Sept. 23 – 25

Before leaving for the airport to fly back to Cairo, Mondoo took us on a lovely, hour, boat ride in a felucca, a traditional wooden sailing boat, still in active use as a means of transport in Nile-adjacent cities like Aswan and Luxor . We had seen many of these graceful little boats during the cruise and were particularly struck by how picturesque they were at sunset when they appeared as a silhouette against the backdrop of the Nile.   During our ride, we sailed very near to the "spaceship" we had seen the night before and it was fun getting a close up view of the openings to the numerous tombs. The two men who manned the boat entertained us with song and drum beats and it was a wonderful way to end our incredible 8 day Nile excursion.

We had a smooth flight back to Cairo and were met at the airport by another member of the tour company who drove us to our hotel that was just as luxurious as the first one. When making arrangements for our transportation to the airport for our flight to Addis Ababa the next day, we told the driver that our flight was at 2 in the afternoon. He seemed a little dubious in light of the fact that, according to him, most of those flights leave very early in the morning. After taking the liberty to check with the airline, sure enough, he informed us that the flight was at 2 a .m. We simply hadn't looked closely at our itinerary as it was based on the 24 hour clock that is used in many countries. So, much to our dismay, we wouldn’t get to sleep in our fancy room and have the free breakfast the next morning, as we had to leave for the airport about 12:30 a.m. Upon arriving at the airport, a lot of confusion ensued, as the person at the ticket counter couldn’t find any reservation for us on Ethiopian airlines. We went to the main office to try and find out what had happened and, by the time they searched through their records and couldn’t find any reservations in our names, it was too late to buy another ticket for the 2 a.m. flight and the next departure to Addis Ababa wasn’t until 10 p.m. that evening. The good news was that we found a cheaper flight and later found out that we had never paid for the original ticket as, for some reason, our reservation had been canceled and…..the best news…we were able to check back into our hotel room with breakfast waiting for us after we slept in until late morning .

We had a home exchange lined up in Addis Ababa with Frank and Ann Crispin, a couple of about our age from England, who had come to Ethiopia in the 70’s to teach at the international school. They taught for about five years, returned to the UK then returned to Addis Ababa 15 years ago to live there permanently and continue teaching. Some time after they returned, Ann founded, and currently runs, two international schools, and Frank, now retired from teaching, writes the Addis Ababa section of the Bradt Travel Guide as well as articles for Trip Advisor. They had offered to pick us up at the airport, the afternoon of the 24^th and, fortunately, we were able to get in touch with them to advise them of our new arrival time of 2 a.m. on the 25^th and to ask for their address so we could take a taxi.  They would hear nothing of it and told us that a taxi would never find their home and they would be at the airport to pick us up. They wouldn’t take no for an answer and, sure enough, Frank was there to greet us . Their home was about 30 minutes from the airport and up a road that made our cobblestone roads in Mexico look like a super highway. After turning onto a narrower dirt road, we finally arrived at their home that was gated and guarded 24 hours a day. We really had no idea what the living arrangements would be but, it turned out that they had a small separate bungalow, where we would be staying.  The plot was like a compound with separate portions attached to the main house that were, at times, occupied by different visitors, employees and teachers from the school, just to name a few. There was a lovely Ethiopian couple, with a newborn, who were currently living in one of the spaces. He was the principal of one of Anne’s schools and she was a school secretary.  It seemed like there was a continual flow of people coming and going and their living space felt very much like a commune. After getting us settled in, Frank told us to sleep in and come up for breakfast when we woke up.  

Late the next morning, we went up to the main house for breakfast and met Ann and their friend, Mauve, who was visiting from the UK and who had taught with them in the 70’s . They were all very “English” and we found it really fascinating that they were so completely entrenched in their life in Addis Ababa. They seemed so very proper, Ann more so than Frank, who reminded me of an absent-minded professor, and they seemed so out of place in this city that, as we would experience in the week that we spent there, parts of which felt more like a third world country than anyplace else we had ever been.

After breakfast, we all crammed into Frank’s 1991 Toyota pickup to take a tour of the city. The truck was a real junker and, again, it seemed so odd that this vehicle was owned by these proper English folks.  It boasted of having registered 500 thousand kilometers and had been fitted with several different engines. In addition, the emergency break didn’t work and Frank had to carry a big rock with him that he would put behind the wheel whenever he parked the car. We were amazed when Frank told us that, in spite of its age, mileage and banged up condition, because of the huge taxes in the country, it’s still worth about $14,000 so he does everything he can to keep it running . 

As we toured the city, Frank gave us a little history of Ethiopia and of the Emperor, Menilik II, who reigned from 1889 until his death in 1913 and was credited with unifying and modernizing the country. He told us that Addis Ababa is a chartered city and, as such, has the status of both a city and a state. We drove by the building that houses the African Union and where its predecessor, the OAU, was based and that also hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and numerous other continental and international organizations. Addis Ababa is often referred to as “the political capital of Africa” due to its historical, diplomatic and political significance for the continent. We drove by the British embassy, the largest in the world, and many of the other embassies and international schools.

We stopped for lunch at a traditional Ethiopian restaurant and had a lavish spread of traditional food, complete with injera bread (like a big pancake) topped with a variety of spicy meats and vegetables . A large piece of injera is given to everyone and pieces are pulled off to grasp the clumps of food as no silverware is used. After lunch, Frank tracked down a travel agent friend of his who found us some great discount flights to the famous town of Lalibela, where we would be going in a few days. Then, we visited one of the expansive parks and spotted photos being taken of a wedding party and watched for a while.

When we got back to the house the electricity was out…something that happens almost on a daily basis, so Bill and I took a walk in hopes that it would be back on when we returned. There had been a lot of rain over the last few days and the forecast wasn’t great for the remainder of the week. The dirt roads, in their immediate neighborhood, were muddy and lined with little shacks, selling all kinds of things, as well as metal roofed shanties, each one of which, I’m sure, was home to multiple families. The neighborhood, in spite of the weather, was teeming with activity, with little kids, dogs and chickens, running in the roads, groups of young men playing foosball and women carrying loads of different wares, to or from their homes . It felt very surreal and it was the first time on our trip I felt a little uncomfortable…not because I felt in danger but because we were so out of place.

The lights came back up just before dinner. Frank and Ann could not have been more generous and kind and, basically took us under their wing, fed us, served as our tour guides, and had their staff wash our laundry…the old fashioned way in a large bucket with water heated over a fire. Their philosophy was, as long as we were in Addis Ababa, we were family and welcome eat our meals with them and were willing to offer any help that we needed. In this very foreign feeling land, I was more than happy to comply.