Why We Went South
Chris and I woke up late in morning on the day after we arrived in Moyale. After a light breakfast, we sauntered over to the border with Ethiopia. Our entire continence was lazy from confidence.
The Kenyan border officials were the first to break the bad news.
“You don’t have an Ethiopian visa.” “We’re going to buy one.” “You can’t buy one. Their visa can only be obtained from their embassy in Nairobi.” “Are you sure? I e-mailed them and they said I could get one on entry.” “I’m very sure. And, I won’t stamp your exit unless you have a Ethiopian visa.”
?!
“Ok, look— can I just walk over there and get a visa? Will you stamp me then?” “I’ll give you a stamp, if you return with an Ethiopian visa.” “Cool. Thanks.”
What else could we do? Excepting our keepsake cash, all our Kenyan shillings had already been exchanged to Ethiopian birr. So, we walked over to the opposing migration office.
“You have no visa.” “I know. I need to buy a visa.” “You can not buy visa here. You buy visa in Nairobi.” “Nairobi told us to buy visa here.” “You can not buy visa here.”
That sinking feeling, in my stomach? It had finally stopped— by hitting rock bottom.
“I can’t go back to Nairobi. No money!” A half-truth. “You need visa.” “Is there any other way?” “… call your embassy in Addis. They can call head immigration office, and they can call me. Then, I can give you a visa.”
I confirmed the instructions several times while prodding for perhaps another alternative. But, that was it. We returned to Kenya.
“No visa, huh?” “Yeah, they wouldn’t give us a visa. But, they said we could contact our embassy.” Laughter erupts— “That’s a fantasy! There was an American here last week who tried the same. He was here all week, calling his embassies. Finally, he returned to Nairobi.”
To our stubborn credit, we tried for two days before giving up and going back.
