Melkam efter (Good Afternoon)

Good evening, Just a quick recap of my day here in Addis Ababa. Today I got up early, had breakfast and headed out with a driver for the day. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate this morning as it rained quite a bit. This is the end of the rainy season here so even the driver was a little surprised it was raining so hard. This dampened some of the plans I had  for today but I made the best of it. I was hoping to get some good shots on the top of Mt Entoto considering yesterday it was packed due to a religious holiday however the rain and fog made it impossible. I just wasn’t meant to get those shot I suppose. I was however able to visit that one church (from yesterdays celebrations) and its surroundings. If you viewed  my Facebook pics, it was the circular, and very colourful, one on top of the mountain. The surrounding thatch huts are its out buildings. It was a little damp however the lyrics “I bless the rains down in Africa” From Toto kept replaying in my head. Yes, I am a music nerd. From there we stopped at a few statues and monuments I had on my list such as the Lion of Juddah. From there, it was back to Merkato market to enjoy some chaos. Although it was still light rain, it was still so interesting to see. We simply could not find a good place to park so it was a drive through experience yet again. I would have liked to walked around a bit but at the same time I felt more at ease in the car. If any of you reading this ever make it here, make Merkato market your priority. 

 By this time of the day, the rain had stopped and the sun came out with a vengeance. In saying that, I was quite taken back on how comfortable the temps are here. I, like many I imagine, just assumed it would be extremely hot here and that is not the case at all. Mid afternoon temps only reach about 16 celsius. Comfortable touring weather!  Now that sun was out, my driver took me around the city ( Side note: Addis Ababa has a population of 7 million people) and then he took me for lunch at a nice hotel buffet. Yes I did try some local foods but in full disclosure I did stick to the familiar more. Just a little easier on my stomach and with another flight tonight, I wanted to play it safe. After lunch we visited another church, another statue and some more site seeing. As we were driving, he asked me a lot of questions about Canada and how it compares to here. He does have some family in Edmonton but has never been himself. He was a little taken back by how expensive it was there. I explained the politics behind it and so on. He asked if I thought Trudeau was a great man and…well… lets just say I answered him. He was very interested in Canada though as we talked a lot about it as we drove. I did stop at a shop for a very small souvenir ( I am only backpacking it so space is non existent) and that turned out to be overwhelming. It was a little series of shops so I wanted to find the right souvenir but as soon as I stepped out of the car, I was completely surrounded by people showing me things and trying to get me to buy from them. Although I have experienced this a lot in many of the countries I’ve travelled in, I still don’t necessarily enjoy it. It usually ends with me buying the first thing I see and getting out of there. I managed to find myself a little trinket of Ethiopia, haggle over the price and high tail it out of there. He wanted 1000 Birr but I talked him down to 600 Birr. I could have went further I think but I wanted to get out of there. My driver suggested a coffee place he wanted me to try however once we arrived, it turned out to be the same place yesterdays driver wanted me to try.  I didn’t say anything as he wanted me to go there and the coffee was good any way. After some coffee and a little more city driving, I headed on back to the hotel. I wanted to post a few pics, get a head start on this blog and pack up again. Tonight I have an overnight flight to Delhi India. I am just now sitting in the hotel cafe, having a Ethiopian tea and writing this. The Wifi here is spotty at best. It’s actually a little better in my room than it is here. It is to be expected though so I’ll take it as it comes. For now I will cut this short and add my final hours here and trip up to India in my first blog from there. Cheers!!