The Drive to Jimma

Honeybee and Nes are both from the town of Jimma. We did not go to visit Nes's family when we picked him up, a decision which I truly regretted. When Honeybee set her heart on going on this trip we knew Jimma would have to be visited. We were told it was a six hour drive, which is what dissuaded us the first time. We had no idea what the roads were like, or what the trip would entail.

It turned out, that Jimma is 350 Km from Addis. The roads were very good, although narrow and very winding. We were thinking it was high plateau, which it is, but there are several deep river valleys that you must drive into and out of. Think narrow highway, lots of animals, people, hair-pin turns, then you are on the right track. Even though the road was good it was not a good idea to drive much over 50 mph, due to obstacles. It ended up taking close to eight hours. We did have a fabulous little rest stop with "breakfast." I posted about it earlier, yum.


There were several smaller towns along the way. Many open markets, many people along the road with baskets of mangoes, bananas, charcoal, avocados, chat and sugar cane. We didn't shop on the way to Jimma, I think the driver was not sure how long it was actually going to take. It was his first trip to Jimma. Our social worker lived in the area, so he was familiar with the trip.
They were a great pair to travel with, we felt very safe.

The scenery was amazing. It was very much like what you would imagine Africa to be. There were a couple of large lakes. The acacia trees were amazing, you could build some spectacular tree houses in them if you wanted to. We didn't see any wildlife on the way to Jimma, unless you consider cows and goats wildlife. We did see some runners training on the way, they put our cross-country team to shame. There were people standing along side the road with their hands out every few miles. Berhanu explained that they thought we were the public transit system and wanted us to stop and pick them up. The license plates designate what kind of vehicle you are, but based on our size everyone assumed we were a public bus. Actually we were in a mini-bus much smaller than my 15 passenger van.

Here is a view of the traffic. It wasn't like this the whole way, but when you caught up with these large trucks it got interesting. We passed some really big trucks on some hairpin turns that got my heart rate going. We also passed a Coke truck that was broken down on our way to and from Jimma. They set out rocks in the road to let you know you needed to go around, no orange cones anywhere.

When we arrived in town, we passed a very long line of large trucks filled with coffee beans. Needless to say we bought some while we were there. We got in to town in time to find our hotel, get moved from one room to another (Big sorry), wash our faces, and get picked up for dinner. We could see our dinner spot from our room, but Berhanu did not want us walking anywhere. It was graduation week at the local University so there were a lot of people around town.

It was a long drive, but so very worth it. It was not a trip that many adoptive families make. Since we had to pay for the driver and the social worker, and two extra nights in our hotel on top of our guesthouse in Addis, I can see why people might not do it. I can say that it changed the entire trip. I saw a different side of life in Ethiopia. I asked Michele at one point if the contrast between city life and rural life was as stark in the US as it was in Africa. I think I began to realize that I really am a hick. Life in the city is very different than life in the country. We noticed that you didn't see the extremely poor in Jimma the way you did in Addis. I'm sure there were very poor people around, but they weren't lined up on the streets. The town seemed cleaner and less congested. We all enjoyed the pace of life outside of Addis, probably because it reminded us of our rural lives.

I felt completely safe on the trip. The girls handled the length reasonably well. Honeybee did start to count the Km markers after about 330. It began to be forested as you got closer to Jimma and you couldn't see the town until you dropped right into it. I am so glad that we went, and I hope that the rest of my family can visit someday.