Asmara Eritrea - June 1st 2005

 

"Hannes! Hannes!" At 5:00 Hansu is doing her best to wake me up, to be one of the first to arrive at the bus station. It is dark. I follow another man, hoping he will my guide through the rough area.

When I arrive at the bus station hundreds of people are waiting. I ask one of he men what would be the best strategy to find transport to Asmara. He guides me to the square just outside the bus station and tells me to try to get on one of the mini buses. I have to be prepared to pay some extra Nakfa's.

Even at this spot more than 100 people are waiting. I calculate that I will be on the 12th bus, if I am lucky. A few minutes later the same man comes to me saying "That bus will go to Asmara". I run to the Toyota van. To my big surprise, I am one of the few people interested. I guess it is an expensive bus.

But it will be less expensive than a taxi, I guess. I get in and some passengers that must have heart the price of the trip get out, complaining. The mini bus rounds the square to find three more passengers. At 6:00  we are on our way to Asmara.

Just outside Keren the bus the driver overlooks a large hole in the road. The bus survives the manoeuvre to pass it. At least it gives me confidence it the brakes of the bus. The passengers are silent during the trip. Either they are sleepy, or nobody knows another.

In Asmara we pay 50 Nakfa, twice the usual price of the trip, but nothing compared to the taxi fare. It is still very early in the morning when I walk to the house of Zewdi and Gebrehiwot, where we have breakfast.

I take a bus to Sembel, curious about Yordanos. She was expecting a baby. It is a girl, born on May 25th. Her name is Netsanet, which means liberation, because the girl was born one day after Independence Day.

Yordanos makes me ga'at, a stiff porridge, with a hole in the middle that contains butter, spiced with berbere. Women come to visit the family, to see how mother and child are doing, and to offer help if necessary. But Yordanos is a strong woman, well able to manage the situation herself.

Next visit is the house of Terhas and Feshaye. None of them is home, both are working. Tsega makes me tea and Hiab tells me stories in Tigrinya that I do not understand.

Berhe Aiba bar for some beers, Asmara Intercontinental Hotel to make reservations for Dehab Faytinga's concert on June 4th, Expo, Ministry of Labor & Human Welfare, Lion hotel. I drink tea, gather data, meet friends. Just behind the Lion hotel I visit the Asmara tank graveyard, from there I walk to the cemetery. Rows of well tendered graves, decorated with bougainvillea.

I drink coffee with Tedros of Travel House International. He gives me updates on the Eritrean Airlines and Eritrean Railways activities. There is regular trips to Nefasit on Saturdays, he tells me, if there is a minimum of ten passengers. The Keren hotel also opened its doors after the renovation. Price data are not available yet.

Fruit juice at Bar Amanuel, a pizza in Tehas' pizzeria Eritrea, getting drunk and teasing Freweini in Selas bar. And then back to Zewdi and Gebrehiwit to prepare for the trip to Senafe tomorrow.

  

Italian colonial architecture - Asmara Eritrea.

Odeon cinema - Asmara Eritrea.

Yordanos preparing ga'at, a small volcano made of poridge with a
butter and berbere sauce in the middle - Sembel Asmara Eritrea.

Junior school - Sembel Asmara Eritrea.

Warsay street, Expo area - Asmara Eritrea.

Bougainvillea growing over rusty military hardware - Asmara tank graveyard.

Door of a USSR army truck - Asmara tank graveyard.

Italian military cemetery - Asmara Eritrea.

Italian military cemetery - Asmara Eritrea.

St. Michael Church - Asmara Eritrea.