Adi Nefas Eritrea - November 25th 2006

 

After my breakfast in the Red sea Hotel I board one of the yellow mini buses to Edaga. From here it is only 200 meters to the bus station, where I have one of the first buses to Asmara. At the checkpoints the formalities are efficiently dealt with when I refer to the copy of my permit and the date and time of the passage two days ago. The military only need to copy the data At 10:00 I am back in Asmara.

Last Wednesday, returning from Adi Nefas by public bus, I noticed that it would be a nice walk from Acria to Adi Nefas. It is only six kilometers, and it should take not more than one hour. So after a short visit the Zewdi and Gebrehiwot, updating them on my Dahlak and Massawa experiences and an early lunch in the Cathedral snack bar, I take bus number 8 from Cinema Roma to Acria.

From the last bus stop the road to Adi Nefas starts 50 meters further on your right hand. The main road is easy to follow and leads you through a red colored beautiful landscape, passing a water reservoir, and then running two kilometers over a plateau. Half way, after another lake, the road turns to the left.

Is it safe to make walks like this as a tourist? It is perfectly safe! Farmers will great you, children may accompany you for a while on their bike. The only risk is an unexpected rain shower. Clouds are embracing the Asmara plateau. It starts to rain when I enter Adi Nefas. I am lucky again and hide in a grocery shop to wait for better weather to continue my walk.

Adi Nefas is literary translated as "land of the wind". It is a village built against a hill and the wind blowing over the plateau is responsible for a rapid change of the weather circumstances. The rain stops and half an hour later the clouds are gone and the sky turns blue. I spend two hours walking through the village.. Children challenge me to picture them and hide when I point the camera at them.

A small and very old bus brings me back to Acria. From here I start a walk to do some family visits. When I return to the center of Asmara around 18:00, I am surrounded by many boys yelling and waving with Eritrean flags. For a moment I think it is protest against whatever Woyane tricks in Somalia. But is turns to be a celebration of a victory in a football match in which Eritrea beats Zambia with 1 - 0 today.

After a diner in the Hamasien restaurant I join the Asmarinos ritual: their evening stroll on Godena Harenet, and drinking Asmara beers with friends.

  

Brick factory ovens - Acria Asmara Eritrea.

Water reservoir - Acria Asmara Eritrea.

Clouds over the Hamasien plateau - Road to Adi Nefas.

Adi Nefas Eritrea.

Biet Asgede Kindergarten - Adi Nefas Eritrea.

Local children - Adi Nefas Eritreat.

Small spices shop - Edaga Arbi Asmara Eritrea.

Albergo Italia (Former Keren Hotel) - Nakfa Avenue Asmara.

Children celebrating Eritrea Zambia (1-0) - Asmara Eritrea.

Lady bar tender - Adi Hawasha Street Asmara Eritrea.