Harar Trip #1: The Preamble

One of the downsides to being an education volunteer in Ethiopia (at least of being a G11 PELLE volunteer) is that we don’t get the insanely flexible schedule that most people associate with the typical Peace Corps experience. We are assigned to a school and have a “real job.” This means that we don’t get the same travel opportunities that volunteers in the other sectors get. Whereas our fellow PCVs in Environment/Agriculture and Health can take their accumulated vacation time absolutely whenever they want (i.e. over Christmas), our vacation has to be scheduled during either the semester break or the summer break (the rainy season).

 That being said, when we do get a shot at exploring our host country, G11s make the most of it! Case in point, during the weeklong semester break the we had in February, tons of G11s chose to go to the ancient, walled city of Harar. We, along with 4 of our dearest friends, were among the throng that descended upon Harar. The reasons that we all chose to use this singular week of travel to visit Harar will become clear in subsequent posts which I intend on posting to the net over the next few weeks, along with corroborating pictures and videos that I feel the need to present with them as evidence to support the wild claims that I am going to make. Believe me when I say that you would not believe me if I didn’t have photos and videos to prove it. As Donovan always puts it, “Pics or shens.”

 Harar is an independent city in the far eastern region of Ethiopia. Though it is technically in Oromia, it is nearly surrounded by the Somali region. For those wondering, the Somali region is part of Ethiopia, but yes, it does border and once belonged to Somalia. Yes, THAT Somalia. As is true for the majority of the country, PCVs are not allowed to go to Somali for security reasons. If we are ever caught “travelling illegally” to any of these places, we will be “administratively separated” or “Admin-Sepped,” a euphemism for fired or asked to leave of our own free will. We aren’t even supposed to go that far east in Oromia, with the exception being Harar and one, thin strip of road that leads to it. Although flying was an option, our party opted to take the bus there.

The landscape that we observed on the 10+ hour bus ride to Harar was rugged to say the least. The villages that we passed were some of the most austere looking places that I have ever seen in my travels. They were more like the place I envisioned myself living when I first got my invitation to Peace Corps and it said “Ethiopia.” The fact that people can scratch a living out of what appear to the naked eye to be barren wastes is astounding and a testament to our tenacity and adaptability. The only other living things that we saw along that road were packs of wild camel, broad acacia trees, and a smattering of birds here and there.

 My only regret with the bus ride was not the fact that it was so long, but the fact that it was intolerably loud on the bus on account of the non-stop music videos that they were blasting without rest. A Scandinavian on our bus commented to me that all of the videos and corresponding music ran together in his mind into one video after five straight hours. My remark to him was that we had all been living there for about 6 months, and at that point 5 hours was nothing in comparison. After another five hours, we arrived at the ancient, walled city itself, and our adventures truly began.

A few pictures of us and the people who we tend to run with, Olivia, Little Lauren, Patrick and Manny.

~Jessie