In the end I left Mesfin in the hotel and found my own way to Addis Ababa – in a brand new Land-Roverish Mitsubishi. I wandered down to the bus station in the cool morning and found it, along with its driver – a quiet man in a suit. I sat in the front seat and waited.

Mesfin eventually found me, at about six in the morning. He stared down the alley where the vehicle was parked, and looked at me. I stared back. Then he walked away. I was going to play dumb if he approached me, but perhaps he had read my attitude toward him by my body language last night. Africans understand subtlety a lot better than some cultures.

As the vehicle pulled away with the eight of us, Mesfin put his hands on the hood and shouted something to someone across a crowd of people around the vehicle. For me, I took this as the worst case scenario, that someone might be waiting for me at the market in Addis Ababa, and who knows what they might do to me, or how I would have to defend myself.





The road to Addis Ababa is much more romantic from Dessie; the pavement is good, and there are even some new structures in places like Debre Birhan going up. And as we got going along the road just out of Dessie, the driver popped in a tape of familiar music: Hank Williams.

This is the second time I've heard American country music in Africa. I think I remember it being the same tape, too – on the Baz bus down in South Africa one of the drivers had a hankering for Hank, and now up here, a reasonably well-to-do Ethiopian has it in his collection as well. Truth is definitely stranger than fiction.

People who are not guides, beggars, or thieves are often unconditionally friendly in Ethiopia. I was treated to breakfast and lunch with no expectation of a return, by the people I shared the ride with down to the capital – it was a good, honest gift to a guest of the country. And my fears of Mesfin being connected enough to get at me in Addis Ababa were allayed, as the driver dropped me off on the opposite end of town from the bus station and market – which is perfect, as all possible ties with the sleazy fellow have now been severed.

Addis Ababa is an open, uncluttered, and almost modern city. Ethiopian Airlines flies to Jijiga twice a week, and the flights seem to be full – a good sign, I think, although I don't want to travel standby for the price that this ticket is costing.The other option is to fly to Dire Dawa and take the bus to Jijiga, and then to Boorama in Somaliland. I am not sure. One of the men that works at the hotel in Ethiopia where I am staying had met a white man who lives in Jijiga – "he says he carries a gun when he goes outside."

But I have the week here, and that's what I want to do with it. The strong Ethiopian sun is slowly moving downward, and I have only seven Birr left – time to change some money.

Addis Ababa

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