Back to Addis

Saturday, 22 December

Saturday was a pretty do-nothing day. We were to have been collected from our hotel at 8:45 to go to the airport for a noon flight back to Addis. But when we were at breakfast, we were advised that the plane was delayed – one of these inexplicable and unexplained delays that apparently plague Ethiopian Airlines' domestic operations. (They are supposed to Africa's premier airline and top-notch for their international service, but not so highly rated for their domestic service.) No word on when the flight would leave. They would call our guide to inform him, apparently.

We were given the option of going to the Saturday market but chose not to go, in part not wanting to be too far away in case the call came. Oh, don't worry, they said, we'd come to collect you. Still, we figured we'd have other opportunities to go to a market.

I spent about an hour at the internet café, updating my blog by e-mail and reading a few messages. Then Laolao and Giggles and I walked up the road a short distance and back. As we exited the hotel for our walk, a nicely dressed young man approached us and asked where we were from. When we said Canada, he asked if we would take a letter for him and mail it from Canada to his brother in Toronto. I don't know if that would be because he didn't have money for postage or because he didn't trust the Ethiopian postal system, or perhaps a bit of both. We said we figured we could do that, and he gave us his e-mail address to let him know when we had sent it. We told him we wouldn't be back in Canada until the end of January, so not to worry if he didn't hear from us for a while. He also gave us a tiny Ethiopian cross on a leather cord, which made us feel good – that he wasn't just another beggar asking for something from us rich foreigners. We gave the cross necklace to Giggles, who was quite pleased with it. Later, Laoye said he'd met a student last night who said he had a brother in Toronto, so we wondered if it was the same young man and if he'd gone home and written the letter that evening hoping to be able to catch us again.

I had also given Gigles her allowance in birr and, being Giggles, she wanted to buy something right away. So we went into a small shop and she selected a silver cross, larger than the one on the necklace, but not too big. It cost 40 birr, leaving her with 20 birr in her money pouch from her allowance and what Laolao had given her earlier in the week.

After that we hung around the hotel grounds, reading, playing in the sun, dozing a bit. By noon there was still no word of when the flight was coming, so we headed off to the Jerusalem Guest House for a bowl of soup for lunch. (Note: we have eaten a lot of soup here and it has all been very tasty. In fact, all of the food so far has been very good. We haven't eaten very much traditional food, sticking mostly to Ethiopianized western food, on the advice of our friend JN who said to avoid ihe traditional food at least for a while as it is very oil-laden and prone to cause upset stomachs if you're not used to it. So far, only Laolao and Giggles have had any digestive problems, and only minor ones.)

As we were finishing our soup, some Swiss travelers at the table next to us got the word – the plane was leaving Addis and was expected in Lalibela soon; check-in time at the airport was to be in half an hour. It was about a 45-minute drive to the airport, so we quickly slurped the last of our soup, signed for the bill, and rushed back to our hotel where the van was waiting. We grabbed our suitcases from the room, piled in, and off we went.

At the airport there was quite a line-up of people checking in, and by the time we got through the line-up, past security, and into the waiting lounge, it was about 2:15. The plane arrived about ten minutes later, and after the Lalibela passengers had deplaned, we were able to board. Now began a lengthy grasshopper journey back to Addis. The first hop took us up north to Axum, then we came back south to Gondar, then to Bahir Dar, and the final stop was Addis, where we arrived at about 5:30. We were able to direct the taxi driver to our house, then after unpacking, we fell into bed.

(Continue to 23 December: Christmas party in Addis)