After consulting with an expert of Central America, I have decided to tweak the first stage of the Big Journey in a big way.
Below is a map with the new route.
In previous itinerary drafts, the first leg of my world tour by car consisted only of North America (Canada, USA & Mexico).
After speaking with my respected Latin America expert, it became clear that it would be a good to drive further south all the way to the Darién Gap in Panama.
Why did I decide to include Central America to my first stage of the Big Journey?
1) I am going to be in the area anyway. Villahermosa, a city in Mexico where I will be transiting on my way to Tulum, is only 10 hours away to Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala.
2) From there, all other countries in the region are so close to each other that it makes sense to visit them. For instance Guatemala City is only 3 hours to San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, which in return is only 4 hours to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.
3) The United Nations World Food Programme, the world’s largest hunger relief agency has operations in Central America especially school feeding initiatives so it would be a perfect opportunity to drop by and show them my support just like I did when I visited Nairobi, Kenya in June 2011.
4) I avoid returning to North America on my way to Africa. The initial plan was to drive from Oceania into South America and head back to Montreal or New York City to ship the car to Africa. Now, I will be able to tour South America and ship the car from Brazil directly to Cape Town, South Africa knowing that I have covered Central America already.
Why not drive all the way to South America and just ship the car to Oceania?
Hmmm… that’s a very strong possibility and a very good idea (that I will seriously study as I drive across Central America)! But my initially, my argument was that in Panama there’s a section which separates Central America and South America that cannot be driven by car.
It’s called the Darién Gap and if all-terrain vehicles have tried and failed. It’s not a MINI Cooper that will achieve this obviously impossible feat!
Note: Belize is one country that I may visit at a later stage on my tour. The reasons are solely personal (I promised someone special before I planned the Big Journey that we’d discover the country together).
Jada is JaBig’s Big Journey’s 2008 Astro Black MINI Cooper S ready for an epic road trip adventure ALL OVER THE WORLD starting with North America (Canada, USA, Mexico).
As I wait for a few documents before the Big Journey, I have been taking some not-so-little road trips which are for pleasure and to put my 2008 MINI Cooper S that will take me all over North America (and the rest of the world if it can handle it!).
I don’t have a camera tripod yet to take self-portraits on my world tour by car but I guess taking automobile photographs is another way of saying “JaBig was here!”
From Saturday October 8th till Sunday October 16th, I road tripped like nobody’s business clocking over 2500 KMs (1600 Miles) in a week!
Here is a route map and some photographs of Jada’s (the Mini Cooper) weeklong adventure across 3 US states and 2 Canadian provinces and countless of cities highways and sometimes tricky back roads.
To find out all about Jada, the MINI Cooper S, check out its official website
Lune de Jade & Jada in Mont-Tremblant
(because every car photograph needs a beautiful Asian model – Inside joke pro-politically-correctness-people, so relax!)
Jada & Friends in Mont-Tremblant
(Ready for the trip back as I had to attend my DJ gig and we were running late. I promise we did not race! )
Gansevoort, New York State
(A bathroom break stop on the way to Storrs, Connecticut. The only time I go to Mc Donald’s and other fast food joints is when I need to use their bathrooms. I also “borrow” some napkins and abuse of the free Wifi to really take advantage of the situation!)
Storrs, Connecticut
(I was visiting a good friend who’s also a DJ. Get this… she’s completing a PHD in Medieval Studies at University of Connecticut!)
On New York State Thruway Rest Area - Little Falls, New York State
(Had to take a Wifi pit stop along the highway from Storrs to Ottawa. I kinda needed to retrieve the exact addy of where I was going!)
Lowville, New York State
(I was flooring it along some backroads on my way to Ottawa – my sister was expecting for dinner and I hate being late for dinner – when in my rear view I saw a chopper. Yes, a helicopter! I slammed on the brakes, busted a crazy u-turn – the MINI’s low centre of gravity allows for some daredevil stunts, posed the car for a photo, snapped away, go back in the car, pulled another U and was on my way. Total time? Less than 3 minutes!)
Maple Ridge Wind Farm in Lowville, New York
(I saw the windmills from 50 kilometres away and they just kept getting bigger and bigger. I had never seen a windmill up close and personal in my life so I decided to veer off the course and just drive towards them. I ended up in front of the farm. There was a sign saying “No trespassing”. I may have or may have not chosen to ignore this sign, only God knows, but I had my “stupid Canadian tourist who only speaks French and no word of English who did not see/read the sign” script rehearsed in my head just in case some sort of machine-gun yielding mercenaries appeared in the horizon!)
Copenhagen, New York State
(Don’t ask me why — I have no idea — why I love these silo thingies or whatever their proper name is. I drove by a gazillions and could not find one that was close enough to the road to take a photo next to. When I saw this, again I stood on my brakes and since I knew that no policeman — peace officer, sorry! — would be there as the town has like 600 people, I simply reversed carefully aligned Jada the MINI to these two rockets, crossed the street of cars racing by at 100 KM/H and took some photos.)
North Watertown Cemetery, Watertown, New York State
(Someone I have read about is resting there so since I was passing through, I decided to pay my respects)
Ottawa (I was visited family and while I was in town did super secret shopping for the trip)
Fassett, Québec
(I like cathedrals and churches and on Quebec’s backroads — I was driving from Ottawa to Montreal through little streets as opposed to the faster yet boring highway — there are so many. This one was so cool that I pulled over and took some photos!)
Fassett, Québec
(This must be a store — Had other things to bother about than figure out what they were selling. I found it cool so I u-turned and took photos. It was Sunday so this was a DEAD town. Most of the little towns I crossed where empty. In this particular town, I saw not even a single soul! It felt creepy so in this photo, the engine is still running so that should have something weird jumped out, I would have jumped back in the car and got myself out of there in a hurry!)
Somewhere between Ottawa and Montreal
(In this photo, I almost got hit by a car as I was calmly in the middle of the street — this is a mini-highway, I should stress! — focused on getting the perfect shot that when I heard oncoming traffic, I thought I was off the road. What I found odd is that these people did not even hoot but waited for me to finish waved, smiled and drove along. Ô Canada! How you amaze me all the time!)
Saint-Lazare, Quebec
(Don’t ask me what I am doing in the middle of a real life forest!)
Sherbrooke, Quebec
(It’s my third time in this city and I have to admit that it’s pretty rare that I find nothing interesting to say about a particular destination. To be fair, it may perhaps due to the fact that all 3 times, the weather was whack and I was running on less than 3-hours of sleep. I shall return here on my tour and investigate the city further.)
So that was a week on the road. I really enjoyed myself and I cannot wait for this tour to kick-off at long last. It’s going to be epic and with this sports car, the driving will be divine as long as I stay on the roads. Anyway, the worst roads in North America are in Québec so if I fare well here, I will do great everywhere else!
By the way, like said earlier, Jada Coopers has its own blog. If you’re a Mini Cooper owner or enthusiast, check it out!
In mid-June 2011, I spent two weeks in Kenya on a publicity tour for my upcoming round-the-world road trip by car to raise funds and awareness to find child hunger worldwide as well as attending as one of my best and long-term friend’s wedding.
I landed in Nairobi early Friday 17th of June and spent a week in the capital city until Thursday 23rd when I flew to Mombasa until Sunday 26th when I left back to Nairobi and out of Kenya. The 11 days were filled with adventures, reunions, incidents and odd anecdotes that I will account in the following photographs.
Business or Pleasure?
I landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at around 1AM on Friday 17th after my amazing visit to Addis Abeba (read about it: A Day in Addis Ababa) and as the first passenger to exit the plane, I got to customs and had to wait for the immigration officer to wake up from his chair, summon others in a room where they were all asleep and let us into the country.
Right then and there, I got reacquainted with Kenya (I spent my early teenage years there) in a rather brutal way with a yelling from the lady who issued me the entry tourist visa who was biting my head off because she took offence to my question asking her if she would provide me with change from my cash transaction.
She thought that I was implying that she would defraud me while I meant to ask if she wanted the exact fee (USD $25) or if I could also hand her a large bill.
I was under the assumption that the visa was good for 30 days but it turns out that an entry visa is valid for the stay duration that the visitor provides to the agent. She asked me how long I would be in Nairobi and I said one week. While exiting Kenya, I almost got into trouble with her colleague who told me that I had overextended my stated one-week stay (I got out of it by playing dumb, a favourite tactic of mine that has served me well all my life!).
I later reasoned that I should have told the lady how much time I would spend in Kenya overall and not in Nairobi. I just think she did not do it to get back at me
Back to the Past
I could not wait to see Nairobi and what it had become after 15 years or so. I spent the weekend getting back to the places and areas I went to as a young child and a teenager.
One of these places was The Village Market, a high-end mall in the major diplomatic/expat residential district. I was around when it opened in 1992 and remembered it being huge but after life in North America, it looks like a convenience store in size-comparison! There I met up with my friend Salima, the only person on this Earth I consider my boss, who was shopping for wedding favours for her big day.
I was impressed with her bargaining skills as she drove shop keepers crazy as they tried to charge her tourist prices. For the rest of the weekend, I just attended a little farewell party for my host’s colleague and I reconnected with long time family friends and food especially nyama choma (roasted meat), chapati (flatbread) and mandazi (swahili doughnut) — do yourself a favour and Google those up!
Getting Around Nairobi
If you’re a Nairobi visitor staying in an upmarket residential suburb, access to public transportation is a pain. I was not ready to rent a car for my week-long stay because the way people drive in Kenya’s capital is just too intense for me, I am not used to left-hand traffic driving and I was not willing to shell out US $120/daily to rent a car.
My only options were private taxis (that I would use for night journeys, airport transfers and when punctuality was of essence) and matatus.
Matatus are privately owned minibus services (see photo) that pretty much act like your local bus system. The only good thing about them is that they’re cheap. A ride can cost US 50 cents where as the equivalent for a car service aka a taxi would amount to US $10. I used them to get around. They’re notorious for having loud music and for killing many passengers as the drivers are pretty reckless. And of course, for never following their advertised route which is important to keep in mind as you head to the next paragraph…
When a Simple A-to-B Journey Wrongly Leads to C
On Monday 20th, I had a simple plan for the day. Meet with my friend Lucianne (a fellow Montrealer who coincidentally was in town at the same time for work reasons) whose birthday it was to spend the afternoon together catching up then find a place to have dinner with her to celebrate her “21st”. The plan was to first take an early-afternoon walk in downtown Nairobi to see how much the city had changed.
Let’s say that the plan went south very quickly and that a 40-minute matatu ride quickly turned into a 4.5-hour Nairobi nightmare. Why?
Well dear friend… I royally got lost
There aren’t many things in life that I cannot boast about being good at but finding my directions easily is something that has made me a semi-living legend. I am that person who scans a map of an unfamiliar area for about half a minute and am able to remember where to go even three months later.
Nairobi turned out to be the one and only place where I got so lost to the extent where I did not even know that I was on the wrong way and by the time I found out, I was on the other side of the city. And even worse, I had to enlist the help of good samaritans to kindly take me to my destination.
What really happened? The matatu driver got sick and tired of the traffic and kicked everyone out to turn back before we had reached our final stop. Yes, they’re allowed to do that. What happened next is that I found myself in an area that I had not bothered to look up on the map and since Nairobi is a crazy city, I could not use my usual system of getting around a city without a map just by following the traffic stream (traffic came and left from everywhere!).
Secondly, I was in an area in which I really did not want to attract attention for being a lost tourist and I did not want to whip up my shinny iPhone in public to make a phone call to someone to give me proper directions.
I wandered around for 4 hours, took the wrong matatu and by the time I got to Lucianne’s hotel. I was so exhausted from the walk and the pollution from dusty Nairobi and diesel car smokes. Needless to say that at dinner, Lucianne was full of jokes that I did not find particularly funny at the time but later on I was good sports and laughed along. See the map above of how the saga went down!
I’m on TV!
On Tuesday, I was still miffed from the previous day’s nightmare that I decided to take the matatu again and go to the city without getting lost this time. As I had left my host’s home, my phone rang and someone asked me if I could be at at television’s studio to do a live interview within 40 minutes.
I did not take any risks and right away called a taxi cab to meet up with me and take me to the city pronto. Half an hour later, I was in front of TV cameras talking about my upcoming world tour to fight child hunger on NTV, one of Eastern Africa’s largest TV station. How’s that for things going a totally unexpected way?
The whole amazing part of the TV interview was not even the appearance itself but the fact that coincidentally the president of Kenya was in the same building and that I basically came close to him without anyone asking me any questions! The only security stop I remember going through was the initial scan where they did not even check if it was really a phone that beeped when I went through the machine!
Read between the lines… I can’t share more because someone in the Kenyan Secret Service can get into trouble for not doing their job right. But let’s say that I was calmly admiring the presidential fleet without anyone bothering me only to realise at the last resort that the president was around when I saw “Presidential Escort” written on one of the dozens of Mercedes!
Back to the Old School
(Photography credit: Muthoni’s phone)
After the TV interview, I went to meet up with my oldest friend (Paul – on the extreme right). We had an incident with the security at the mall we had agreed to see each other after 20 years because I took photographs without knowing that it was forbidden.
The security heads flexed muscles but they did not know that while I am a skinny peaceful and polite guy, I am not easily intimidated and just before things went completely down the toilet, they wised up and decided to behave (that’s another story that I will have to write about if enough people are curious to hear it).
Now these guys have silly laws. Perhaps I was not allow to take photos of the building within the mall but there is nothing they could say when doing it from outside the property! This is Yaya Centre, the shopping centre close to the school where we used to escape to during lunch to get up to no good. It turns out that 15 years later, trouble still followed me there!
An hour later, we went to visit our old high school. You can see on the above photograph that I really look out of my element which is true. This teacher use to freak the living bananas out of me and 15 years later I could not formulate a basic sentence without stuttering! Look at my body language: forced smile, hands in my pockets!
My high school has changed a lot after 15 years but the library has remained the same. I sat down in the same place I used to sit as a book worm and even found one of my fave books at the time and took a moment to read it thoroughly (hope you catch the humour in the photo)
Lunch Time!
(Photography credit: Rose Ogola – Public Information Officer at WFP Kenya)
On Wednesday, I toured the United Nations World Food Programme’s School Meals initiative in a school in Mathare, one of Nairobi largest slums with over half a million residents. As you know, the WFP is my humanitarian agency partner in fighting child hunger worldwide and I needed to see with my very own eyes how amazing their school feeding projects are and how many young lives they change for the best.
I got to taste the food which in all 100% honesty I can say was pretty tasty and filling. Here, you can see that I am even scooping for a new friend’s plate to eat more of the yummy food to the apparent amusement of the other children and our security details (those are real machine guns!).
The two-hour visit was a sheer blast. The children are full of life and it’s thanks to people like you who donate to the WFP that these children have a chance of a better future by staying in school and having access to at least one yummy nutritious warm meal a day.
In the Mix
On Thursday, two hours before leaving for Mombasa, I dropped by Capital FM to talk world tour, my fight against child hunger worldwide and to spin a few records live on air.
Needless to say that it was all fun and games as I was interacting with people in my own field so the conversations, interviews and jokes were flowing in a natural manner. It was actually pretty moving for me to spin live on Capital FM as I remember the birth of the station when I was in early high school and as a kid wondered if I would ever become a good enough DJ to spin live, a feat I managed to pull off almost 20 years later.
Flying the Pride of Africa
After the show, I took my luggage and headed straight to the airport where I was eventually welcome aboard a Kenya Airways plane for the 45 minutes flight from Nairobi to Mombasa. I could not believe how cheap that flight was USD $100. In Canada, a flight from Montreal to Ottawa, only 2 hours away by car, will cost at least US $300!
Technically, someone could work in Nairobi and come back home to Mombasa on a daily basis! That person would not be me of course since I am kind of scared of flying!
Welcome to Mombasa!
I landed at Moi International Airport in Mombasa after a 45 minutes flight. In my young days in Kenya, I only visited the country’s second largest city twice. I was there for four days of wedding festivities.
The primary reason I was in Kenya was to attend my good friends weddings. I have known the bride for over 20 years and we went to school together in Kenya and are now both Montreal residents while I met the groom in Montreal when he first met my friend.
Since I was coming to Kenya, I decided to do pre-world tour related activities in Nairobi for a week then head to Mombasa for the wedding weekender.
Nyali Beach Hotel
I stayed at Nyali Beach Hotel where the wedding reception was to be held and where all of the out-of-towners were staying including many childhood friends.
By the way, you may noticed perhaps that I tend to heavily highlight my childhood friends. The reason is really simple: these are the ONLY people on this Earth I have most in common things with and with whom I can really be who I am without having to explain anything or being misunderstood.
These are the people who will understand without asking a billion of questions why I would dedicate 10 years of my life living like a vagabond around the world while there could certainly be better ways to fight child hunger while staying in one fixed location. Why do they understand? Because we’re in the same boat and we shared the same experiences who have made us into the people we are today.
Show me an expat’s kid who’s lived almost all of his life outside of his or her country of origin and I will show you someone I most likely will get along with because I will not be misunderstood.
I don’t really know what the above rant was all about but I guess that I had to throw it out there!
The Obligatory “I am in a Coastal City” Photo Pose
I did not do much sight-seeing while in Mombasa as the wedding celebrations took most of my days (at night, I would get up to no good which I will not talk about because my parents, pastors and business partners read this blog
But, I certainly was able to go to the city centre and contemplate this beautiful and historically important coastal town. The reason I am wearing a shirt on this photo is simply because I was attending the religious wedding celebration which was a novelty to me because I had never attended a muslim wedding before.
Here are the newly weds! I travelled two continents and visited a bunch of cities for this ultimate moment: to see my good friends tell the world that they will be together till death does them apart (or however the expression goes..).
The bride looked stunning as always and the groom pretty sharp and stylish. It was an emotional moment for me because I have known the bride since we were eight and have witnessed all her important life moments until this big day. It turns out that someone else knew that because I was given a one-minute notice to prepare a speech which I managed to pull of by simply clowning around and making the audience laugh.
I wish a prosperous life to these two friends who are precious to me. These are friends that are always there for me. They’re separately based in remote places (and I really mean REMOTE!) around the world where they work and yet they they always find the time to give me a phone call and find out how I am doing and share my sorrow when things are going wrong and my joy when things are rosy.
Look Who Made the Paper Without Breaking the Law!
After the wedding, I woke up the next morning after a night of partying and on my way to breakfast (that I missed) was getting looks from the hotel staff and even visitors. As a paranoid person, I knew that something was up and was starting to panic when a text message from my friend in Nairobi told me that there was an article about me in the saturday edition of Nation, the largest newspaper in Kenya.
The interview had been conducted during the tour of the school at Mathare while in Nairobi and I remembered that it was slated for the Saturday edition, one of the most widely circulated issue. Kenyans read their newspapers (the British influence) and they obvious read every single article because everyone was aware of what I was doing after reading the feature. It took me 6 hours to find an available copy and to see what had been written about me.
Needless to say that I was amused by the introduction which stated that for someone who’s had three meals a day everyday of his life, I certainly did not look the part which was a very polite way of saying that I was super skinny. Obviously this dear journalist has no idea that in North America, every single woman would kill to have my size and ability to eat at will without gaining a kilogram LOL
That publicity made the rest of my stay in Kenya pretty interesting as people were randomly saying hello and when I was out at night, doormen ushered me in the club as they recognised me! You can read the online version here: A taste of a DJ’s epic journey to feed world
All Good Things Come to an End
I spent my last day in Kenya swimming in the Indian Ocean when I was not taking a break to chit chat with my old and new friends reunited and met at the wedding. Only visitors were in the water as locals were too shy saying that it was winter and that the water was cold.
Obviously these guys have no idea of how cold the Atlantic can get. Even in winter their water was around 24 degrees Celsius which way warmer than the Atlantic in mid-summer! My flight to Nairobi which would connect me with my flight leaving Kenya was set for the evening.
At the airport I was very sad to leave but also very happy to have witnessed one of my best friend’s wedding and to have had a good publicity tour for my upcoming world tour.
Soundtrack
These two local songs were the rage on the radio and nightclubs where locals got their groove on.
Jaguar “Kigeugeu”
French Boy ft Ray C “Moto Moto”
Last thoughts
Kenya, particularly Nairobi is not the same place I remember in my young days. Of course, I was a kid and I was exposed to little but I do not remember the city to be that crowded and that buzzing as much as it is today. It still is an amazing country with hard-working people who are always on the moving going somewhere.
The pollution and crime are certainly worse and the global crisis hurt the country terribly just as it did with other developing nations worldwide.
I am so grateful to two people in particular. Sara, my host who make her casa mi casa for a whole week and made me feel so comfortable that I really felt at home. The second person is Nyambura, a Kenyan native, who from Montreal initiated the media tour and was tirelessly on the phones and emails making things happen. Yes, I am very grateful for everyone I came across but these two ladies made my trip in Kenya special.
Congratulations once again to the newly weds. I look forward to many more fun years ahead!
One special shoutout to Eva from Mombasa. You know exactly why
On Thursday 16 June 2011, I made a scheduled 16 hours stop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on my way to Nairobi, Kenya. Here is, in photographs + captions, how my magical day just flew by.
Before we get it to it, you’re perhaps wondering what I was doing in the area in the first place. Find out at JaBig Goes to East Africa
Welcome to Bole International Airport!
I arrived in Addis Ababa on June 16th at 7:00 AM. I decided to make the transit stop on my way to Nairobi, Kenya because I had never been to Ethiopia and always had plans to visit the city that so many friends hail from.
How to Make Those Never-Ending Transit Times Pay Off
As you can see from the ticket screenshot, I purposefully extended my transit time in Addis for 16 hours so that I could have enough time to get a rough introduction to this city that I’d heard so much from my Ethiopian and international friends.
“The New Spirit of Africa”
Every seasoned traveller to Africa is most certainly familiar with Ethiopian Airlines, the most decorated African airline. It was my first time flying with this company and it was on par with other airlines.
Business or Pleasure?
I needed a visa to enter the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. A lot of Canadians moan and groan at this but obviously they have no idea that other citizens go through the same, if not worse, hoops to set foot in Canada. The visa costs $20 US at the airport.
Addis Downtown
Addis Ababa is a busy big city with so much going on. All my senses were ultra-alert and ultra-active. B., my local contact, that you will meet in a later photo, wisely advised me to rent a taxi for three hours and see as much of the city as I could. This proved a great plan to spend half of my day while waiting for her to finish work.
Holy Trinity Cathedral
My Addis visit included the guided personal tour of the Holy Trinity Cathedral “known in Amharic as Kidist Selassie, is the highest ranking Orthodox cathedral in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It was built to commemorate Ethiopia’s liberation from Italian occupation and is the second most important place of worship in Ethiopia, after the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion in Axum.” – Wikipedia
I was in awe at how the cathedral is revered by the local community and at one stage wondered if I had any legal or moral right to be there. But, cathedrals and other places of worship really fascinates me and so I had to satisfy my curiosity.
Rest in Peace your Majesties
When I came across this it was so poignant that I wondered if I was “worthy” of standing right here. According to Wikipedia, “The tombs of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I and Her Imperial Majesty Empress Menen Asfaw, and other members of the Imperial Family, are inside Holy Trinity Cathedral.”
Haile Selassie is a hero of mine (according the many bios of him I have read) and I really think that if Africa had 6-7 good people of the same calibre, the continent would be at par with the rest of the world economically speaking.
My BFF
Meet my tour guide whose name I unfortunately forgot. He is the taxi driver who showed me the city for a good four hours (an extra-hour than initiall scheduled. Cost? US $30). His English was limited but his kindness was overflowing. We pretty much hang out and we had a good time. He asked me to send him this photograph but unfortunately I forgot to jot down his email addy. I know it’s a long shot but if anyone ever comes across this gentleman, please ask him for his addy on my behalf (– I am dead serious!).
Tea Ceremony
While walking around a traditional artworks market, I asked B why there was a charcoal stove in the middle of a store while it was 25 degrees outside and obviously its purpose was not to heat up the place as my fire-paranoid sensor had just spotted a major fire hazard. I was told by B and the store owner that they were about to make coffee.
It’s a whole ceremony. I pretty much did what I do everywhere there’s something interesting to me and invited myself and B which was going to happen anyway as the lady was about to invite to stay. Unfortunately, I did not have a video camera on me to record the whole fascinating ceremony but I took a few snaps that I will share in a different article.
JaBig, the Coffee Grinder
I am not the one to sit around and not participate especially when I quasi-forced my presence on people to begin with . Here, I am grinding the fried coffee beans to turn it into powder. I was too busy chit-chatting and was relieved of my duties promptly but hey, I tried my best! B was laughing at me but I cheekily observed that at least I was participating while she was just sitting being pretty talking on the phone (how rude! )
Oh by the way, I am no coffee drinker but I certainly know that Ethiopians do make the best coffee in the world ( 1) Coffee is Ethiopian. Yes, Wikipedia will attest to that! 2) An Ethiopian I know once hammered the point into my head that I almost begged for mercy), so I had to try out the experience. I must admit that it was also handy as I needed something to keep me propped up after almost 26 hours without sleep!
Our Kind Hostess
Hiwot is the store owner who invited B. and I for coffee at her store even if I had not purchased anything because I could not find a fitted-shirt (I dislike wearing baggy clothes). I never really got to know much about her because a) I was running my mouth as usual b) B. was running her mouth c) she is shy d) she was preparing the coffee.
The thing that really piqued my curiosity about her is not her natural beauty (she’s hot.. hey it even rhymes with her name!) but her sneakers. I am an avid sneaker fan especially hi-tops so I was liking the shoes she was sporting. I have the same exact pair but in a different colour! I asked her if I was allowed to post her photos and she did not mind. I forgot the name of her store but I will find out from her and update this article accordingly
New Friends
After the coffee ceremony, I asked B. if she could take a photograph of my new friends and I. The reason I am actually including this image is because I calmly put my arms around a young girl and a married woman without first thinking about the local social implications. At lightning speed, I moved my arms away to the laughter of the trio and the two ladies promptly put their arms around my back.
At the end of the ceremony, I said thank you but I also offered a present in the form of a gotsoul shirt. I now have two people representing the brand in Addis Ababa so if you ever spot them, say hello for me!
The Most Impressive Man in Addis
Johnny is one of the two people that impressed me so much that he and his good friend Hassan are without a doubt the number one highlight of my stop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I am so in awe their accomplishments as entrepreneurs (as a person and agent of change) that I will have to write a feature story on them and try to get published in a reputable magazine.
Johnny is a former London student who worked in the UK and one day got fed up, packed up and decided to answer the call from his country to come and develop it instead of the country having to rely on foreign entrepreneurship. He accomplished that and very brilliantly. He opened up an ad agency, a printing company and above all, the only accredited graphic design school in the whole of Addis (and I am betting, Ethiopia).
Not only is this man a job creator, I met a dozen of young trendy people working for him (When I told him that his employees were pretty trendy and fun to be around, he observed that they were on his pay roll but they were his partners in moving his country forward) but he also an economic powerhouse as he is forming hundreds of future graphic designers who will go on to work for other companies, freelance or open their own firms thus creating jobs for others.
I should note that for a man of this calibre to go crazy to my music (I hooked him up big time his hard drive is jam-packed literally and figuratively lol), was quite an honour for me. And don’t even try to party with him… by the time he graciously dropped me off the airport (I was so late from having so much fun – and got reprimanded by the ticketing agents!) I was so exhausted that once I was in my seat and my belt was on, I passed out for two hours solid.
Saving the Very Best for Last
I am saving the best for last. Meet B. She is the older sister of a very dear friend in Montreal whom I consider to be my little sister (she nags the living hell out of me yet I cannot get enough of her!). She did not know me from a bar of soap but the mere fact that I was a friend of her sister was good enough for her.
Miss B, the former Londoner, is directly responsible for me liking Addis big time. She gave me the idea of renting a taxi for the day while she worked, she took a half day off to show me around, she introduced me to cool people in Addis whose name you will read about in Fortune magazine one day, she paid for everything (“You made me withdraw all this money for nothing!”, I kept lamenting) and she made me laugh.
It’s a pity that for someone that stylish and in the events management business she is pretty strict about her privacy. She forbid me to publish her photos, hence the image alteration above (I had to keep the smile, her killer trait), but I told her that one day I would out her and tell the world who she is because frankly this business of being an anti-social media snob is quickly becoming a fad
Last words…
All things have to come to an end. At 23:00, I boarded an Ethiopian Airline flight bound to Nairobi, Kenya, where another adventure certainly awaited me.
Addis Ababa met all of my expectations and way much more. In my lifetime, I have met many Ethiopians of the diaspora and they all love their capital which is why I had to check it out. Granted, in 16 hours, what I saw is not the reality of the situation (call it a honeymoon phase) but I really have a good feeling about the city.
Addis Ababa was my point of entry into Africa after a ten year absence and it was magical. I cannot wait to go back when I drive around the world by car. I already have great contacts that I can, without a doubt, call my friends.
Many thanks to:
- Jen: the world’s bestest travel agent ever who makes magic happen whenever I travel!
- Eyeru: without you, I know for a fact that I would have not had the time that I had and would have had a sub-par experience of Addis. Thanks for keeping an eye on me a few continents away while you were buried in your books studying for an exam.
- Friendly Ethiopian Airline flight attendant who hooked me up with a 3-exit-seat for myself after I asked for a better one and for that extra care .
- B: for quasi planning my Addis Day (the itinerary, sightseeing, taxi rental, socialising, laughing, eating then safe airport return). You’re the coolest Addis person I have ever met
- Mr Taxi Driver: for driving me around the city, trying your very best to explain everything to me with your very limited English, bearing with me while I bombarded you with a billion questions about Addis Ababa and for patiently waiting for me when I’d have breakfast or get out of the car to sightsee. I hope to see you when I come around again on my tour
- Hiwot (+ friend): for being a resourceful store owner and for being a hospitable hostess. Thanks for accepting my gotsoul t-shirt gift. A beautiful person like you parading my brand around Addis is worth a billion to our little record label that could
- Johnny: for being Mr. Fun, for baby-sitting me all afternoon while B. finished work, and above all for inspiring me in your role of making a better Ethiopia. I hope that you enjoy the music and that you take over the whole world.
- Hassan: thanks for being kind with me even if you did not know me from nowhere. Like Johnny, you inspire me with your entrepreneurial vision that encompass job creation for thousands, a key element in a country’s economic development and prosperity.
-Lega: we did not get to talk much since you were pretty shy and on the phone but thanks for hanging out
- Tensaye: for the candid discussion on what really is going on in Addis Ababa and Ethiopia. All the best with your entrepreneurial endeavours.
Anyone who gets wind of my upcoming world tour by car has a bunch of questions. The most frequently asked is if I really am going to visit every single country.
The answer of course is always a resounding:
YES, I PLAN ON VISITING EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY ON THE PLANET!
Sorry about the capitalization and the huge font but it’s for the extra drama. Yes, my goal is to visit every single country. Now you’re probably saying that there is no way that I can enter every country because of various reasons.
I should mention that there are gazillions ways of defining “country”, “nation”, “sovereign state” and so forth and multiple sources have multiple numbers so to make my life easier, I am using the United Nations’ methodology. Which means that there currently 192 member states – click on the link to see the complete list — (193 really soon as South Sudan becomes the youngest country on the planet on July 9th, 2011).
Well, what do you know about it? Have you tried it?
And anyway, we’ll cross those bridges when we get to them.
Let’s say that I am shooting for the moon and if I get the stars, I will still be pretty happy about the outcome (to quote the popular saying).
My friend, one thing that you will quickly learn about me is that while I may have a shy personality at times when it comes to initiative, I am not the timid person in the room. I was raised to try the impossible when it’s really impossible.
I am that guy who will run to catch the closing doors of the Metro when it’s pretty obvious that there’s no way that I will make it on time. And you know what? Most of the time I do make it and when I don’t then while catching my breath, I tell myself that I tried with all my might and perhaps next time, I should sprint faster!
My objective is to literally visit every single country on the Globe. I am going on a world tour. I mean it literally. All 193.
What people should really be asking me is how I am going to decide which cities to visit (as touring or tourism targets) in every single country. That’s the big elephant in the room that I have not even dared tackle yet.
And just in case you don’t know how many countries, I intend on touring or visiting, here’s a little video. Enjoy!
