Returned to Addis for the last time. We had left our camping gear at the guest house and spent a couple of nights getting organised for our flight to Accra, Ghana. Air Ethiopia had changed our flight time about 3 times and the times got earlier and earlier. Luckily we were able to go to the office and check the evening before we flew.
John had his eye pressures taken again and they were fine although the optician used an old fashioned meter to test them.
It was really cheap to get our photos burnt onto a disc, less than a dollar!
We ate at our usual haunt and caught up on the people we had met there. We were surprised to meet Manchester Mike again. He is a young guy who had his wallet taken while in a minivan back in December. He had his passport and credit cards taken too. Through the consulate he was able to get the passport. But the most difficult thing for him to do, was to get PIN numbers on his cards. That took the longest to sort out as you are supposed to go into your bank and do it. All that time he was unable to get money and had to rely on friends to help him out. Finally that was done and he was ready to fly home but once he got to the airport he was told he didn't have an entry visa in his passport so he couldn't exit. The documentation that they had arranged through the consulate was not adequate so he hadn't been able to leave and wouldn't be able to until the end of March. In total he was stranded for 4 months. Unbelievable!
There were lots of new faces at the hotel and most of them were Israeli. One of the men was over 60 and married a young Ethiopian girl. Every few weeks he flew back to Israel where he bought bags of label second hand clothes. He set up his suitcase on the footpath and sold the clothes. He was trying to set up a business in Addis.
We caught up with Asaf, a young Israeli guy whose family had adopted an Ethiopian lad. Asaf had travelled up north to take photos of the son to his family who had not seen him for eight years. He had a wonderful and emotional time with the family in their small village.
All through the parts of Africa we have been there are lots of different ways of greeting people. Some people here kiss on the cheek 2 or 3 times. Some shake hands while others hug and pat each others backs at the same time. Ethiopians have a shoulder hug. They shake hands and then press their shoulders into each other. It looks so awkward when do it, if one person is sitting down, or if one is much shorter than the other. The more shoulder hugs the closer the friendship but it was only used by men.
In some places we saw people shake hands and then the younger person would kiss the older person's hand and hold it to their forehead, sometimes it was done 2 or 4 times.
It took a little time to get used to the traffic, the crowds, beggars who target the tourists, touts, diesel fumes, crazy drivers, street and footpath obstacles, street traders, bargaining taxi drivers, and the urine smelling streets of Addis and on our final stay it didn't feel as chaotic as on our first day.
