My Town

I've been in Debre Berhan now for a week. It's a town of about

70,000, was the capital of Ethiopia 500 years ago as well as the site

where (someone) The Left Handed slaughtered a bunch of people (and now

where John The Right Handed is writing.) Nothing left from the days

when it was the capital, and I don't think much has changed.

Main Street is the cross-country "highway," recently paved, that runs

across the country to the Eritrean border. Trucks travel along it,

but sufficiently infrequently that the road is usually used by

donkeys, horsecarts, and people (local advice: "walk in the street,

it's safer than the sidewalk.") And no cars.

Really, no cars. None driving along/through the city, and certainly

none in the city. (Okay, I've seen one--it's the hotel manager's, but

he's from Addis, which is sort of like saying "he's from Purley.")

People get around on foot or by taxi. There are two forms of taxis--a

swarm of tuk-tuks, which are basically enclosed golf carts; and

horsecarts (the lot for the latter is behind our hotel.) Kinfe, the

teacher who is also the head of the Habitat affiliate here, asked me

"do you have horsecarts in the U.S.?" No, I said. "They're really

very economical. There are 308 in Debre Berhan."

Main Street is pretty much lined with small shops, not much more than

storefronts with a counter. And the Petit Paris Cafe and Bar.

Electronics shops, a couple of produce stands, etc. On the street

corner, a couple of guys selling very recently available sheepskins.

Uncured, available with or without feet. (I didn't ask which was more

expensive.)

Went over to the street paralelling Main Street. It looks like a

movie set for an 19th century Western. Unpaved, lined with shops,

horsecarts going up and down, people walking, mostly in traditional

Ethiopian dress. Lots of butcher shops, each with meat hanging, none

with refrigeration. Saw a patisserie this morning---the first I've

seen. Between a butcher and a barber shop.

The ground floor of our hotel has several shops. A bakery (bread

only) next to the entrance, and a bar/butcher (odd combination) next

to it. Came back from work one day to find a steer teathered in the

yard. Inside the butcher shop the next day.

A wonderful pastoral scene by our build the other day. Horsecarts

passing by, men in traditional costume herding sheep or goats with

sticks, two men tossing hay with pitchforks, us using eucalyptus bark

to lash eucalyptus poles together to build a building around a

latrine, others of us throwing chika (mud and stray) to make the

walls. Straight out of the pre-industrial era.

I've gone in back in time. Except this isn't a theme park.