Back to Addis

Sunday we said farewell to beautiful Lalibela and the mountains and flew back to Addis. It was quite exciting to know that we wouldn't leave the city again until we had our son in our arms. Being back in the city didn't fail to provide lack of adventures and we spent our final day as a family of two exploring the city.

We walked out our hotel in the late morning, intending to just go on a short stroll. (Thus the absence of pictures). About two minutes after we left the hotel, an Ethiopian man, headed our same direction, greeted us. When we kindly said hello back, he asked if we didn't recognize him from the MK Hotel. We said no, but we weren't really paying attention. He told us he was on a lunch break and began telling us all about Ethiopia's rich history. Not having anywhere in particular to be, we decided to just go with it.

We talked with him, asking where the museum. He insisted on walking us there and told us about some music and dancing happening in the same area. Upon arriving at the museum, we discovered it was closed for lunch, but never fear, something else is always near.

We followed him to the music and dancing (actually right across the street from Metro Pizza). Upon entering the house/restaurant, we were greeted by about 10 VERY energetic college women who were very happy to have company. They turned the music on up, began dancing and singing, and pulled us up off the couch to dance with them. Traditional Ethiopian dance mostly consists of shaking your shoulders as fast as possible, which, for an unpracticed Westerner is not very fast. However, we had tons of fun and they were very encouraging.

Sometime in there one girl asked Joseph if he would buy a round of a traditional drink. He asked the price and it seemed reasonable, so he said sure. (We later found out that 15 and 50 sound remarkably similar). We sampled the fermented fruit juice and while Joseph liked it, I didn't so much.

The girls had fun doing my hair and asking us about America and talking about what they were studying. Eventually the power went out, so the club music got toned down to drums and singing.

We got a bit hungry and asked for some food, so they brought out injera and a meat dish. It was actually some of the best tasting Ethiopian food we had had all week. However, to show hospitality, Ethiopians take delight in feeding their guests, and, as they don't use utensils, this means eating off of their hand. We are both pretty comfortable with germs and not really grossed out by much, but by the end of the HUGE platter, we were watching them slosh their hands in the sauce and bring a drippy mess to our mouths, saying "one more bite," while we were saying "no, no we are too full"...gulp. So, thus began my first bout with stomach yuckiness and worsened Joseph's already unhappy insides.

We left feeling fine, but when we returned to the hotel, we lay on the bed feeling like we had rocks in our gut and fearing the traditional Ethiopian meal our guide was taking us to that evening.

Dinner time came around a bit too fast and we were off to an Ethiopian feast. In good spirits and determined to have willpower, we let him order the sampler platter for us. Afterall, how often are you in Ethiopia to eat Ethiopian food?! We tried everything, but at the end it looked like we had not eaten much. We did, however, enjoy the honey wine, and I did, indeed dance with a man wearing a goat skin.

That night we were too sick to get a good night's sleep and began splitting the prescription drugs we brought to fight bacterial infection. So, thus ended our time as a family of two. It was a rather sad ending to the amazing week we had had, but once we saw our son, we had distraction and joy enough!