We Finally Got There !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

** Note about breakfast on the plane. I didn't sleep at all on the flight going over. We had breakfast omelets. Just think these had been made before we left Rome after the refueling. Potato cake, mushrooms, tomatoes, mixed fruit, a roll covered in powdered sugar and a crepe.

G and B refused to eat. It really smelled bad. I ate the potato but the rest looked pretty bad.

We finally got to Addis about 9:30am their time. We got through immigration and customs ok. Next we went to exchange money $1 US for 13+ Birr. It was . something something, I don't remember. I exchanged about $400 worth of US money and had a pile of birr that would hardly fit into my fanny pack. We headed out to find our ride to the hotel. We weren't on the list to be picked up because they expected us to be in yesterday. But it all worked out. In the airport parking lot was the first time I experienced a beggar. We were told not to give them anything because the people who were escorting us would get in trouble but it certainly was hard to look the other way and say no. They just stood there watching our vehicle leave. We went to the Hilton. it was 4000 birr per night. They fought with Bill about two rooms. He insisted we need only one. The beds were pretty small but B and G are love birds after all. I'd say they were 3/4 beds, I haven't seen one of those since I was young. That's the size of bed my great grandparents slept in and Grandma Hilma was about as big around as she was tall and my Grandpa Lewis was 6 foot 1in, I can't imagine being very comfortable. Before we could even get into our room though we ran back and forth to the desk twice because the keys wouldn't work. Finally a maid let us in. The internet was expensive, the phones wouldn't take Gretchen's phone card. Gretchen tried to call about being picked up tomorrow, nothing works like it does at home. And no one seems to want to help, or they don't understand or it costs more money. Bill was really sick so we thought we'd get a bit to eat and then he could go to bed. We went down stairs looking for something to drink like a soda, just so Bill could take some medicine and go to bed. No luck he'd have to go back upstairs and order room service. This is ridiculous . So we went to the dining room for lunch. Cream of Chicken or Cream of Potato soup with leeks, rolls and water. 254 birr/ $20. This was the most expensive meal we had. We could get steak dinners later in the week for $4. Bill went to bed and Gretchen and I walked around the grounds. We thought about swimming , But It Cost More Money. Unbelievable. The hotel, for being the Hilton, was in very poor shape. There were huge cracks in the walls, the bathroom was dirty. We were out enjoying the sights on the balcony. You should have seen the crack there. I'm sure we were taking our life in our hands. Gretchen and I took a shower. At least that made us feel a little bit better. Gretchen got through to the attorney to come and get us from the hotel. She wasn't feeling very comfortable here. They agreed to come and get us about 5. We woke up Bill about 4, or at least when the clock in the room said 4, so he could shower and get ready for check out and the ride to the guest house. Actually it was only 3:15 the clock in the room was wrong, but we really weren't sure what time it was it's hard to know when we had traveled through so many time zones. So we sat in the Lobby for over an hour. G and B went to Ethiopian Airlines that had an office in the lobby. They are a very poor airline for accommodating anyone. I sat and watched our luggage. It was a very uncomfortable setting. You had to go through a metal detector before entering the hotel. People were whispering and pointing. Every time anyone did anything for you they expected a tip.

Finally Yonatan, the guest house manager, a very tall and thin young man arrived to take us back to the New Flower Guest House. He was with a "friend" who actually turned out to be a co-owner of the guest house. He had a small SUV and we had 5 carry ons, 5 large suitcases, and the 5 of us. Well all of us but Yonatan got in the car. He said he'd see us back at the guest house. The bell hop had already peeled about $10 from us for moving our luggage around, and he complained that we gave him US dollars.

Next post The Ride Home