The Lewi Hotel is, as we found out, quite the hot spot in Awassa on a Saturday night. Music thumped loudly and people had a grand time until the wee hours of the morning. Daddy at one point heard Garth Brooks' "I Got Friends In Low Places" - made us feel right at home. If I had been feeling better and wasn't so dang exhausted, I would have LOVED to join the Ethiopian style hoedown.
We were awake before it was light outside and Matt opened the window to see what was going on (I think this was when our little mosquito friend made his entrance). We could hear the chanting from St. Gabriel's Orthodox Church, which we were lucky enough to catch on video (hopefully we'll be able to include that in this post at some point), and the air smelled like campfire smoke. We were surrounded by a shanty town, and each "home" had a fire burning, I assume for warmth and cooking.
As the sun came up we were able to see the locals milling around, getting ready for their day. We were literally on top of structures (homes) made out of tin and tarps and mud.
There was a tree off to the right that had HUGE birds in it. I couldn't believe the tree was supporting the weight of these birds. Our picture didn't turn out well at all, so I found this one online. We think they are called Marabous.
Once we had pieced ourselves together, which was a HUGE accomplishment, we headed down for the breakfast buffet. When we entered the lobby we ran into one of our travel buddies who looked like she had been through the wringer. I assumed it was due to the emotions of the day before, but, unfortunately, added to that was concern for her husband. He, horrifically, passed out during the night while in the bathroom and hit his head. I am telling you - the dehydration sneaks up on you like nobody's business in this country!! There is no such thing as an ambulance in this area. A hospital? Not so much. I'm sure there is somewhere, but it just wasn't feasible in the middle of the night. Our travel group was incredibly blessed to include an internal medicine physician, a registered nurse, and a gastroenterologist. I cannot tell you how handy this was during this trip. I probably drove them all crazy with questions like: "What do you think this means? Could it be because of this? Will my vision come back? Is 'general malaise' a real thing?" Our friend drank five liters of water before he was hydrated again, and it was enough of a wake up call for all of us to make sure that we were drinking water constantly. In fact, the Holt staff member that was traveling with us purchased some hydration packets for our friend, as well as myself. They were hard to get down (think salty, lemony goodness), but I'm so glad that they were available. And, after rehydrating, beside the decent bump on his head, our friend was fine. Praise the Lord.
The breakfast buffet was beautiful - fresh fruit, fresh mango juice (the best on the trip), pancakes, eggs, some traditional Ethiopian dishes, etc. I was able to choke down a couple pancakes and drank some juice. Matt enjoyed a big breakfast with eggs and sausages, and all kinds of good stuff, but was a little worried when he realized that he had eaten jalapenos and bell peppers after being advised not to eat any fruits or vegetables that you didn't peel yourself.
During breakfast we were chatting with our new friends from Buffalo, NY about the trip home. They had hired their own driver and spent a few days in the Southern region of Ethiopia before meeting up with us in Durame. Miss Buffalo and I had gotten to know each other via email prior to the trip and it was great to meet her and her travel partner in person finally! The baby boy that she is adopting and our son are roommates and only one day apart in age. While we live on opposite ends of the U.S., we are hoping that we'll be able to keep them connected for years to come. Anyway, knowing that I wasn't feeling well, they offered to let us ride back to Addis with them. This was an incredibly generous offer to us, and it freed up some room in the van for everybody else as well. We couldn't wait to get to know them better too!
We had a little time to pack up and relax before starting the drive. While we were waiting in the lobby, I snapped this shot:
Our drive back to Addis was very nice and pretty uneventful, as far as I remember. I do know that a baboon was spotted on the side of the road, and I know that there were lots of talks between Daddy and our Buffalo friends about politics and religion and child rearing and careers, etc. I think the four of us probably knew each other better than we had intended after that drive. It's really funny because out of everyone in our travel group, Buffalo was probably the least like us, but God sure knew what he was doing when he connected us on this trip. We now have a bond that will last a lifetime and they know things about our son and us about theirs that most people will probably never know.
Our driver was very nice. His name was Hanuk (not sure if the spelling is correct, pronounced ha-nook) and he has lived in Ethiopia his whole life. He has a degree in business and makes his living as a driver. He was much less intense and aggressive than our driver on the way to Durame, actually letting people pass in front of him every once in a while. He was very quiet, but knew a lot about the area and was very happy to answer questions. He still took my breath away on a few occasions with some close calls, but we were blessed to be able to meet him and he got us to our destination safely.
Even though the rest of our group left quite a bit earlier than us, we ended up meeting them at a restaurant/hotel for a soda on the way home, by sheer coincidence. I don't remember the name of this place, and we don't have any pictures, but it had a beautiful shady, grassy courtyard with tables and chairs, and it was a great place to take a break. They also had a pretty decent restroom (my personal rating system). Luckily, someone told me ahead of time that there was a small table outside the restrooms where you could leave a "tip" and grab a few squares of TP. Woo Hoo!!
As we were leaving, a few kids caught sight of us and came to sell us gum and something brown in plastic bags (peanuts?). Matt gave our Holt friend some money and asked her to buy some for us (we learned our lesson when leaving the care center). There was an older man who was worried about the kids bothering us and started throwing rocks at them to get them to leave. I did my best to assure him that their presence didn't bother us in the least. They were the sweetest little things, probably under the age of 10, barefoot, and doing their best to earn a few birr. We ended up with two bags of roasted barley (not peanuts), that was apparently not safe for us to eat (oh well), and a pack of banana flavored gum. Success!!
Next stop...Jemimah. It was a really smooth ride home and we were so blessed by the conversation with Buffalo and the friendship that transpired. We made plans to clean up a bit and then have Hanuk take us out shopping. I ran up to shower - I felt FILTHY after driving home with the windows down on dirt roads and while sucking exhaust. Too dirty to go shopping on the streets of Addis even. When I got out of the shower someone from the front desk called to tell us that at 4:00 we could come into the kitchen to help the staff prepare a traditional dinner. I reluctantly decided that we would not be going shopping, but would take advantage of the opportunity to cook dinner with the staff and rest for a bit. Buffalo was incredibly understanding.
I think there were five of us couples gathered in the kitchen that evening to help make dinner. The kitchen staff spoke very little English, but the manager translated and got us through it beautifully. They started by showing us how to make injera, which is the crepe-like bread that tastes like sourdough and is used as the eating utensil for traditional Ethiopian dishes. The sweet gal who usually makes it gave us a demo, and then allowed anyone who wanted to make it on their own. There is a large, smooth surface that is VERY hot. She sprinkles some kind of a spice on it and lets it heat up for a minute, then uses a rag to spread the spice all over the surface - seasoning it and oiling it - then wipes it all off. Then, she pours the batter on the surface, outside edge first, and spirals in until the surface is completely full. She does this quickly and perfectly. It sits for a few moments, and then the lid is closed for a few minutes. When it is done, she opens the lid and with her bare fingertips peels the injera off the grill and slides it onto a very large, flat, woven basket-type thing for it to cool. Who's next?
After a few (comical) rounds of injera making (with the fine doctor's being the best), they start cooking the stews, which is when I made my exit. Everyone said it was EXCELLENT, but the smells were too rich (lots of butter and onions and garlic - usually my favorites) and the kitchen was too hot and I just couldn't stand it. I grabbed a banana and headed up to our room. After the nausea passed, I went down to the dining room with everyone else, who enjoyed their dinner immensely. I feel like I really missed out and hope we'll have another opportunity to do this on our next trip (when I'm determined to feel better).
After dinner I think we all turned in. We had to get up early the next morning for court, we had to make sure we had all of our care center donations ready to go, the gifts for the birth families ready to go, our clothes pressed, and we had to try to get some sleep. Easier said than done. Tomorrow is a HUGE day.
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