The first stop in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, is always recommended to be the National Museum, proud home of Lucy, the Australopithecus hominid discovered here in Hadar in 1974. She dates back 3.2 million years and is treasured both because of the vast amount of intact remains found, and for the evidence of upright bipedal movement at such an early stage of hominid development. I believe we were looking at the original remains and not replicas, but I am unsure?
Also prominently displayed, is of course, the history of Haile Selassie, famous Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was a messianic figure both in Africa and the world, for more than a half-century - and even sparked the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica.
It was interesting being at the museum in another way as we were somewhat an attraction ourselves - as the only blonds in the crowd. However, I am not sure we were suspected to be Americans as we have been mistaken for German or Australian several times on this trip as those are really "global traveler" countries.
And speaking of discoveries, we also learned that coffee was first discovered here in Ethiopia. From Wikipedia: The coffee plant, Coffea arabica, originates in Ethiopia. According to legend, the 9th-century goatherder Kaldi discovered the coffee plant after noticing the energizing effect the plant had on his flock, but the story did not appear in writing until 1671. And do they ever take their coffee seriously here with formal "coffee ceremonies", where all five senses are included. And the coffee here is amazing...and does not need sugar or cream.
I went to a local coffee chain here (named Kaldi's after the first person to discover coffee, see above) and asked for an "iced coffee" - and was literal laughed at. They have never heard of iced coffee, nor even iced tea. And, I learned they also have no word for 'snow' in their native Amharic language (most common of the 80+ dialects spoken here).
Red wine in Argentina and coffee in Ethiopia; can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.
Also prominently displayed, is of course, the history of Haile Selassie, famous Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was a messianic figure both in Africa and the world, for more than a half-century - and even sparked the Rastafarian movement in Jamaica.
It was interesting being at the museum in another way as we were somewhat an attraction ourselves - as the only blonds in the crowd. However, I am not sure we were suspected to be Americans as we have been mistaken for German or Australian several times on this trip as those are really "global traveler" countries.
And speaking of discoveries, we also learned that coffee was first discovered here in Ethiopia. From Wikipedia: The coffee plant, Coffea arabica, originates in Ethiopia. According to legend, the 9th-century goatherder Kaldi discovered the coffee plant after noticing the energizing effect the plant had on his flock, but the story did not appear in writing until 1671. And do they ever take their coffee seriously here with formal "coffee ceremonies", where all five senses are included. And the coffee here is amazing...and does not need sugar or cream.
I went to a local coffee chain here (named Kaldi's after the first person to discover coffee, see above) and asked for an "iced coffee" - and was literal laughed at. They have never heard of iced coffee, nor even iced tea. And, I learned they also have no word for 'snow' in their native Amharic language (most common of the 80+ dialects spoken here).
Red wine in Argentina and coffee in Ethiopia; can life get any better? I submit that it cannot.
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