To See Our Photos of Ethiopia, Click Here
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| Martin with Dave, Marly and Jochen at National Cafe |
We were excited heading back to Addis Ababa. It would be the last leg of the Africa portion of our trip, and would lead to family and friends back in England. So, we boarded our last bus, this one direct from Harar to Addis Ababa, and what a ride it was. It took us basically along a very high ridge with fabulous views to both sides, steep down into the valleys below. Ethiopia is quite green and lush in places, from what we have seen, and this was no exception. Interesting round houses dotting the hillside. The trip went well, and was comfortable, but got a little long as we were entering Addis - turns out we hit the rush hour's' traffic!!
Back to Wim's Holland House, and familiarity. We were also excited because we could go to our lovely little local cafe - National Cafe, which we did frequently. Also, we found our tent neighbours from the previous time were still there. Dave and Marly from Holland had some motorbike troubles
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| Martin, Michelle, Marly and Jochen heading to the embassy |
and were waiting on a new engine from Holland, so in Addis they stayed. To our good fortune though, because we really enjoyed spending time with them. Along with Jochen, a German guy biking from Germany to Cape Town, we enjoyed many meals at National, along with some friendly times around camp.
We had expectations of doing some day trips around Addis, but that never really materialized. We were happy just to hang out with new friends. We did manage to walk around Addis and see a few sights. The Red Terror Martyr's Museum showed the difficulties and deaths attributed to the fight with the Communist military dictatorship.
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| Loving the orange |
On our last night before our flight back to England, Dave and Marly managed to get us invited to the Dutch Embassy for a party celebrating the first game the Dutch were playing in the Euro Football/Soccer Championship. How lucky were we!!! Along with Jochen, we dressed in as much orange as we could find, and made our way to the embassy. It was quite the building and grounds, and they put on a great spread. For us, FREE beer/wine and food including cheese!! What a score for us, and as much as we wanted! Only problem was the Danish..... Nobody told them they were supposed to lose to the Dutch, so most went home from the party disappointed. Michelle, Jochen and I were probably the last to leave the embassy!
But, the party didn't stop there. Back at Wim's there was another game showing and plenty of beers (not free) flowing. The girls were all dancing the night away. Then, after Wim's was slowing down, we got invited out to a local club with one of the local guys. Michelle was too tired to partake in any more fun, but I joined Dave and Marly 'shaking our cans' in a local dance club until the wee hours of the morning. First time I had been out in a club in ages, and it was good fun. Hot and sweaty, crazy dancing!! As we were about to leave, we got dragged in to a coffee ceremony, and I
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| Martin and Marly at the Addis Club |
drank two of the espresso-like coffees. Tasty, but for a non-coffee drinker, probably not the best idea at 4:30AM!!! I was wired!
Other than packing the next day, we didn't have much energy for anything else. We did have time for eating though, and National Cafe it was! Good eating with good friends. When we came back to Wim's, we found a guy waiting to see us. He was a friend of some guys we met briefly in Uganda, and we had tried to meet up with him without any luck. Well, he happened to show up just in the knick of time, as we only had an hour before we were off to the airport. In true Ethiopian and African generosity, Samson bought us a final drink on the continent, and even drove us to airport, saving us the final taxi hassle - thanks so much Samson, and sorry we didn't connect sooner!!!! *Stub
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| Marly and Dave at the Dutch Embassy |
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| Jochen and Martin celebrating at the Dutch Embassy |
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