The train we took did not work out the way we thought it would. Nothing bad, but after the smooth travel we’d been having it felt rather bumpy for the first time.
With the train leaving at 8 am, we were told to be at the station at 7, to exchange our vouchers for the ticket. The station is rather far outside the city center, and we had read it takes up to 45 min to get there. We had ordered a ‚Ride‘ the day before. Ride is an app that’s basically Uber, for Ethiopia. And you pay the driver cash. It went very smoothly, our diver called us directly after booking and again in the morning when he was on his way to get us.
Arriving at the train station at 6:30 there was a queue in front as the ford were not open yet. To enter the building we had to undergo a security check. From reports of other travelers we expected a very thorough and tedious procedure and we were afraid, they’d take our pocketknives. We did have to open our bags, but the check was rather superficial. Once we could board the train we found good seats on the window. Or so we thought. During the journey the sun shining into our side became rather uncomfortable. But the other travelers gestured is to move toward the aisle as long as no one was sitting there. And even as our neighbors returned, the didn’t seem to mind us occupying their seat. One young man eventually gave us his shawl, to cover the window.
At some point one young woman named Kat (this was her nickname she told me, her full name was longer and I am probably not spelling it correctly) started talking to me. As it turned out she spoke excellent English and was a civil engineer on her way to a Christian celebration. She explained to me how the school system works and the upcoming holidays. Apparently there is a festival for the angel Gabriel the upcoming weekend nearby Dire Dawa.
After a few hours on the train we checked where we are and were surprised to see that we hadn’t nearly traveled as far as we had thought. Since we didn’t notice any long stops we did some research and it turned out the times we had been given were completely off. Instead of arriving at 1pm at Dire Dawa, we were scheduled to be there after 6, a good five hours later. We later found out other passengers had been told a mother time yet. They thought to arrive at 3.
Since we had booked a hotel in Harar which required us taking a taxi and a 60 min minibus ride our plan did not seem feasible anymore. We called the hotel to arrange for a pick-up at the station, which was of course more expensive. Being relieved that we did not have to wander around clueless in the dark, the sun sets around 6:30 pm, we were willing to pay that. But at the train station no one showed up. After some difficult and hard to understand phone calls with the hotel we had to make a decision in order not to stay behind at the train station, which was again far our of town. An expensive bajaj ride, that what they call a tuk tuk here, later we arrived at a very nice hotel in Dire Dawa which had a nice room at a decent price for us and a restaurant where Chris immediately spotted a delicious-looking pizza. The only downside was we didn’t get the beer we were craving since they don’t serve alcohol.