Ecalyptus Fun Fact Adventure

Thanks again to our guest poster Jeremy for his three part series from Africa and around the globe.   We'll always welcome more stories from his exciting adventures in and out of Seattle.  As we wrap up this third installment, Jamie and I will see you next week for some more rider chronicles encounters. 

III

We did eventually arrive to our planned destination, albeit forty minutes late. A representative from the company and I were supposed to get started and work on some B-roll footage promptly at nine. By the time we took care of paperwork and got the OK from security (I was filming at the airport), it was already well past ten. Things didn’t get much easier from there. A security officer was attached to our group of two. Restrictions on what I could and couldn’t photograph were tight and tightly enforced – despite being told before coming out that I’d have free reign to shoot whatever I wanted. It was certainly strange because otherwise I could pretty much do or go wherever I wanted: Walk on the wing of an airplane?; No problem. Go behind the scenes of the baggage area?; Sure. Climb up a ten story ladder to the top of a hangar?; Done. Take a picture with a person in it?; Don’t even think about it. Putting the final nail into the coffin, no one wanted to talk on the record: story = dead on arrival. Very frustrating, but the experience was still pretty cool.

The tour of the field was followed by a whirlwind tour of the city; up to nearby Mt. Entoto and back. The mountaintop, with its sweeping views of the city, is a twenty-minute drive from downtown, again giving me a good opportunity to see the city and a very brief snippet of more rural life. The driver took us along a more scenic route stopping by the National Museum, University of Addis, and a bunch of the big squares – many of which commemorated significant milestones in the countries history.

The road up to the top of Entoto was an adventure in itself (notice a theme on the roads?). Herds of animals replaced the ubiquitous mini-busses found in the city, and women with bundles of eucalyptus firewood on their backs trekked down the mountain back into town (fun fact, Addis is surrounded by eucalyptus forests). The scent was understandably much more powerful than in the city, aided by a light rain that began to fall pushing the smoke down. The view from the top was spectacular with the entire valley in view; it struck me as a great place to sit and think. 

Sadly the serenity didn’t last long. Small children, usually headed by an elder sibling, began to swarm trying to sell us things. Cute as they were I also knew that while most of these groups are innocent, others take advantage; they’ll distract you with their cuteness while another one behind you swipes your bag or your wallet. Thankfully that didn’t happen, and I picked up a small souvenir. 

The rain picked up to a steady clip as we drove back down the mountain toward the airport for my flight home. The route brought us through the embassy district, which was striking. Nations like Zimbabwe seemed to have little more than a walled shack, while Qatar maintained a beautiful compound full of color and Middle Eastern accents. There was of course no mistaking the US embassy. The huge walled compound looked like it was capable of surviving just about anything. Devoid of trees or any natural aesthetic value it looked large and imposing. It made a lot more sense why we’re often perceived as such aboard. 

Sipping a Coke at an airport Café, rain pelting the glass exterior, I began to try to ingest the overload of new experiences good and bad I’d had in only twenty-four hours. Perhaps most interesting to me was the level of insulation you could have in a country with an average annual income per capita of about $500USD. Here I was sitting in an airport café about to board an airplane whose ticket cost was more than most people I saw will make in a year. I stayed in a hotel that was literally walled off from the rest of the neighborhood, and who’s amenities most folks can only dream about. Most of my time experiencing the city was from the back seat of a private vehicle.

While the short trip was exhilarating, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed that I hadn’t taken the few chances I had to venture out into town and connect more meaningfully. Hindsight is 50/50 though, and considering that I didn’t wind up in an international political thriller, didn’t get lost or mugged, and otherwise got a safe introduction to a whole different world – I’d say it went just fine. A short adventure, but an adventure none the less.