Where is Ron?

Ethiopia, January-March 2006


Ron in Malta

Ron, windblown in Malta, February 2005



Reports from the road: Debre Birhan to Kembolcha, Ethiopia

10-16 February 2006



12 February 2006
Afton, Virginia, USA

Dear family and friends,

From the message below, it sounds as if Ron has hit a low, but still maintains fairly good spirits. This frequently happens at some point, usually early in a trip. Don't worry -- I know from experience that he will sort himself out, solve the problems, and modify his travel style appropriately. And there are enough buses and trucks traveling the road that he can get a ride if he decides he wants to.

If you use Google Earth, you will find Ataya from which this message was sent, at 9 11.75' N, 39 09.3' E, although you will probably have to zoom out a bit to make the satellite photo clear. Our good friend George found the coordinates (thanks, George!), and said, "He's gonna come out of the hilly country and reach some flatter ground soon." To which Ron replied, "I don't think God was a bicyclist. There is no flat ground here. And from Kembolcha I may cheat and get a truck."

Here in Afton, we had about 7 inches (18 cms) of snow yesterday, but today was sunny and it has started to melt.

Love to all,

Ellen


Gudoberet, Robit and Ataya
12 February 2006
Ataya, Ethiopia

Dear Ellen,

Why do I do these things? As I was tired, sore, sunburned, hungry, experiencing my normal fever blisters from stress, experiencing diarrhea... I kept telling myself that this is what I wanted to do ... as I remembered scenes from the Delta of Vietnam, the Carpathian Mountains of Romania and the Ukraine, across Mexico, southern India, SW China. While I don't have the strength and stamina I used to have, I keep thinking I am only 30. I guess after each trip I forget how difficult it was and remember all the wonderful experiences, things I saw and people I met.

I wanted to reach Debre Sina, but the uphills kept being followed by another uphill and another and the day got later and later and when I reached Gudoberet, I was worried about being stranded somewhere in the open with no energy left. So a young boy took me to a building that had the word "hotel" on the front, but was just a series of at least 5 inter-connected rooms along the road, each room having multiple beds. At first they kept saying, no, go the next town only 30 K ahead. But I couldn't go any further. Finally the head woman looked at me and said yes and pointed to a seat. She watched out for me, put a blanket over me before I went to sleep, and brought me something to eat (which I wish she had not) and I ate some of it to be polite, but not too polite. There was a sort of coffee ceremony, lots of talking, and finally everyone when to sleep. I am not sure how many slept in my room, but I think they were all female. I had pulled my silk bed sack out, including putting their pillow in my silk pillowcase, and went to sleep on the best bed, while they stayed up much longer.

There was an interesting college student who could speak fair English, and he joined me soon after I got to the hotel. He attends college in Debre Birhan and while he studies science (I think) he really wants to be a politician and become the President of Ethiopia. OK, knowing what you want is the first big step in getting there, so maybe one day... We took a long walk ending up way down the hill out of the village, the way I came and watched the sunset on the way back. In the morning he came to say good bye and I gave him my card. Think I will hear from him in the future?

I remembered my night in Laos in the small village when I could make it no further and tried to compare the experiences. I think the Ethiopians are much poorer based on the following comparisons: number of people per room, food provided, quality of housing, and a view of the "toilet".

In the morning I did manage to acquire some bread and had a supply of water, and left early, about 7:30. I preferred the open ditch along the road to the toilet available in town. The lady was most kind and I hugged her goodbye. She had also brought me a piece of hard bread but my college student friend found a real roll of white bread for me. (On this trip I have gained a new appreciation for bread and water, especially if the bread is very dry).

If anyone follows this way on a bike, let me say the next day is a breeze ... well, it will be by the time anyone follows because the new road construction will make it a spectacular downhill trip.

After leaving Gudoberet (not on any map I have seen) there is a 3K up hill followed by a 5.5K downhill with lots of pot holes. I remembered another experience going down a mountain road with pot holes [Note from Ellen: On that downhill Ron was trying to keep up with some much younger guys he'd met, but hit a pot hole, crashed and had to have stitches -- nice to know he learned from the previous experience!], and this time took it much slower, using my brakes instead of using my bike as wings. Then there was another 5K uphill, where the village on the top had a new novel approach. They made little hats they tried to sell me. Some of them had human hair on top and reminded me of the Indian scalping. But some of the hats were quite cute.

After this village there is a 3K downhill followed by a gradual 2K up, and the village on top at the major intersection has a store on the left where bottled water can be purchased at a fair price.

From here it is 2K down to the first tunnel. This tunnel is too long to go through without some light. I had a head lamp, but a pick-up truck driver invited me to go in front of him and he provided my light so I could swerve around looking for the smoothest route through the tunnel. While the road was paved, it was not paved in the tunnel, and some of the pot-holes were huge, some full of water.

The second and third tunnels were short and light was fine.

And from here on it was down hill to Debre Sina and the downhill continued to Robit. From Debre Sina to Robit they are constructing a new road and the last 5K before Robit I could experience what it will be like: wide, smooth, two lanes and a paved extra lane like a bike lane (perhaps for their animals) on each side. So this could become a spectacular downhill in the future. But at this time the surface was in every conceivable state of construction. Some sections had rocks like golf balls and others were rough dirt roads or deteriorating old pavement. I loved the stretches which were blocked off to traffic that had been smooth packed with heavy rollers in preparation for paving.

I found an ok hotel in Robit, on the right just before the bridge, had a dinner of lamb tips and a fanta, a visit to a store to buy toilet paper and bottled water and then a cold shower and went to sleep. Or tried to sleep since the noise went on until late.

This morning I thought it would be a breeze in the lowlands. I expected it to be flat, but there were some long long uphills as well as some great downhills on the new road surface. I made it Ataya and found a room for tonight. Not to my liking, but much better than Gudoberet. Tomorrow I hope to get to Kembotcha where I think I can find some good accommodations and food, and will perhaps hang around for a day or so.

In Gudoberet it was cool and during the day I was wearing my blue knit long-sleeved shirt, often with another long-sleeved shirt on top. Gudoberet was 3100 meters high. Today down in the lowlands (I don't know how low) the heat was up to 95 on my little pocket themometer.

The birds are quite different in Ethiopia. I wonder if I will see different ones down here.

I won't try to send pictures from here, but perhaps from Kembolcha I will. The views have been spectacular. But they would have been even better from a motorcycle.

So far I have some problems with both tires, having padded them from the inside. One has a small tear and the other must have something embedded that I can feel but not remove (I put a heavy patch on the spot). I have had a total of at least 6 flats, something I have never experienced before, and most, but not all of the flats are a result of the problems with the tires. One tube I have not been able to patch successfully, the others have multiple patches now. I still have in reserve one new tire and one new tube. The new Park Tool pre-glued patches don't hold, and bubble up and leak under pressure, so I am worried about running out of patches. A trucker gave me a couple of heavy truck patches which I am cutting up and using, but these can be felt as I brake.

It has been difficult and I was not in shape. Am I ever? I usually get in shape on the trips, so maybe next week it will be better. But this trip should be an excellent diet plan! Bread and water, diarrhea, and forced uphill grinds with a loaded bike. Those supported bike trips that have a sag vehicle and carry your luggage look better every day.

Love and miss you.

More from Kembolcha.

Ron

I see I have some email from you and I am worried about losing this, so I will send it now. Would you please spell check it and correct the grammar [Done!]. I am also worried about the connection as well as them closing this place.

So on to your messages.

Love you

Ron


16 February 2006
Afton, Virginia, USA

Dear family and friends,

Everyone will be happy to know that Ron is feeling much better. Two messages from him in Kembolcha are below. And be sure and check out the photos -- the camels are spectacular!

[For the Google Earth users, Kembolcha is at 11 04.48' N, 39 44.17' E. The next destination, Dese, is at 11 07.57' N, 39 37.57' E. If you get the in/out zoom set right, you can see the location of both towns with town names marked on the satellite map.]

Several people, including people who love to travel, asked me after Ron's last miserable message, "Tell me, why does he do this?" The best answer I could give (after saying I don't know!) is that for him the good parts of traveling, the people met and life experienced and sights seen, have always outweighed the bad parts. But I asked him what his response to the question would be, and he said:

Why. Good question. But only those not drawn to travel would ask such a question. How does someone know the world and reality without experiencing it? Your answer is right on...it is worth the good experiences, interesting people, adventure, and satisfaction that I get to make the worst ok... and the worst still make vivid memories and stories.

The night in the so-called hotel at the top of the hill with who knows how many other people sleeping in the room was a real experience that brought me more in touch with Ethiopia than what I experience in the better hotels.

So I got sick. Usually on my trips I experience sickness. But then people back home get sick also.

Perhaps I am getting too old to still push the pedals up the hills, but I still want to be able to do so. So.... I do so because it is there and I can.

For those bicyclers on the email distribution list who emailed me about Ron's tires and tubes, I asked him if he wanted me to order some extra tires and tubes from Bike Friday to be shipped FedEx to Addis Ababa, where he could collect them on his return there in a couple of weeks. He said, "By the time I get back to Addis Ababa, the bicycling portion of this trip will mostly be over. I may make a trip to the southeast, not far from Addis Ababa, but I don't plan on taking my bike to Eritrea. I may also do more of the trip by transport. In Addis Ababa I have an extra tire and a couple more tubes, as well as the spare tire and couple of tubes I am carrying. So I don't see how a shipment would help. I will think about it, but first I want to get to Dese where I understand they have a large cycling tradition and look for good patches. The tires and tubes seem to be holding for the last couple of days. I will consider possibilities in Dese."

So he is no longer sick, his tires and tubes seem to be holding ok, and he is meeting interesting people.

Our Virginia snow from last weekend is almost all gone; temperatures yesterday and today are in the 60s F (15-20C), and the cats love it because the front door is open and they can go in and out at will (without demanding that someone with opposable thumbs open the door for them!). But tomorrow the temperature will start to drop again, back to a long string of days forecast to be cloudy and with daytime temperatures not much above freezing. The cats will complain and so will I. I took advantage of the warm weather today to haul a bunch of wood from the big reserve pile behind our house and stack it in our new enclosed wood storage area attached to the house. Our wood stoves are our sole source of heat, so I want the wood ready when I need it.

Love to all,

Ellen


To see photos from the 13 February trip from Ataya to Kembolcha, click on the thumbnail at the left.

 
15 February 2006
Kembolcha, Ethiopia
Pushed uphill to Fontanina by herds of camels

Hello Dear Ellen,

Email makes it possible to travel together even if we are traveling in different worlds.... now if I could just reach out and touch you.

I left Ataya around 7:30 AM, after an omelet for breakfast and with some bread for the road, to begin my longest ride yet: 100 K to Kembolcha.

Feeling stronger and optimistic I cruised 10K down, 5K up, 3K down, 2K up and 8.5K down or level (level is a foreign concept here). At about 35k there was a town where the kids were more unruly than my dog Josie, who my daughter says it the most unruly dog in the world. One guy who could speak some English became my protector, a role I am seeing people take more often. He kept the kids back and we sat on a bench and talked while at least 50 kids and adults gathered around and listened and watched.

As I was leaving the town, my protector had borrowed a bike and caught up with me to warn me to not look to the right or look to the left as I rode ahead because there were some "afar" people from another area who were dangerous. I couldn't follow all of this but considered myself warned to be careful.

Earlier I had waved to two other cyclists I saw on the side of the road, and shortly they caught up with me and we rode together the rest of the day. They were 21 and 24, in good shape, had good geared bikes, wearing bike shorts and T-shirts (one a Bob Marley, Jamaica shirt), and were out for a day ride from Dese and were heading back home. Between them they had no supplies other than one small water bottle. One of the bikes was equipped with turn and brake signals and a horn, like the set I brought back from the Ukraine. So they were traveling very light and fast, not like me, fully loaded and an old slow codger with 4 liters of water. They stopped in towns for water and snacks. I shared some water and bread with them and they bought me some packaged cookies.

I was pushing hard to keep up with them and I am sure they were holding back so I could keep up. About 80K I was starting to feel tired and was going slower up the hills. One of them would stay with me while the other would speed up ahead and loop back. About 92K I learned that Kembolcha was 21K away, not 8K as I expected, and I knew I was in trouble. At 96K I was resting in the shade by the side of the road after walking part way up the long zig-zagging climb up to Fontanina. And perhaps I would still be resting there if it wasn't for the herd (right word?) of camels coming up the road covering both lanes, both shoulders and the banks on both sides of the road. I realized if I didn't move my bike it was going to be crushed by the camels, so I got back on and continued up the hill.

I asked my friends if there was a hotel in Fontanina and they said yes and we stopped at what they said was a hotel. I plopped down in a chair and they ordered a bowl of iced papaya that was delicious. While we waited on the fruit to arrive we watched the camels go by. There were several groups of them. I offered to pay for their rooms since I know I held them back and they would have a difficult time getting back home in Dese before dark, but they declined and continued on. After they left I ordered another bowl of papaya and when I was finished eating I asked about a room and was told there were no rooms and to find a hotel I would have to continue on to Kembolcha, another 21K (the distance keeps growing).

At this point I took the sag wagon. The hotel/restaurant manager flagged down a van, they put my bike and backpack on top, and delivered me to the bus station in downtown Kembolcha. By the time I had biked to my hotel I had gone 101K, so I made my days goal.

After checking into the Tekle Hotel (the best according to the Lonely Planet) I had a dinner of lentil soup and spaghetti, both rather good, with an interesting Greek guy and lady journalist, but I couldn't finish the spaghetti because my stomach was not feeling right. The Greek man had an organization in Greece that supported four orphanages with 450 kids here in Ethiopia, and he was visiting all of them, while the journalist was taking pictures and writing articles for her newspaper. We met again the next evening and took a short walk down the street after dinner. Both of them were very interesting. He is a retired banker who is now writing books on Greek history and mythology. She has covered many of the hot spots in the world and stayed in Iraq a month after journalists were ordered to leave (wearing the full Muslim covering).

Becca had given me a copy of "Chicken Soup for Travelers" and I was about 80% through the book. I felt the journalist would really enjoy it, so I cut the book into two parts and gave her the part I had completed.

The first night in Kembolcha I was awake most of the night with a terrible stomach ache, constipation (quite a change), and emptying my stomach through the wrong end. Maybe the iced papaya, or the morning omelet, or the stress of the day, or maybe one too many immodium tablets for diarrhea. So yesterday was a recovery day. Today I feel much better.

A little about Kembolcha. The main route heading north goes along the side of a mountain and overlooks a beautiful valley, but from the road you can't see through because of a continuous row of small shacks and buildings, housing a large array of bars, restaurants, and shops to service the many truck drivers who stop for the night. Reminded me of Bangkok back in the 1970s.

At the end of the strip the road forks, the main road going straight and the road to the left going downhill to the bus station and main town. It took me until today to realize that the horse carts were not allowed to use the main road down and had to use back dirt roads. So today I took a horse cart from the hotel to the Internet cafe near the bus station and discovered a whole new aspect of the town. It felt like some of the old western towns with dirt roads and lots of horses and no vehicles. It would be too rough for bikes however.

Last night I met an interesting guy who is a tour guide for Russian tourists, and he offered me a free ride back to Addis Ababa since he had just put his tourist on the plane and had an empty car. I declined and will continue so you will hear from me before long.

Love and miss you,

Ron


16 February 2006
Kembolcha, Ethiopia

Hi Ellen,

My message I was writing just disappeared!

I just stopped by the Internet Cafe on my way back from getting my tube patched and getting some more patches to carry along, and on my way to get a picture of the new church.

Yesterday as I was sending what must have been the first half of the last picture [only half the photo came through], the guy waiting to use the computer was Muluken, the Personnel Manager for the local Beer Brewery. He reminded me of the big gruff guy in Tbilisi, Georgia who ended up being like a lamb and bought me that little picture by the local artist. After Muluken sent his email he invited me for a beer at a local cafe with the Regional Sales and Marketing Manager, a young guy who could speak excellent English.

Later they took me to the brewery and Muluken gave me a personal guided tour of the entire process and afterwards treated me to a couple more beers in the club at the Brewery. They make Castel Beer for export, St. George, the leading beer in Ethiopia, and Bati, his favorite; the brewery is owned by a Frenchman who owns breweries all over the world. Perhaps his name is Castel. The Frenchman visited here once years ago in his private plane. The barley hops are genetically enhanced and imported from Belgium. I thought Europe was fighting our genetically enhanced agricultural products?

Even though I am not much of a beer drinker, I couldn't refuse theirs and found the Castel quite good. Their club seems to be the local hub for the business community, and while there I met the director of purchasing for the textile factory and the guy in charge of agricultural pest control for the region.

Today I tried to visit the textile Factory, but I was too late and my contact had left for the day. On the way there, a truck driver (very large truck) took me since he was going from where I was having my tube patched. He ended up going to the brewery to pick up a load of beer, and the textile plant was close by.

This morning when I was leaving the hotel, an older lady invited me to visit her home. She had done this each time I had passed and usually I just waved and continued on. It was a dirt house in poor shape. They produced a small covered stool for me to sit on and we proceeded to have a conversation. They spoke no English and I spoke no Amharic. There were about 10 women from a teenager to a couple of older grandmothers, perhaps a couple of sets of at least three generations. There was a charcoal burner on the floor and a tray with cups, so perhaps they had just finished their coffee. They were sitting round chewing "chat" a green leaf that I understand makes people high like marijuana does. Once I realized that they were all high, I could understand some of the vibes in the room. They offered me chat but I declined. I would like to try it, but this was not the setting or the time, and after a few minutes I left. But it was a neat experience.

Tomorrow morning I am planning on leaving Kembolcha and heading for Dese and maybe on to Lalibela.

Feeling well and eating better. Today's boiled lamb, which was more like lamb soup, was quite good, and of course I have had another mango juice. So perhaps I am getting acclimated.

Missing you and loving you more each day,

Ron



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Last updated: 16 February 2006