Random Bits-n-Pieces

This entry is for little interesting bits…not in any order. 

GREENHOUSES:

A couple times I saw HUGE greenhouse complexes.  One was so enormous I could not see the end of the buildings.  The greenhouses I saw were used to raise flowers for export.  I don’t know which kind, though.

LICENSE PLATES: 

 

The license plates on the vehicles are color coded with either blue, black, or green registration numbers. Maybe there are more colors, but I don’t know. The color indicates if it is a regular vehicle, commercial vehicle, NGO or diplomat.  With the diplomatic vehicles, the diplomat’s country is identified by the first numbers on the vehicle.  So, theoretically, everyone would know a U.S. diplomatic vehicle by the license plates (no flags or magnetized door-signs with Bush’s face required!).

VEHICLE DRIVING:

They drive on the right side of the road (mostly).  All the vehicles I saw were manual transmission.  I didn’t see any American-style semi-trucks.  But, there were a lot of the commercial straight trucks/flatbeds.  Not infrequently, I saw a person sitting on top of the load while it was driving (sometimes at 45+ mph).

SCAFFOLDING:

There were a lot of buildings under construction.  Most appeared to be primarily concrete-based. The scaffolding used was rough-hewn sticks/logs.

DONKEYS:

Donkeys were everywhere. They seemed much better behaved and trained than any American donkey I’ve come across. They carried everything!  There were specially built harness/carriers that hauled specific items, anything from water jugs to big rocks.

I’ve lived and traveled in Africa.  I was pretty cocky about having seen everything (goats on the bus roof, chickens in a gunny sack, toddlers sticking hands down my shirt looking for a hit of milk), but even my eyes bugged out when I saw the donkey-bale.  The donkeys were completely loaded with straw walking down the street.  The only thing I could see was the head and the bottom 6 inches of its front legs.  (Unfortunately, I don’t have a picture from the front side.) It seriously looked like the straw (or maybe it was grass) went completely around the donkey.

We also saw 2 donkeys loaded up with goods jogging down the street without a person in sight.  Of course, I did a double-take and my head literally whipped around to see if that’s what I was really seeing.  Were they donkeys on the lam, looking for a new gig? When I asked where the people were, Elsae laughed and said the donkey knows how to get home!  I asked, “How?”  He said, “They just know.”

WOOD FOR SALE:

Outside of Addis, there were a lot of people I saw selling wood.  There were often piles of eucalyptus on the side of the road to be used for firewood.  There is a special hand signal the vendors (usually boys standing by the side of the road) use that means, “Hey. Stop here.  I have too much wood.  You need to buy from me.”  I thought they were just trying to hitchhike.

There were also piles of eucalyptus wood that seemed to be intended for home construction.

GRAVES:

While we were driving outside of Addis, periodically we saw small collections of above ground coffins/headstones, like a sarcophagus.  We did see a funeral procession with the coffin strapped to the top of the vehicle and 50+ people singing, wailing and praying while they walked along with the vehicle as they headed to the gravesite.

TREE CLIMBERS:

This person was climbing the tree to trim off limbs that were near power lines. 

And, yes, the two men on the bottom of the photo were laughing at us because we stopped to take a picture.  But hey!  One of my travelmates is a professional tree climber.  We needed the photo.

COFFEE TEA:

The leaves from the coffee plant were dried and crumbled up to make a tea.  So, the next time someone asks me, “Coffee, Tea or Milk?” I can answer, “Yes!”