29.09.04

We had lunch at a Yemeni restaurant one afternoon in Addis. We got a half order of the “special,” and huge platter of rice and saffron rice topped with baked or broiled or fried bits of different meats--fish, chicken, and either goat or beef or both. It was too much to eat, and not knowing the size of the dish we were getting, we had also ordered a bread with honey that turned out to be a circle of deepfried doughnut with egg in the middle, about 24 inches in diameter. We gave half of it to the people sitting beside us. Then they brought out the surprise pièce de resistance: a whole cooked goat’s head, everything intact, tongue hanging out just so through its many little pointy teeth. After admiring it for a moment, this we also gave to the couple beside us who accepted it with delight. They insisted we try at least part of the tongue (I sawed some off with knife and fork--ummm, chewy!--but couldn’t bring myself to eat it. Andy finally tried it, “It tastes like bologna”) and we watched in fascinated horror as they ate up the tongue and the man cracked apart the skull and drew out several dripping forkfuls of brains he happily slurped down.

“Some pupils,” he told us, “some pupils they like some foods. Some pupils, they do not.” We did like the fact that they kindly gave us a ride back to our hotel during the downpour after we’d all eaten.

Today we were out in the field all day. I’m too tired to write tonight. Too tired to bathe, even. And I itch.