Adot-Tina Hotel Addis Ababa

Destination 373

km186'883

Arrival to Addis Ababa without Alibaba. After the thrilling crossover in Kenya (Isiolo to Moyale) to Ethiopia and a deeply touching ride through the enormous friendly southern part of Ethiopia I got some work to do in Chaos City Addis Ababa.

Visa application for Egypt: Issued
Visa application for Saudi Arabia: Visa application ...

Etonnamment plus la date de départ s'approche, plus le stress est grand.

Moi qui ai réussi le miracle de vivre six mois au jour le jour, de profiter du moment présent sans trop me préoccuper du lendemain, me voila revenue à mes TO DO lists persos et mes angoisses existentielles sur l’après.

Ces derniers jours ont un goût un peu fadasse, tristes et inquiets à la fois, on court partout acheter les derniers cadeaux, le dernier ...

... farengo, farengo, interpelées par les femmes qui me comparent à leur fille, draguée ou insultée par les hommes, j'ai la désagréable impression de me balader toute nue et que passer inaperçue relève de l'impossible. Mais malgré la sensation d'être une bête de cirque, autour de laquelle s'agrippent les passants, les mendiants et les enfants des rues dès que la voiture s'immobilise quelques minutes, nous découvrons une ville agréable, où les remparts et les maisons aux murs ...

... to make the M**kato and our flight - we'd pay a deposit in cash and the rest when we started our trip (this would come back to haunt us). But being Saturday (and HEAVY traffic day) we realized the M**kato couldn't happen and just went back to get our bags. Aft** an argument with our taxi driv** at the airport regarding how much money we owed for his racing us around all morning (difficult since we didn't speak the same language), we finally made our way to the North. Whew!!

Yet another spectacular day. This is how I imagined Africa would look. We drove along rolling hills past scattered villages. The river beds here are really dramatic; steep and formed by flood erosion which has met hard rock. This country in flood would be a sight to see. Miles, the previous chef of the company, and the guy who has been training me finished his gig in Addis Ababa. So its just me running the kitchen now. It will ...

I went with a colleague on a day trip to the Blue Nile gorge. This was about 3 hours north of Addis. We passed several runners as we went higher up on the plateau on our way to the gorge. The countryside was green and fertile and we saw traditional huts but also some large fields with cattle and modern farming machinery. We stopped at a little village and were privileged to be shown the inside of a villager's hut. It was a ...

... to the centre ot town. We were four - Sergey, Max, Jenny and me - an ideal number to enter a taxi. After a short bargaining, (you know - white people are always forced to pay more in Africa, unless they argue about the price. I had the impression that there are many tourists that pay the initial price, oddly), we agreed to hire his services to ge to The Piazza - the main square of the city. We agreed on 150 Ethiopian Birr - about 15$. The driver ...

... Ethiopians respond, "He is a black man," "He is a youngster," and even, "He is tall and handsome!"  Black skin and youthful optimism about the world have made Obama a compelling symbol of the hope for a prosperous and respected Africa.  Yet, some of this hope reaches beyond the symbolic.  Many local friends and colleagues have told me of Obama, "I think he will bring good governance to Ethiopia."  It is a belief that I hear echoed regularly among ...

... together, as part of her farewell tour. As we stayed up talking together late into each night, I was struck by how much we had gained from each other in just a short time - strength, confidence, comfort, friendship,connection, understanding for one another and ourselves - and saddened by the fact that a part of it all would soon be leaving us. Faced with the early exit of one of our own, our thoughts and discussion were led toward that momentous question: Why are we ...

... We gave up the chase, collecting the glasses unscathed.Then came the 'boiled sweet episode' in Ziway.  That story is far too tedious to recount, so let's leave it there.  Suffice to say that the shopkeepers of Ziway will not attempt adding 4 Birr to the price of a packet of boiled sweets again in a hurry. After this there was the 'absence-of-hot-water-in-room-in-which- we-were-paying-for-hot-water'-gate.  After some long, tedious and ...