Markets

One of my favorite things to do when I travel--and wherever I travel--is visit local markets. Some are beautiful, and others downright disgusting, but common across all of them is the art of the dramatic haggle. Improbably, every vendor who can speak English seems to have a brother in America, three kids to put through school, and a special discount for lucky American tourists like me.

Clockwise from top left: Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, Hijab shop in Sana'a (Would you like black or black? Large or large?), Birqash Camel Market in Cairo, Lalibela's weekly market

East African Safari Shots

Obama Yes We Can

During the Bush years, many people abroad would respond to the revelation that you're an American with something to the effect of "Bush bad, America [and its tourist dollars] good." The immense enthusiasm about Obama is a welcome and widespread contrast. I've never see it stronger than in Ethiopia: public buses, restaurants, gas stations and of course children are named after him, and "Obama yes we can" is as ubiquitous as "Where are you from?"

Hyenas in Harar

Outside the walls of Islam's fourth-holiest city, Harar's Hyena Man feeds the animal with the world's strongest jaws directly from his mouth nightly. You can too, if you dare.

One of the things I like most about travel in places like this is that you actually get to exercise your own sense of judgment--for better or worse. If you're paying for the experience, nobody is going to tell you that it's illegal to walk off the trail, or even that it's unwise to feed wild hyenas raw strips of beef from your mouth. It's up to you to draw your own line of comfort, which is something I appreciate every time DC's monument guards tell me to stand 10 feet back from a ledge.

I didn't dare to put raw Ethiopian beef in my mouth or kiss Africa's ugliest animal, but I got enough of a thrill just hand-feeding the monsters.

Tribal Ethiopia

The remote Lower Omo Valley is home to dozens of tribes that live a life removed from the conveniences we know, with one exception: they're very acquainted with the digital camera, and aggressively demand money (5-25 cents) for each shot you take. I took many:

Mursi baby and women. The Mursi are among the most visited (and photographed) tribes because of the lip plates worn by their women, and they've become quite aggressive about demanding photographs.


Left to right: Karo boy on stilts, Konso waga (each erected in honor of a deceased clan dignitary), Hamer warrior


Left to right: Dorze children dancing in the road for money, interior of a Dorze hut.

Shashamene

People of the rastafari faith worship His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie (whose pre-coronation name was Ras Tafari) as a divine being who fulfilled a biblical prophecy that "kings will come out of Africa." In 1963, Selassie, as Ethiopian Emperor, granted a group of rastafarians land near Shashamene for a colony that became known as Jamaica. Today, there are several hundred rastas in Shashamene's Jamaica and, with its reggae music, ganja, and bland saltless food, it feels much like its namesake country.

Lalibela

The rock hewn churches of Lalibela were carved around the 12th or 13th centuries. According to legend, their design was revealed to the architect, King Lalibela, during a poison-induced journey to heaven, and the plans carried out by men during the day and angels at night. Weekly Orthodox Christian services are still held in each of the churches.