We started the day with a wonderful breakfast (included in our hotel stay). Lisa loved the french toast as it seemed they actually fried it. We were a bit leery of trying their juice they made but it tasted really good and so far...so good. Our driver and guide picked us up and took us around town. It rained a bit the night before so the air was nice and crisp (not as much diesel smoke looming).
The drive back to Addis took us on a different route straight up the Rift Valley so their weren't as many hills to climb. The rain sure made the animals happy as they left the roadside to drink out of the water laden ditches. Some areas appeared that they even flooded portions of the road overnight. Farmland continued to be the theme along the roadside (along with the ever present caravans of farm animals, carriages, etc.)
The police had many more checkpoints today than the previous day. Lisa and I were in the back of the van when the driver told me to join him up front. I guess they give the "benefit of the doubt" when whites are on board as they would stop us, realize we were there, and then wave us on. With me sitting up front, it avoided some of the stops but not all. They did not search the van though today (the day before they patted our guide down).
We stopped at a roadside vegetable stand for a few minutes. They had purple onions, tomatoes, and fish. We spoke with the children for a few minutes while our guide purchased some tomatoes for his family. I saw a little girl (2-3 years old) playing and went to say hello...evidently she didn't like that idea. She saw me coming, sprang to her feet, and ran as fast as she could, crying the whole way. She didn't want to see me for anything. I went back to the van and grabbed a token offering (Trail Mix) and went back to see her. She still didn't want to look at me but stopped crying when her mom handed her the treat.
We stopped at one of the lakes to take some pictures. About 50 yards off the road, a little boy was running a ox team plowing his father's field. He could tell we were taking pictures so he waved a few times. He was really cute. I waved him to come over and gave him a snack too. His face was lit up with joy. As we pulled away, I thought to myself, "I really love this country." I don't think there are more joyful, happy, and humble people on earth.
We missed most of the traffic coming into Addis this time. When we arrived at the guest house they served us a late lunch (injera, green beans, cabbage, seasoned meat) and we waited for Gutu to wake up from his nap. He's just the cutest little kid. We can stare at him for hours and never stop smiling. We were going to go out shopping for souvenirs but I guess we wore our driver out. We spent the evening playing with Gutu. He's finally learned what it's like to be tickled and now he giggles and giggles. His giggle and laugh are really low and almost raspy.
Gutu managed to blow chunks all over our bed. Of course, his ever happy self, he just smiled the whole time while we cleaned everything up. I think he must have had a bad air-bubble cause he seemed pretty relieved when it was all over. We don't need the top two covers to sleep anyways.
The power went out this evening for a couple hours, just after we finished dinner (home-made noodle soup and very yummy pizza). I got the generator started but it's only sufficient power four a couple of light bulbs (I'm not complaining though -- better than sitting in the dark).
Tomorrow we're going to an orphange about 1 1/2 hours away to take them all of our donations (thanks DC 2nd ward). It's a newer orphanage and they have absoultely nothing for the children to wear. It will be a huge blessing for them and then will give us an empty suitcase to fill with the stuff we'll buy in the afternoon.
More to come tomorrow. Good night.
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