Driving in Addis.

I got my driver's license last week and took my driving test the other day—a 10 minute loop around the block. My driving instructor was on his cell phone the whole time yelling at someone­­— I had to decide where to drive. Needless to say, I passed. When I first arrived in Addis I thought traffic was chaotic. There are a couple of large intersections without working traffic lights—whoever gets there first has the right away. It's quite amusing to watch really. When you're there you're certain that at any given moment there'll be an accident. But miraculously there aren't. "Within the chaos there's always order" as they say.

But now that I've driven for a day I see that there's a certain Amharan order that keeps things moving along, very much similar to that of the Bronx. Although I'll have to admit, driving in the Bronx is more treacherous, where red lights are simply suggestions. (And I don't care what people say, it is not O.K., on a road with two lanes going the same direction, to make a right turn from the left lane, in front of the car on your right).

There are two things I've been told to watch out for here while driving: people and animals. Again, there are no sidewalks in my neighborhood so people walk all over the street. There's also the occasional shepherd pushing his herd of 100 sheep through an intersection—what an awesome sight, I'll have to get a picture. I've been told that if I hit an animal and kill it I have to pay for it on the spot. That seems reasonable. If I hit a person and kill him/her (people have explained this to me with a very straight face), regardless of fault, I'll get put in jail for 15 years, no questions asked. And the possibility isn't as small as you'd think, especially at night and especially where the street lights don't work and where people walk across the major freeway. (A friend said that she was turning the corner on the freeway once and a man was sleeping in the two-foot wide shoulder.)

 There's also the man who—this I saw last night—gets a bonfire going at night in the median of the freeway. Again, the median is about 3 feet wide, separating the two directions of traffic. He's been doing this for a while now—the police don't seem to mind. I'll work on pictures.

 I hope to have more stories about driving in Addis. I'm sure I will. Like for example, driving down the road and having to stop for a hundred sheep passing in front of you. Business as usual for the shephards.
 

Blessings.

 

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