners.In a country with a lot of tourists, the streets are full of people like this.Normally, I would have avoided such people, but now, I have to say, I really need someone who can help me find a hotel.I can only let him take me to a hotel opposite.The room rate is cheap, but there is no toilet in the room, so you have to go outside to use the toilet in the dark.This is a huge test for a patient.I needed a place where I could have a good rest, so I gritted my teeth and changed hotels.This greasy-faced boy took the opportunity to accept the rent returned by the hotel and secretly kept it for himself.Fortunately, he did lead me to a nice hotel, and asked me for money before leaving-of course, that's what he was trying to do.I was feverish but not too confused, and I knew that what he wanted from me was not a small sum, far more than what he had done.Not having the energy to argue, I paid him a small penny and dismissed him.It was only later that I remembered that this person had stolen the rent.How can a patient who can't even walk steadily care about these things!
In front of the precious little life, money and wealth are all external objects.Take a deep breath and tell yourself, calm down, don't panic, get a good night's sleep first.I ordered a cup of boiled water and took antipyretics.Lying under the quilt, I was still praying silently: Don’t be malaria, don’t be malaria...Maybe God heard my inner prayer, and when I woke up the next day, the fever really subsided.I breathed a sigh of relief and said that the possibility of malaria is greatly reduced, and there is no better news than this!

In order to ensure that my life was safe, I lay down for another full day and finally let go of my worries when I found that everything was fine.The border is just 500 meters away, it's time to head towards the East African savannah!
(End of this chapter)