Ethiopia. Part II. CitiesMapApril 30 — May 5, 2011 Ethiopia is such a poor country that the best hotel in every city besides the capital is a three-star one, without A/C or windows that open. Ethiopia is such a poor country that there’s no garbage in the streets—people have nothing to throw out. Addis AbabaMapThe grandfather of the famous Russian poet Pushkin was from Ethiopia. To commemorate this fact, one of the squares on the outskirts of the capital has been named in the poet’s honor. ![]() A view of the city from a nearby mountain. ![]() Beggars outside a church. ![]() Passengers waiting for the morning bus. ![]() The residence of the Patriarch, with stunningly elegant doves of peace decorating the gates. ![]() An equally elegant work of art—the entrance to a restaurant on the way to the airport. ![]() Addis Ababa is the capital—it has nice stores, expensive hotels and elite residential properties such as the one below, soon to open its doors: ![]() At the same time it’s perfectly normal to see, for instance, donkeys grazing downtown. ![]() Pedestrian crosswalks look like ladders, but with irregularly spaced rungs. ![]() An Addis Ababa trash can. ![]() Buses are all red on the bottom and yellow on the top. Each one has a picture of a lion on the side. ![]() Fences in the capital are painted in green and yellow stripes (like in Moscow or Tehran). ![]() All the taxis are Zhiguli-brand cars painted blue on the bottom and white on the top. ![]() The view from the window of a five-star hotel. ![]() No one has any issues with women performing manual labor here. If a bundle of brushwood needs to be carried somewhere, the woman goes and carries it. ![]() Traffic lights. ![]() The traffic lights aren’t all that necessary: there are traffic officers whose signals take precedence. ![]() The market is quite picturesque. Here, you can purchase empty sunflower oil canisters, which all of Africa uses to carry drinking water (see Madagascar). ![]()
The ![]() Lots of satellite dishes. Each person has their own, naturally. Although it’s still a far cry from Algeria. ![]() The attempts to liven up building facades bring Norilsk to mind. ![]() Bahir DarMapEthiopians dress in traditional garb. It consists of ordinary shorts or pants, a T-shirt, a shawl draped over the shoulders, and a stick. The stick can be used both as a cane and as a pole for carrying goods. ![]() Women’s dress is more varied. ![]() A handbag is not on the list of indispensible accessories for an Ethiopian woman. The only important portable property is the house key, which is worn around the neck. Nothing else is really necessary. ![]() Children race with bike tires or even just wheel rims on a stick. It’s a very fun game, long forgotten in our parts. ![]() There are lots of tuk-tuks in Bahir Dar. And for some reason they all have canvas or vinyl sheets covering the open areas on the left side. Mysteriously, other hot countries don’t have anything like this. ![]() The market. ![]() For sale: coal braziers made out of tin cans, which are used to prepare coffee, among other things. ![]() Mugs welded out of centimeter-thick metal pipes, with rebar for handles, are sold everywhere. ![]() A PSA warns schoolchildren not to spend time at bars, where all sorts of shady things can happen. ![]() Overall, the city resembles Hurghada in terms of atmosphere. ![]() GondarMapA rural landscape. A traffic officer. ![]() A street beggar. ![]() An albino payphone. ![]() Gondar traffic lights are all painted blue. ![]() Trash cans. ![]() The same trees grow here as in Angkor in Cambodia. ![]() An Ethiopian wedding. ![]() A post box. ![]() Use condoms. Or something like that. ![]() AksumMapInside the airport. ![]() Inside a historical palace (which consists of a stone fence in the desert). ![]() Inside an Orthodox Christian tuk-tuk. ![]() Inside a store. ![]() Inside a church with a 600-year-old bible. ![]() In the street. ![]() The process of scooping drinking water. ![]() A payphone and bulletin board in the central square. ![]() An old post box. The most beautiful out of all the ones I came across in the country. ![]() Defending the homeland. It’s my job. ![]() LalibelaMapAn ancient Christian corner of Ethiopia, untouched by modern civilization. Ox-drawn ploughs are used to till the land here. ![]() Up until very recently, everyone lived in round huts (the trash can in the picture is also of interest). ![]() But the soft-hearted West decided to aid development in the region—so today everyone has normal roofs. The West never got around to sending any tractors, though. ![]() Lalibela is notable for its ancient (12th century) monolithic rock-hewn Christian churches. ![]() Everything is carved from a single block of sandstone: the wall, the roof, the ornaments on the ceiling, even the icons inside. ![]() Unfortunately, half the churches have been ruined by lovers of antiquity who have erected idiotic, ugly-as-sin giant canopies over them. ![]() Don’t beat your woman. ![]() Don’t shit in inappropriate places. ![]() Give birth at a hospital, not in a field. I checked about the meaning three times just to be sure: the women on the right are, in fact, giving birth. ![]() In short, the city has stood here for a thousand years and will still be here for a thousand more. ![]() |
april
|
april–may
|
april–may 2011
Ethiopia. Part II. Cities
← Ctrl →
|
may
|
may
|
© 19952025 Artemy Lebedev |