USA to UAE: Eid Holiday... to Ethiopia!

I can finally write about my trip to Ethiopia now that I am not bitter about the sickness that came afterwards... and that I am no longer sick.

To begin, I am (shockingly) in the Middle East. Eid is an Islamic holiday. We get school off. YAY!! So then everyone goes on vacations-- there is a crazzzzzy amount of places that are within a few hours flight of Dubai. The best part about Eid holidays, at least this year, is that they happen according to the moon. So, this year just a few days before our break, they announced instead of having a 2-day work week (5 days off total), we would be getting a full 9 days off!!!! Excitement radiated through the teachers at school upon this announcement of course.

Naturally, I spent the first 4 days partying. I didn't mean to, but one loses track when they have a vacation the unexpectedly doubles! The latter part of break was spent in Ethiopia.

Right before Sandance-- a fantastic music festival on a sandy beach next to the ocean. Rocked out to The Killers. Good times:-)

Ethiopia-- mind you I have never been to Africa before, so this was quite the culture shock in many, many ways. First, it smells. It smells like lots of things, most of them not pleasant, especially in the city. Second, no toilet paper. This is a real issue when you finally find a toilet, and there is no toilet paper. Third, the scenery. The scenery in the Ethiopian countryside is absolutely beautiful! Honestly, it takes your breath away. Then while you are following your local tour guide, probably one of the nicest people you could meet, you get distracted, because you look up and see hundreds of baboons! Anyways, a bit of sensory overload.

Here goes...

Day 1: We get on our plane, leave the most wonderful, accommodating airport in the world (Dubai) and fly off to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. My friend and I are thinking, I really hope they have a Starbucks in the Addis Ababa airport. HA! Haha! Hahahahaha.... Upon plane touchdown, I'm thinking "Wow, I really need to pee, but I suppose I'll hold it, I'll just go in the airport."

HELLLLLOOOOO, newbie to Africa. We waited 20 minutes in line to get our Ethiopian visa. Our visa was on-arrival, 20 USD, and hand written. So, I still really need to pee. Next, I must exchange my money for Ethiopian Birr. Fun fact-- 1 USD=18 Birrs. Another 20 minutes passes. Yay, now I have money. Where is the restroom?????? It is over there in the corner. Superb, finally! Walk into the restroom. Very dark, very dingy, hmm.... should I be in here right now? This was the first of many interesting pee breaks in Ethiopia. No toilet paper, no running water, no paper towels (because there is no running water).... Uhh, anyone have some hand sanitizer??

Alas, the first day continues, we get on our tour bus, quite nice in fact, and shuttle off to eat some lunch. The lunch was quite nice, very tasty. We then went to the museum where the famous "Lucy" skeleton resides. Before you can enter the ground where the museum is, you must get frisked by a lady security officer. Now, I understand the important of security checks and such, but she touched A LOT of places. We get into the museum., they have a lot of cool, super, SUPER, old, MIND BLOWING old stuff..... including Lucy!

There is Lucy. Did that just blow your mind?

We also took a drive through the Mercado. The biggest market in Addis Ababa, and Ethiopia, maybe Africa? Something big and fancy. The Mercado is a place where you barter every single purchase, hardcore. Then you still get ripped off. At the same time you are also trying to not get robbed--seriously. Finally, we head to our hotel. Our hotel was wonderful. We had running water, toilet paper, and a bed.

That night we decide to explore. We walk out of our hotel, down the alley, and across the road. We thought "this shack looks mighty fine!" And it was. There was alcohol in it, a few pieces of straw scattered throughout the floor and a VIP room in the back. We of course went straight to the VIP room, it had a table and a refrigerator. Could we please have some mixed drinks? The lady really doesn't speak English. After we are trying to tell her what we all want, I think she just gave up. She reappears with a small, blue pitcher (yes, the pitcher is dirty). Sets the pitcher on the table, opens the bottle of vodka, pours about half a bottle of vodka in, then cracks open a few warm Coca-Colas, dumps those in, walks away. Hmm... warm Coca-Cola and vodka... Did that just happen? Yes, I'll take two please.

Day 2 (Part I): Local family, Portuguese bridge, Ethiopian restaurant and dancing

We leave Addis Ababa and embark on a little journey. Our first stop is to visit a family, and see how many of the rural population lives. We take pictures at a beautiful viewpoint. Then our group gets the sales pitch for baskets and marble carved necklaces (which would happen many times throughout this trip) until we got on our bus and drove away. This is also where we discovered that all of the kids in Ethiopia want pens! The kids always ask for pens (and money), but they are so excited if you have a pen. Anyway, this local family welcomes us into the huts they live and sleep in. They also showed us their livestock, and where they were cooking.

Next stop was the Portuguese Bridge. It was built in the 16th century. It was beautiful! We hiked down to the bridge, walked across it, hiked a little more, got really close to a giant family of baboons, hiked a little more, hoped the baboons wouldn't charge us, then saw a beautiful waterfall :-) It was wonderful!

The sign for the bridge (complete with errors): WELCOME TO THE PORTUGES BRIDGE WAS BUILT IN 16TH CENTURY THIS BRIDGE IS DEEP 15 METERS TO THE EARTH VISIT THIS ATTRACTIV BRIDGE AND SWEEMING CAVE AND ALSO THE NATURAL ARIA"