The Owlhavens in Ethiopia — Sunday and Monday

We made it to Ethiopia!!! The trip began in our airport at home with our two year old whining and refusing to walk or cooperate or even ride in the stroller. All she wanted was mom to carry her. John and I kept looking at each other shaking our heads and wondering what we were getting into. She shaped up after a trip to McDonald’s for some breakfast food. I think the two strawberries she ate for breakfast at home just didn’t cut it!

The flight to San Francisco was blessedly short. The girls were both entertained by looking out the window and getting snacks and playing with the goodies in their fanny packs. The girls’ fanny packs were perhaps the best things we packed for the airplane. They loved going through and adding new treats and getting their own gum and using their Chapstick and then carefully zipping everything back in to the bags.

In San Francisco we got Mexican food for lunch — $25 for three big plates of food. We thought that was pretty decent for airport food. Then we headed to our gate, per the instructions given on the previous flight. We found the gate and saw that it was leaving for Frankfurt at the right time, so we settled down to look out the windows and let the little girls run around. When the flight started pre-boarding, John said, “It doesn’t say anything about Lufthansa– do we have the right gate?”

I went to ask. The woman who looked at my ticket gave me a look of alarm and said, oh, no, the Lufthansa flight is gate 100, not 102. Fortunately the other gate was only up one escalator and down another. When we got there, the line of families with kids waiting to board had just formed. As we waited in line, our two year old fell asleep in my arms and proceeded to sleep the first two hours of the flight. The five year old fell asleep pretty soon after getting on board and had a nice nap too. The girls were surprisingly uninterested in the one movie we let them watch on my laptop. I think they didn’t like having to wear headphones.

In Frankfurt we found our flight with no problem, and the layover was just long enough to stretch our legs for a few minutes before it was time to get in line for the next flight. That flight went well also. It was just amazing to us how well the girls did. They didn’t like to food too much, but ate enough to get by, and slept really well (thanks in part, I confess, to a dose of Benadryl on each flight).

When we arrived at Bole airport in Addis we headed downstairs to get our visas. Since the visa line was long, I zipped over to the bank across the big hall to change a couple hundred dollars. Behind me in line a cranky American guy was complaining about ‘African’ inefficiency. Apparently he didn’t like the fact that at the bank you wait in one line to show your passport and make your money request, and then in another line to actually get your money. Kinda rubbed me the wrong way….

I got back to John in the visa line in plenty of time. By the time the visas were pasted into our passports, we’d waited in three different lines. But that’s just Africa. As they say in Ethiopia, ‘chigger yellem’ — no problem.

Once we had visas and money, we headed off to pick up our baggage. Every piece of luggage made it there– hooray! With the help of a green-coated official-looking guy we fill two luggage carts with our various bags, realizing belatedly that he of course would expect a tip. Then right outside the main doors we found Zodu, our AAI driver, with no problem, and filled the red van with all our things.

We got to the guest house by 11, and were in bed by midnight. John was a little taken aback by the neighborhood around the guest house. It actually is quite safe, and a fairly nice neighborhood for Ethiopia. But it is still Ethiopia. Between the airport and the guest house, we saw a fair number of desperate looking people, not to mention the men who think nothing of urinating wherever they are.

“I can’t believe I let you come here without me,” John said, looking out the window once safe in our room at the guest house. He shook his head. “Twice!”

Even as I assured him that we’d been fine here before, and we would be again, I fervently hoped I could prove myself right.

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