For the most part, this sojourn is geared toward the understanding of culture based around the development of coffee. But to understand the culture, it is imperative that you visit its past…
…as well as experience its present…
But, now a few days in, we experienced our first bout of true Ethiopian coffee…
Roasted, ground, and boiled over hot coals right there before us. The coffee was extraordinary. But it was just a pretty quick display – pretty much just pulled in to the typical afternoon ceremony.
Still, most of the comings-and-goings of these sites are accompanied by the inevitable panhandlers.
I don’t mean to turn people off, but traveling sites like this is never without its downsides. But in a place like this, with the extra-prevalent poverty, its a part of the situation. For the most part they are harmless, simply pushing their wares but relenting if you ignore them. Still, they get a little more pushy – even more so if you even look at them.
But the average people, everyone else, is just amazing. Some part of the scenery, but never forgetting: these are people. These people all have real lives:
These people are walking miles to a wedding in Axum proper, quietly passing by while we were all standing in the ruins of the Queen of Sheba’s palace.
Speaking of the Queen of Sheba? Her baths:
So, along with the regular stuff in real life are the every-so-prevalent donkeys…
…not unusual to see the donkey-park.
I took an afternoon walk around Axum.
But in the shops of Axum, its impossible not to pick up at least a little souvenir…
Our guide pointed us to this store, most of his wares far more genuine than the typical store on the street.
There’s a certain authenticity to men like this. When his books have pencil notations in the margins and silver trinkets and wooden crosses marked with deep gouges and cracked from use. Our guide and the shopkeeper explaining these things to us. After a quick glance in any of the other stores, its fairly obvious what is authentic and what is “distressed” and obviously fake.
But these things are real. Not the books. The people. Ethiopia. Africa. Its all real. There’s nothing more real than people with very little finding happiness and fulfillment. I often carry more “stuff” in my backpack than these people possess in their entire lives, but I have to wonder who “has it better”…
Stay tuned,
-Noah D.
2 Comments
I have to completely agree with your words there: These people are real, and more than anything else, more than being told about these places by others, it is important to experience this yourself. I myself earned different insights, different points of views on other people’s life when I had the pleasure to be working in Dubai for a year, surrounded by a bunch of extraordinary, yet by themselves very humble, people. These people are real, and their lifes and strives and workings are real. And learning this makes life so much fuller.
Noah, I found you in a roundabout way and am so thankful to be able to follow Gabby’s trip via your posts. Lack of internet had me following by way of itinerary and my imagination. Your pictures filled in the blanks. I understand your passion for travel as I share it. Your work is wonderful, especially the way you capture the people.Can’t wait for the rest of your journal.