What is this? Spriz … Is it for me? Actually no … but I drank it already …Departure on a uphill!
Thanks to my two stingy colleagues who did not hide the 200 USD I had asked in the tires, and did not even let me know, I spent much of the morning trying to buy dollars which I will need in Sudan. Changing dollars into birr is very easy, you can do it at all the banks and hotels. Changing birr into dollars is a difficult undertaking, I toured more than ten banks, I did not find a bureau and at the end I managed to convince the director of a branch of the Commercial Bank to sell me 150 USD, which I was told is the maximum that can be bought per day by law … in Zambia it is 5000 … the morning was almost over …
From my hotel next to the Piazza neighborhood, to the official exit from Addis Ababa municipality you go up to 2686 meters, then you go down, then up, it is cold … it is a continuous of downhill followed by uphill and a few plateaus, you go over the 2800 meters and you keep always around the 2600 meters of altitude. We are in the Oromo region, the tribe of Haile Gebrsailasse, on the uphill to exit Addis, which crosses a pine forest that few can imagine in Africa, there are two advertisement billboards, one with him running fast thanks to a mineral water, and the other of Ethiopian Airlines, both clash with the group of women who are coming down slowly, overloaded by wood, with the head stretched forward and covered by a plastic bag to protect from the rain.
Up to now in this ride through Africa I got very cold in Ethiopia and Kenya I never suffered because of the heat, to find a hot day I have to go back to my memories of Tanzania. Today despite the uphill I was very cold, and I am not even feeling very well, when I reached Fiche it was already dark because I deviated into Debre Libanos to see the monastery built at the end of 1200, then attacked and destroyed by the Italians in 1937, and the new church built by Haile Selaisse in 1950. Going down to the monastery you can enjoy the view over the stunning Jemma Valley, and worry over the four kilometers of steep downhill which will be a uphill on the way back … A huge difference between Ethiopia and the other countries I cycled through is that there are many visible signs of its thousand year history, it will be the same also in Sudan and Egypt, who knows why Sub-Saharan Africa never developed the ability to realize ‘great works’ like here …
In Fiche the hotel pointed out by Giorgia was closed, so I go to the Jemma close by … I am thirsty … and cold … I ask for some water … and they put in front of me a see-through glass … with something inside which color reminds me of a punch … I think it is for me … like a welcome … I drink it … it is not bad … it is a spriz … a combination of tea and coffee … and it was not for me … obviously … I had to pay for it …
I will sleep at 2738 meters altitude hopefully it will make my performance better …
Addis Ababa N 9° 00.01’ E 38° 43.00’ – Fiche N 9° 79.762’ E 38° 73.473’
116 km