I was already deep in a wadi with three Omani guys drinking Turkish tall cans. I knew alcohol was not totally banned in the Sultanate of Oman, but I didn’t expect to get wasted on (expensive) cheap beer on my first night on the Arabian Peninsula. The five of us were destined to converge in Wadi [...]
Horizon Ethiopique
There comes a time when rock climbers start to think about what it means to climb walls that have never been climbed before. Climbers begin to wonder if they have the smarts, strength and guts to go to remote places, untested rock, and start climbing. Carrying a heavy rack and the possibility of failure, [...]
The Gay Arab in Africa
When the Ethiopian Orthodox Pope actually left his mansion to meet with reporters and gripe about the homosexuals coming to Addis Ababa, I thought the most important man in Ethiopia was surely going to give another sound reason on why there’s no possible way to allow a seminar on Men Having Sex with Men at a [...]
Nancy & The Clay Chickens
During her three years in Ethiopia, Nancy Russell achieved celebrity status in Addis Ababa’s farenji world. Her ex-pat, aid worker stats made her out to be nothing less than typical: a single, mature woman with more rings than fingers and a pint-sized dog that yapped at strangers. However, Nancy Russell was anything but typical. She [...]
The Watchyman (Part II)
Watchyman kept my street clear of strife Until he migrated North to start a new life Crossing the border He could finally afford her When he traded his Dolphins coat for a Bolivian wife
The Watchyman (Part I)
The Watchyman made history when he decided to marry a Bolivian woman to obtain Bolivian residency. He may be the first Chilean to do so, and perhaps the only since the Pacific War of 1879 when Chile conquered the Atacama Desert, capturing a sizable portion of Bolivia. What could Watchyman possibly do in Bolivia that [...]
The Ethiopian Utopia
Life in an Ethiopian village is hard. Every morning Ethiopians wake up, roosters crow, sunlight filters through a straw rooftop. The animals are led to graze on what little grass is growing through the rocky soil. The woman starts a fire, tea and bread… coffee is better, sometimes there is sugar. The man shoulders his single-furrow [...]
Q&A with Zumra: “We Have No Use for Dogs”
Zumra Nuru founded the utopian village of Awra Amba in the seventies. Today over 430 residents continue to practice and follow his homegrown ideals of gender equality, education, honesty, hard work and the rejection of organized religion. Every weekend hundreds of visitors come to his village to witness Awra Amba’s success and marvel at how [...]
Cousin Kosovo, the Crown Prince & the Deaf Rapper
Ilir is my cousin. He told me the first time we met. He’s from Kosovo which makes him Albanian, so he’s got a lot of cousins. He called me at 9am in morning and told me today was his birthday. I decided to forego the office and stay in bed with injera-fed diarrhea. At noon [...]
Animal y los Mallos de Riglos
En mi primer día de escalada en Riglos, mi amigo David me dijo que yo iba a escalar con un tal “Animal”. Yo pensé que este nombre se lo habrían puesto porque escalaba como un animal, un bicho, o como dicen con frecuencia en España, como un mutante. Empecé a haceme la película en la cabeza: ¿Quién será este Animal? ¿Y, sobre todo, por qué diablos se llamará Animal?
The Farenji Pilgrim
My pilgrimage starts in a bus station in Gonder where a 16 year-old boy with one arm held my hand. He winked, he half-smiled, and he spoke broken English repeating “Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday for Jesus Christ!” He learned I was going to celebrate Ethiopian Christmas in Lalibela, and he wanted to help me get [...]
Mino’s Tails: Great Ethiopian Run
Yesterday Nico took me for the strangest walk I’ve ever been on. He usually takes me to the mountains, and I chase birds through the brush. Sometimes he leads me across glaciers, and sometimes we run over desert sandstone. Sometimes he takes me into the jungle and hairy, human-like monkeys try to pee on me. [...]
Mekele Rock Orphans
When I arrive somewhere new in Ethiopia, I step off the bus, turn and walk towards the highest mountain. This way, I can conquer a city or town in one fell swoop and from a bird’s eye view take in the width and length of the town. Many of the highland cities in Ethiopia are [...]
Buhe: Sing Noisily and Carry a Big Stick
Buying a chibo takes time. You have to visit at least three different chibo dealers before you find a good value and decide that this bundle of branches will best burn when the equatorial sun suddenly disappears. Some chibo dealers make very scanty chibos, while other dealers -the very sneaky ones- try to sell you recently trimmed branches with leaves and twigs still hanging from the branch. Even the children themselves know that green does not burn, thanks to so many years of chibo blazing.
The Extreme Side: Ski Backcountry in the Andes
If you are willing to hike an extra 20-30 minutes through the snow along rocky ridges, you’ll probably be the only person on the mountain. If you’re willing to hike an extra one or two hours, you will definitely be alone.[...]
