Too much beer last night. We spent about two hours waiting for the bus to arrive/leave for Key Afer. When it did arrive, it was a cat and mouse game with the bus conductor. When he smelled potential farangi customers [ed. note: the term farangi is a term of endearment used to describe foreigners. not to be confused with characters of similar name in the Star Trek series. synonym: mzungu] the price of tickets increased 2 fold for us. I hate that, particularly when it's blatant like that. There's nothing we could do.
We piled into a really crowded bus. As usual the aisles were jammed with barrels of cooking oil.
Again the scenery was stunning. The route took us up and over mountain passes and along razorback ridges and plunged us down into dry, arid valleys. I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that Ethiopia's one of the most beautiful regions in all of Africa.
It was also on this bus where I could see trouble brewing in the future. A man approached Adi about why he was taking farangi on the bus and not using a rented 4X4 (the expensive way that we wanted to avoid). Apparently 90 percent of rentals was controlled by one guy in the Omo Valley and he could be a thorn in the side of Adi for his (our) oversight. Back home, I would have told the man that it was none of his f&%king business how we travel, but here there could be further implications that we might know nothing about.
Out of Canuckistan: A travel blog, Mar 18/07
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Konso - Weito - Key Afer, Omo Valley, Ethiopia, Day 2
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2 comments:
I think you have forgotten the 2nd and 10th rules of acquisition, both of which apply in this situation.
steve h., i actually violated these rules of acquisition:
190. Hear all, trust nothing.
141. Only fools pay retail.
218. Always know what you're buying.
125. You can't make a deal if you're dead.
and most of all:
284. Deep down, everyone's a Farangi.
I hang my farangi head in shame.
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