Cycling Bahir Dar to Debre Markos, Ethiopia: One Business Per Town
9 - 15 March 2020
9 March (79.0 km, 49.0 mi) - Bahir Dar to Dangla
10 March (36.0 km, 22.3 mi) - Dangla to Injibara
11 March (37.3 km, 23.2 mi) - Injibara to Bure
12 March (59.7 km, 37.1 mi) - Bure to Dembecha
13 March (48.1 km, 30.0 mi) - Dembecha to Debre Markos
14 - 15 March - Layover in Debre Markos
Cycling south from Bahir Dar, we were intrigued that in many of the towns everyone would specialize in one, single type of business. There was the garlic town, the cowhide town, the charcoal town, the wood post producing town, the moonshine town, the chili pepper town, the bamboo furniture town, etc, etc. We wondered if this was because someone in a town figured out a good way to make money, and everybody else soon got in on the act. The challenge was that there would be one roadside stand after another, all selling the exactly the same thing. The cowhide town had 15-20 roadside shops all selling nearly identical leather products. The moonshine town had an equal number of stands all selling the same kinds of home-brewed whiskey. We didn’t stop to compare prices, but we did wonder if the competition was fierce, or if everyone in town colluded on a single price and there was no price competition at all. It would be an interesting study in developing country microeconomics for a budding graduate student.
Over the next few days, as we rode from town to town, we enjoyed seeing how each community had carved out its own niche, and contributed to Ethiopia’s rich heritage.
Eucalyptus Everywhere
The ride from Bahir Dar to Dangla was very pleasant, for two reasons. For the first time in a while, there was a layer of clouds in the sky all day that helped cut the intensity of the high-altitude sun. Yes, that’s right. We were happy to see the cloud-filled sky, a rarity on our trip so far. The clouds kept the temperatures a lot cooler. So even though the ride had 700 m (2,280 ft) of elevation gain, we didn’t really start to feel hot until the final climb of the day. The other bright spot was that, overall, people were more friendly than the last few days of riding. As a result, we were able to relax more and enjoy interacting with people along the way.
The vegetation south of Bahir Dar was completely different from the areas we traveled through further north. Approaching Lake Tana, we had cycled through broad fields of teff, the native grain used in Ethiopia’s injera bread. Now, the grasslands were replaced by cultivated forests of eucalyptus trees. (In Ethiopia, eucalyptus is a fast growing, nonnative plant, and is more similar to an agricultural crop than a natural forest.) And we’re not just talking about small woodlots that a farmer might have on his land. These were big, industrial-sized areas - with way more eucalyptus than we’ve seen before.
A shipment of teff hay heads south through the forests of eucalyptus that line the road. Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
The eucalyptus wood was clearly a major economic driver for the region surrounding Merawi, Ethiopia. Kilometer after kilometer, we cycled past the smoking mounds used to bake wood into charcoal (the primary cooking fuel for 40% of Ethiopian households). Processing zones were crammed with long, snaking rows of hefty, charcoal-filled bags, leaning against each other like lines of dominos.
Long queues of charcoal-filled bags looked like domino lines, ready to topple over. Merawi, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Nearby, stacks of not-quite-straight eucalyptus logs - Ethiopia’s primary building material - were heaped in piles, ready for transport. The trees grow fast and thin, so they’re used “as is,” rather than being milled into straighter beams. It’s the natural bends and twists in these logs that characterize much of Ethiopia’s wooden architecture, giving it a rough-hewn, rustic look. Trucks laden with logs rumbled by us on their way to becoming homes, barns, scaffolding, or firewood. And it seemed as though the people in this area were quite prosperous - more so than the folks we had seen further north. We got the feeling that the eucalyptus business was doing very well.
Even the cows seemed to have a good life here. The abundance of eucalyptus wood enabled farmers to provide shelter for their livestock. Wetet Abay, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Cycling Camaraderie Out on the Road
Africa is considered by many to be one of the most challenging continents to cross via bicycle. Waterless deserts, steep mountains, potentially dangerous animals, and inconsistent services for travelers - to name just a few of the obstacles - combine to make bicycle touring a dicier business here. Because of this, relatively few people attempt to cycle across Africa each year. But in some places, like northern Ethiopia, there are only a couple of routes to choose from. So if there is someone else out on the road at the same time as you, there’s a chance you’ll encounter each other along the way.
Between Bahir Dar and Dangla, we crossed paths a couple of times with a cyclist from Morocco. Actually, we had first met her in Bahir Dar, where she stayed in a hotel next door to ours. While we were slowed down by a flat tire in the morning, she got out on the road ahead of us. Mid-morning, we passed her as she was taking a roadside break. She’s a great photographer, and snapped one of our favorite photos of us as we approached on our bikes. We paused for a quick visit, before moving on. Later, she cycled past us while we were stopped for a drink in the shade. After that, we didn’t see her again.
It’s a brave undertaking for a woman to go on a bicycle tour alone. But she had a wonderful, positive, “bring it on” attitude towards the journey that helped her overcome obstacles. And being from Morocco, she had a pretty good understanding of the challenges that Africa can throw at you. Unfortunately, after passing us she had a couple of uncomfortable experiences, so she decided to catch a bus to Addis Ababa, and make any further decisions about cycling in Ethiopia from there.
Given the low probability of meeting other cyclists in Africa, we were quite surprised to cross paths with a second biker on the same day. About halfway through the ride, we saw a pannier-laden bicycle heading towards us. We stopped by the side of the road to greet each other, and learned that he was from Japan. Semmaru had been cycling around the world for the past three years! He started in California, rode down to South America, then flew to South Africa, and had been cycling north ever since.
One of the more unusual items Semmaru had was a full-sized tire pump lashed to the top of his back panniers. On a bike tour you want things to weigh as little as possible - therefore small, lightweight tire pumps are the rule. When PedalingGuy commented about the pump, Semmaru laughed, and said he got tired of the small ones breaking all the time. We could totally relate. Cycling across Europe, we went through three lightweight pumps, two of which didn’t work very well from the start. It was a breath of fresh air to meet Semmaru. He was really nice. A week after we saw him, he boarded a flight to New Zealand, where he’s cycling now.
Semmaru has been cycling around the world for the last three years. We crossed paths on a rural stretch of road near Wetet Abay, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
One thing we noticed on today’s ride was that the number of local Ethiopians riding bicycles is slowly increasing. PedalingGuy even said he saw a couple bike shops along the route. That’s a big change from where we’ve been lately. It’s actually possible that there are no dedicated bike shops anywhere in Sudan. And we hadn’t seen any in Ethiopia north of Bahir Dar. It was an encouraging sign to see the shops, and we hoped it was an indicator that bike parts might be readily available when we reached Addis Ababa in another week.
In the area around Dangla, the bikes we saw were often flamboyantly decorated. A number of bicycles were festooned with colorful flowers, ribbons and garlands. A popular feature that we saw on quite a few bikes here (but not anywhere else), was a bright red-and-gold, cushioned seat cover.
Flamboyant, self-expression in a bike. Dangla, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Our hotel in Dangla was better than many. The bedding was clean, the room was pretty big, they had locked bike storage, and they (theoretically) had hot water. But, much to my disappointment, the hot water wasn’t working in our room. As PedalingGuy likes to say, you can’t have everything.
In the evening we went out to shop for cold drinks, and a young man named Alex struck up a conversation with PedalingGuy. He was very proud of Ethiopia, and pleased when we said we were enjoying our stay. He mentioned Bahir Dar, so we told him we had been there, and that we had taken the boat tour on Lake Tana. PedalingGuy even showed him a couple of photos from the lake on his phone, like the hippopotamus and the Nile monitor. Alex was impressed with the photos of the big lizard, remarking that these are dangerous animals. As they were talking, of course, a crowd of about 20 people gathered around. The other guys got a kick out of the fact that Alex was speaking with us in English. He became quite the celebrity.
A Very Short Night
We didn’t get much sleep that night because our room was incredibly noisy. First there was the music from the nightclub that was two doors away. They played that music loud enough to imitate a full-blown rock concert until midnight. Then, around 11pm, a VERY large group of people, including small children, checked into the hotel and totally took over our floor - occupying six or seven of the rooms. They were impressively loud - shouting to each other in the hallway and slamming doors for almost an hour. Then, between 4:00-4:30am, they departed. That included another half hour of yelling, slamming, and crying children. It seemed like a very short night.
The sun was just peeking over the horizon when we left the hotel, and it was quite chilly.
The route from Dangla to Injibara continued to be lined with forests. There were very few, short downhills that offered any chance for rest. Instead, the road climbed uphill nearly all day. So even though it was a pretty short ride, it was tiring. As we gained elevation we also started to see cultivated cedar forests, in addition to the ever-present eucalyptus.
A farmer plows his field, surrounded by a forest of cedar trees. South of Dangla, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
The most scenic part of the ride came as we approached Injibara. We cycled past the impressive Mount Zerehi, which reminded us of Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. It’s a massive column of stone, rising up all by itself out of the surrounding landscape. Silhouetted against the clear, blue sky, the monolith provided the perfect backdrop for the horse pastures below.
The impressive monolith of Mount Zerehi. Addis Kidan, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
We arrived in Injibara before noon. We felt very lucky to be able to check into a hotel room so early. After a nice dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, we walked around town looking for cold Coca Colas. This is a pretty big city (over 21,000 people), but surprisingly we couldn’t find any grocery stores bigger than a storage closet. And no cold Coca Cola. We bought water for tomorrow and a couple bottles of warm mango juice.
Exploring a little bit more, we turned up a busy market street lined with stalls. It’s common for stores that sell the same kinds of merchandise to cluster together, for example, all of the electronics shops might be found within a block or two of each other. We found ourselves wandering through the clothing district, surrounded by racks of brightly-colored dresses, scarves and shirts, with the occasional mannequin sporting a particularly fancy outfit. At the end of the road was the lovely Kidus Michael Church, with its silver dome shining in the sun. The building seemed like it was brand new, or at least it’s been recently renovated. Everything about it looked fresh and crisp.
The lovely, church of Kidus Michael. Injibara, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
The Bamboo Town
In Injibara, we had arrived in bamboo country. Instead of eucalyptus wood, the focus of this town was on all things bamboo. The main commercial road was lined with craftsmen building furniture, mats, and accessories entirely from bamboo. They whittled, sawed and sanded the raw stalks in the shade of a long bamboo awning. The finished pieces of furniture stood next to the road, ready for sale. Nearby piles of bamboo logs waited their turn to be molded into the next table or bench. The men working on the bamboo seemed to share a good camaraderie. They joked with each other and laughed as they worked.
Bamboo furniture was the specialty industry in Injibara, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Leather and Lather
The next morning we had omelettes for breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and it took a bit longer than expected. We had been told that the restaurant opened at 6am, but when we arrived a little bit before 7am, they were still setting things up. We appeared to be the first customers of the day, and it took them a while to produce our omelettes. Happily, they were worth the wait. They were pretty big, and nicely filling.
Just outside of town, we cycled into a new economic zone. For the next 15 kilometers, the road was lined with vendors selling stuff made from horsehair and cowhides - and laundry detergent. Of course, this makes sense once you learn that tallow (from rendered animal fat) has been an essential ingredient in soap for millennia. But it still looked incongruous to see traditional objects like cowhide drums, leather stools, and horse-hair fly whisks being sold alongside boldly-colored, 4kg bags of detergent.
Leather and soap shops lined the road south of Injibara. Zengena, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
More livestock-based products for sale. Zengena, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
We had considered making a quick stop at Lake Zengena, a deep, circular, crater lake that sits on top of an ancient volcano, just 4 km south of Injibara. It’s a popular stop because the narrow strip of forest surrounding the lake is home to several troupes of Guerza Colobus monkeys. Unfortunately, we missed the turn to the lake. And once we realized that we had passed it, we had already descended down a pretty steep hill. It was tempting to go back. But that would mean cycling back up the hill. Turning around and going back where you just came from is psychologically difficult on a bike trip, and when that includes a steep uphill, it is nearly impossible. Since we had started the day’s ride a bit later than planned (due to the omelette delay), and a monkey sighting was certainly not guaranteed, we decided to continue down the road. I figured that would nix any chances we had of seeing a colobus monkey.
Not so! Not long after passing the turnoff to the lake, we spotted 4-5 of the gorgeous, long-haired, black-and-white monkeys in some eucalyptus trees by the side of the road we were cycling down. We watched and photographed them for nearly 15 minutes as they groomed each other and foraged among the leaves. Then, as if on cue, they all moseyed off into the forest - easily moving along the branches of the trees. We felt incredibly fortunate to catch sight of them while they were near the road.
Guerza Colobus monkeys spend a quiet moment in the forest. Zengena, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
PedalingGuy also snapped some photos of the always-stunning, Greater Blue-eared Starling in a nearby coral tree.
The colobus monkeys were quite tolerant of the busy road. While we were stopped, people and cars passed by going about their business, practically underneath the monkeys’ feet.
The heavy loads people carry are truly impressive. These women walked by the colobus monkeys, who didn’t give them a second glance. Zengena, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
The day’s ride had more downhills than uphills, but a couple of the climbs were particularly steep, and long enough to put stress on our tired legs. With the day’s ride covering only 37.3 km, I had been thinking it would be easy - almost like a rest day. Unfortunately, that was overly optimistic. The ride was still taxing.
The last 10 km were mostly downhill, and it seemed like we were going to sail into Bure with little effort. That was until we arrived at the turnoff towards the hotel. You can imagine the shock when we discovered that the last kilometer or so led straight up a very steep hill. Climbs at the end of the day when you have set your expectations on easily rolling into the hotel in a few minutes are always a bummer, and this one was particularly long and greuling.
On the bright side, the road was closed to traffic because of a major construction project. So we didn’t have to worry about cars as we inched our way uphill. The sidewalks and drainage ditches on both sides of the road were being rebuilt, and a large number of townspeople appeared to be supplying labor for the construction. Groups of men and women were busy digging ditches and hauling stones to line the sidewalks and the street. Ethiopia has a big public works program that employs people who are out of work to help on infrastructure and urban beautification projects. The construction on this road seemed like it was one of those programs.
Our legs were totally spent by the time we made it to the top, and slogged our bicycles up to the entrance of the hotel. Fortunately we arrived in Bure pretty early, and were able to check into the hotel. We would get a good rest before the next day’’s ride.
Even though we were trying to stay in the best hotels we could find, like so many hotels in the small towns we had been staying in lately, this one had its quirks. The room had a private bath, but no water, so the bathroom wasn’t much good for anything. There was no electricity, except for a few hours in the evening when they turned on a very noisy generator. The electrical wiring was a little sketchy, so we weren’t too inclined to use the electricity much even when the generator was on. The windows did not seal shut, so we decided to set up our tent in the room once again, which allowed us to keep the windows fully open. The hotel did have some redeeming features. It was only 3 dollars per room, so we got two rooms - one for us and one to keep the bikes safe. Our bikes slept well.
Who’s idea was that? Usually electricity and showers don’t mix. But no worries, since the hotel didn’t have either working electricity or water. Bure, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Smoothies Make Everything Better
We went for a short walk around town to buy drinks and bananas. In the process we discovered a very nice, little juice shop. The owner was warm and friendly. And even though he didn’t speak any English, he went out of his way to make us feel welcome. I had a mango juice, and PealingGuy had a mix of avocado and mango. The drinks were terrific because they seemed like they were made of pure juice, without any added water (which is unusual). We also bought bananas and some mangos from the shop.
Nothing quite like a pure-fruit smoothie to brighten the end of the day. Bure, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
We’ve accepted the fact that we’re not going to be able to order any meat, dairy or eggs while it’s still Lent. So we got the traditional, vegetarian fasting platter for dinner. Bure, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Red-hot Chili Peppers
The next day’s industry was chili peppers. Just southeast of Bure we biked through an area crammed with small shops that each had huge piles of chili peppers out front. The cycling was actually pretty slow through this section of the route, because the road was overrun with donkey carts piled high with massive bags full of chili peppers. Those donkeys are pretty strong, but they couldn’t keep up with us when their carts were full. Just like in Maksegnit with its garlics, everyone in these towns seemed to have a role to play in processing, packaging and transporting the peppers. We stopped a couple of times to appreciate the scale of the chili production. When PedalingGuy asked if he could take some photos, the guys smiled and seemed pleased that we were interested in their work.
Both garlic and red chilis are fundamental ingredients in Ethiopia’s spicy food. The classic, red berbere spice is based on these two veggies, mixed with more than a half dozen other flavors like cinnamon, allspice and ginger. So chilis and garlic are basically used in every Ethiopian meal. It’s not surprising that the market for these crops can form the economic backbone of a few towns.
Later in the day, we had a bicycle escort through the town of Jiga, Ethiopia. We’re definitely seeing more bicycles as we get closer to Addis Ababa. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Liquor Land
Approaching Dembecha, we cycled through the land of liquor. Suddenly, all the little shops along the road became liquor stores. Most were comprised of a wooden shed with a table or two out front. We rode past several kilometers of these shops, all similar, and selling what looked like nearly identical products.
Near Dembecha, the regional specialty is liquor. Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Once in Dembecha, we got a gigantic room at the Malak hotel. For a change, there actually was plenty of room to set up our over-sized tent comfortably. It was wonderful to be able to walk all the way around the tent, and not feel crowded.
Unfortunately, there was a city-wide power outage that lasted the entire time that we were there. As a result, we had no water in our bathroom on the third floor (the water pump wasn’t working). Luckily, the hotel manager spoke pretty good English, and he was really committed to helping us. He checked five or six rooms before he found one that had water on the first floor. He let us shower in that room while still keeping the gigantic room on the third floor. The shower was cold and had very little pressure, but it worked well enough, and we were very thankful that the manager went out of his way to help us.
One advantage of the big room was that we had space to work on our bikes. There were lots of little problems I wanted to fix. It is next to impossible to work on the bikes outside of the hotels, since you are rapidly surrounded by people who beg for money or want to talk. Even if you stop someplace where it appears that no one is anywhere to be seen, it is only seconds before people start appearing from no where. There are people almost everywhere along the roads in Ethiopia.
I re-mounted my steer-stopper (the gizmo that holds my handlebars steady when the bike is parked), tightened the kickstand, and lower my seat. The seat needed to be adjusted because I was having some pain in the back of my left knee. We have found that one of the most common reasons for knee pain, is a seat that is not adjusted to the proper height. Hopefully the adjustment will help.
We ate dinner in the hotel’s restaurant - a courtyard surrounded by the hotel. They weren’t serving meat, but we were able to get spaghetti with tomato sauce and scrambled eggs, which was awesome. The sauce on the spaghetti was very, very spicy. We’ve learned that spaghetti sauce in Ethiopia is often made with berbere spice - with the strong taste of chilis and garlic.
While we were sipping our cold drinks, a guy came into the courtyard, walking through the dinning area, with a sheep in tow. He stopped to chat with the locals sitting at some of the other tables. Watching the interactions, we surmised that he was selling raffle tickets, with the sheep as the prize. It was probably a fundraiser, maybe for the church.
Unfortunately, the thing that dominated most of our afternoon was that we started getting hate-filled, racist comments on Instagram. Other cyclists who have posted stories about Ethiopia on Instagram have received similar abuse and threats, but it was still very upsetting. The ugly comments purported to be from Africans and African sympathizers who were angry that we wrote about a kid who had try to steal from us. For some reason, they were also upset about a picture of a boy who gave us a push up a hill. The message was basically, we don’t want you here, go home to wherever you came from. Many had a very threatening tone. We decided to make the Instagram account private, and temporarily took down this website. The whole mess made us feel irritated and a bit depressed (because, let’s face it, it’s depressing). It would be harder to fully enjoy traveling in Ethiopia after that.
Around 6:00 in the evening the hotel turned on a generator, providing welcome electricity to the rooms. But they turned off the generator at 10pm, before we had set up the tent in the room, so we ended up setting up the tent and getting ready for bed in the dark. Luckily we have headlamps and a camping lantern. I don’t know what other guests would do without some way to light their room. I guess everyone just goes to bed.
Glad to Arrive in Debre Markos
We still didn’t have power in the morning, so we used the camping lantern to get ready in the dark. It finally got bright enough to see without a light around 6:45am.
Today’s ride was quite hilly, but there was a thick haze in the air, so the vistas weren’t as spectacular as they might otherwise have been.
An adorably cute, baby donkey heads off the road. Baremma, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
Just as we were entering Debre Markos, PedalingGuy’s phone, which is our primary navigation device, started acting up. It turned out that the phone was overheated. It’s kind of crazy, because the high temperature that day was only 77 F (25 C). In the Sudanese desert, where we sometimes biked in temperatures over 100 F (38 C), the phone had never overheated. But in Sudan, there was always a fierce wind that kept the phone cool like a fan. Here, at the high altitude, the sun’s rays are very strong. The radiant heat really makes things feel hotter. And there’s not much wind or shade to offset that heat. We were definitely happy not to be cycling in a strong wind. But without the wind, the heat was a problem.
Since we couldn’t navigate to the hotel until the phone recovered, we stopped for a break and a cold drink at a small shop along the road - probably only a kilometer or two from our destination. Still, we were almost as overheated as the phone, so the break was very welcome. After that, both we and the phone had recovered, so we finished the ride to the hotel.
The hotel was wonderful. The room was large and had very clean, comfy beds. We also had hot water in a spotless, spacious shower, toilet paper, towels, soap, and a toilet seat. Wow, nice. We were thrilled to have such a comfortable room, because we planned stay in Debre Markos for a couple of nights. Back in Gonder we had decided that we would not cycle on weekends, because the crowds of kids just get too rowdy when there’s no school. Instead we would aim to spend our weekends in towns with more amenities, and enjoy the down time. Debre Markos was our weekend stop.
We were hungry for burgers, but they weren’t serving any western-style food at our hotel. So we headed over to the restaurant at the city’s International Hotel. The food was quite good, and we ended up eating three dinners there.
One item of business that we needed to take care of was a renewal of our cell phone data plans. We had been in Ethiopia for a full month, and the data plans we purchased at the border had expired. Luck was with us, and there were some phone shops right across the street from our hotel. The guys in the first shop we visited didn’t speak any English, so we weren’t able to get things straightened out there. But just a few doors away we found the perfect shop. It was run by a generous and kind woman who spoke some English. She knew right away what we were looking for, and even took charge of loading the new data packages on our phones (which is a bit cumbersome, so we were grateful).
We bought a ton of data - hopefully enough to last until we had cycled the rest of the way across Ethiopia. It was much more than she probably sells to her usual customers. When we were done, she gave us each a mango in appreciation for our business. It was a really sweet gesture. The mangos came in handy as an in-room snack the next day.
20 GB of data and two, fresh mangos. A very successful trip to the phone store. Debre Markos, Ethiopia. Copyright © 2019-2020 Pedals and Puffins.
The big news over the weekend was the continued, rapid expansion of the COVID-19 virus around the world. By this time, Europe was really struggling, with a rapidly expanding caseload. And the U.S. was reporting cases in almost all 50 states. Especially worrisome was the fact that Ethiopia also diagnosed its first case in Addis Ababa. That did not bode well for our trip.
A chat group that we belonged to for cyclists was overrun with discussions about the virus. Over the weekend, a number of sub-Saharan countries started announcing border closures. Several cyclists were stranded when Sudan suddenly closed their international airport and the border crossing with Egypt. Kenya and South Africa also announced severe restrictions and border closures. It sounded like we wouldn’t be able to cross into Kenya (the country we hoped to cycle through next) for at least 30 days.
After talking it over, we decided to continue our ride as far as Addis Ababa, the largest city in Ethiopia. We thought we might be able to settle down at a hotel in the city for a month or two, to see how the pandemic played out. We had yet to realize how crazy the situation could get.
