A Tale of Two Cities

Today is your lucky day. I have two travel stories to tale about my most-anticipated trip to Metera/Senafe and a long-missed journey to a beach city: Massawa!

Three Men and my Poor Bladder
Metera-Senafe recently modified into one united town. They both are located extremely close to each other so they have a single adminstration for the whole area. Once my hawaboy Mesfin and i arrived Senafe by an archaic bus, the first thing i was awestrucken is 360-degrees view of all mountains!! My mouth dropped to the floor once i saw the Emba (Mt.) Metera. It is strikingly resemblance of Mt. Yosemite! I felt i was looking through my father's eyes and immediately understood why he always lightens up at each time he is surrounded or near any mountain!

Once we trodded to Adi Metera, we reached to the end of the road to visit to the home of where my father grew up. I finally met my other hawaboy, Araya who currently lives there. He proudly showed me around and the improvements in the house. They were working on a new wall (prviously demonished) and exhibited how itàs built: rocks with mud then covered with cement mixed with sand and mud and finally, coat it with paint! There is a new W.C. (water closet) and crop field of corn/miza. I could not get over the view outside from their door! It is mesmerizing once u sit inside looking out of the montemental Emba Metera neighboring.

I was very gleeful to learn the difference between my hawaboys, Araya and Mesfin. Araya was the most affectionate and had most faith in my ability whereas Mesfin was the most protective and concerned for my health and treated me like a princess! Both men and a friend of family, Hadish, all took me out for bar-drinking! To my gain, I learned drinking a shot of Zebib, vodka, will help to digest and kill any virus. So you know of the notorious diarrhea, it became a custom for me to drink a glass after a meal of any meat.

Next day, a massive fog struck overcasting the whole area. Hawaboy Mesfin and I were set off to explore all 3 Orthodox churches residing on all different altitude, elementary school of my DAD and to the top of Emba Metera! I boasted all morning that id reach to the top of the mountain but after my long-struggle to climb over the monstrous Metera, I remosefully could not achieve my goal. The platform of rock was too slippery, thanks to the thick fog. I was ego-bruised all day.

Later, both hawaboys took me for a nice stroll to BelewKelew, an archaelogical field containing 3 seperate ruins and a Washington-Monument-shaped, erected pole(?) . I learned how to travel like an Eritrean with a simple bag of neccesities, alas i was unfortunate to not carry battery charger so... my battery died just when the last shot took of me with hawaboy Araya standing next to the monument. To hit the finale note, the sky opened and poured a great bucket of water! We were drenched then back in the house, we cuddled up and warmed ourselves up by the tiny heater with charcoals. This was definetely an adventure to my father's sweet village.

Barren City
Since I felt being robbed from exploring Massawa, I committed another trip there with a fantastic guide who became a great friend, Eden (deaf teacher). To my surprise, this infamous city was barren of any local life. It felt like a gloomy, spooky venture thru wild-west town where everyone disappeared, leaving the buildings alone barely intact. To my understanding, most residents leave for the summer or live like a bat (sleep during the day and awake at the nighttime)! I have never visited New Orleans or Turkey but yet I could identify this old city possessing many resemblances as French Quarters and Turkish designs.

As we planned to visit here for 2 nights, so we splited our stay in 2 different hotels to save money. It is indeed the most expensive place to travel, comparing to any other Eritrean city/town. The first day we were adamant to go swimming, so Gurgusom Beach it is--we went to lax out there! I learned that i TRULY missed the beach life, ocean, and marine atmosphere, which warms my heart and soul. It was fascinating, almost surrealistic, for me to see all AFRICANS swimming without any caucasian in sight. Again, not many tourists were there which allowed us to feel free with all the space available to us.

Second day, the weather was amazingly kind to us with warm sun, cool wind and cool clear water; oppose to yesterday lukewarm water filled with seaweeds allover. Eden has been a phenomenal teacher so i wanted to return a favor of teaching her something new: how to float and swim! We swammed alll morning in this shallow calm sea where we felt utterly safe and at ease. I did the most popular touristic thing to do... ride on a camel on the beach! People asked me if I was frightened?? Heck no, since this camel was tamed by this tiny young Rashidan (Arabic tribe of Eritrea) boy, I knew I wasnt goin anywhere else. Later the day, we explored the rest of Massawa to see the ruins of many lovely mosques, all damaged by 1991 bombings of Ethoipian air force. It was saddening to see those forgotten buildings, some of them are scheduled/planned to be demonished and rebuilt. I have mixed feelings about that on whether they should leave the ruins as memory.

Last day, the heat was astounding a-flaming at 8 o'clock in the morning already!!! I immediately understood why the locals ran away from this killer heat. We tried to get a cup of cappucino then learned the city is suffering a shortage of milk AND Coca-colas. We rushed out to the bus station to set back to ol' trustful (ever-changing whether) Asmara!

Now its time to say Ciao, Eritrea. I shall plan another trip there. My research is indeed not finished. I am grateful to have this chance to explore the country, meet my family, and build a great relationship with the Eri-NAD. I shall continue my cooperation and anthropological research with them. 'Till next time we meet again... *kisssing cheeks thrice!*