An Unexpected Visit to Harar (I Missed My Flight!)
Saturday, December 13th, 2008 | Uncategorized
View of Harar
Dawit @ his university
Me, Cindy, and Matt
a classic house in Harar
gateway to the old city in Harar
As I stared at the clock at the airport at 3:45 a.m. and wondered what to do since I missed my flight, I decided to go with my friends Matt and Cindy to Harar.
So, I took a taxi in the middle of the night across town, met up with my friends and at 5:30 in the morning we began the long journey to Harar in Eastern Ethiopia. We didn’t arrive until 6:00 p.m. that night and we were greeted by Matt’s friend Dawit who lives and teaches at a university in Harar.
Dawit showed us everything there is to see in Harar–the old part of town surrounded by a wall, the fancy home of a French writer, great food, and of course the tourist attraction of feeding hyenas. Then we went to Dire Dawa (about 30-40 minutes away) on a mountain road at night (Yeah, I was definitely praying). The following day was a Muslim holiday and since this area is mostly Muslim it was nice to visit it then, although the holiday is mostly spent at home with family.
Altogether it was a nice trip, in spite of the 10-12 hour bus ride each way. I’m glad I got to take this unexpected trip with my friends. Probably the best part was just being together and getting to talk about life and experience a new place! So, that was Harar!
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