Day 5 -- Ethiopia Cont'd

The sounds of a third-world country filled the air at hours and hours before the butt-crack of dawn. The hyenas come into town and pick fights with all the dogs. The airport is not too far away but they have a crap-load of flights leaving at all hours. And finally the "call to prayers" start at 4:45 a.m. The Orthodox Church here not only has the call to prayer, but broadcasts the entire prayer over their load speakers. So all of that was on top of little Gutu's rough night means we've been a little tired today.

We decided to go to church with Agitu. Initally I was going to attend our own church but I have a sneaky idea all the maps and phone numbers are back at home on the printer. So we got ready to go. The bathrooms here are a bit interesting. I can't complain because we have hot water but the pressure is very minimal. There's also no shower curtain so the water was a bit hard to contain with the handheld sprayer. The best you could do is get wet, place sprayer on the shower floor, soap up and then attempt to get the water in all the right places whilst keeping it off the floor. Lisa was much better than me at all of that.

Agitu took us to her church. It was a very interesting experience to say the least but I think a very priceless memory. Lest I offend someone, I'll share the stories in private. All I can say is I hope none of us will suffer permanent hearing damage. Gutu was great though. A very big people watcher. He never cried the entire time (2.5 hours) and just became restless when he became hungry. He fell asleep on my chest on the way home and I loved every minute of it. Yes, there are no car seats and rarely any seatbelts either so a father's arm will have to suffice.

When we got home Agitu was not happy with the "quantity" of food provided by our cooks so she took us out to an Ethiopian restaurant. It's very much like the one in SLC but I'd say things are on the spicier side. She arranged for a driver and guide to meet us there and take us on a tour of Addis.

We drove up to the higher parts of the city. I'm still amazed at how traffic works. It's just utter chaos. People are crossing the streets all of the place and cars are constantly honking and dodging each other. There are roads with four lanes (all dotted lines mind you) and at one point all lanes are going one way until opposing traffic comes and then everyone shifts back over. And let's not begin to tell you about the bazillion speed bumps. I would have certainly launched us but our driver has an uncanny ability to pick them all out.

We visited the National Ethiopian Museum. There's the standard clothes and crowns worn by the Emperors but the coolest part had to be all the fossils they've collected including "Lucy." It turns out that Lucy is actually back in the states but there were tons of other animals and even older fossils on display including Salem, a little child. Our self-appointed guide was not happy with the "tip" I left him but we came to an agreement. Just smile right?

Tomorrow we're going to Durame, where Gutu's from. It's about a six hour drive so we're going to leave early to hopefully avoid the afternoon heat. They've arranged to have us meet with the police officer that found him and visit the orphanage where he was for a few days before he came here to Addis Ababa. We doubt we'll make it back by nightfall (night travel not permitted -- huge no-no) so we'll probablyl spend the night in the resort town of Awassa. We'll return Tuesday afternoon or so.

There we go...We love you all and continue to appreciate the prayers.