Today Mark hired Million as our guide with a driver/van and we had a really great day trip outside of Addis.
We drove 20 minutes through Addis and up a scenic, winding road lined with Eucalyptus tress into the Entoto Mountains, arriving at the Church of St. Mary. The architectural design of the 1885 church is cool and we could not enter but the inner wall paintings of the church are supposed to be fascinating.
The church sits at about 10, 500 feet above sea level and there were lots of steps so walking around with my 11 lb baby got me a bit winded (Addis is 7,700 feet). We found some locals drying out chili pepper to make berebe and other unique Ethiopian spices.
Near the church is the late 19th century home of Emperor Menelik II and his wife, Empress Tiytu Betul. They had wanted to establish the capital in that spot but because of a lack of firewood, water and the ability to encourage people to move there, Addis was actually founded in valley south of the mountain in 1886. Legend is that it was Tiytu who chose the location and named it Addis Ababa which means “new flower.”
Mark and Million briefly went into the Entoto Museum, while TBK and I visited the van for a bottle. Apparently, the drum that announced the march to Adwa against the Italian invasion is there, as is Menelik’s bed and ceremonial dresses of the king and the queen.
We then drove about an hour south to Debre Zeyit (“Mount of Olives,”) a resort area with five crater lakes and had lunch at a beautiful resort called Kuriftu on the shore of its namesake, Lake Kuriftu. The resort restaurant sits on a huge outdoor deck and spans over part of the lake. TBK enjoyed a nap of a nice leather couch while I enjoyed fresh Nile perch pan fried which I ate with my hands. Yummmy.
TBK slept most of the way back to Addis which was good because it was a long, hot, traffic and exhaust-filled trip home. When we got back into the city, Million and I jumped out and went into a nice modern grocery store and stocked up on Babelac formula and a small container of Vaseline for TBK’s slightly dry cheeks (another unsolicited piece of advise offered from an Ethiopian TBK admirer.) As far as the formula goes, I am now paying 117 birr ($6.77) per container which is a bit better than the 180 birr ($10.41) that I paid at the pharmacy in our neighborhood.
TBK and I dropped of Mark off at the Sheraton and we went home to get cleaned up for our evening. An hour and a half later, we were back at the Sheraton. Mark arranged another babysitter who walked in while Tali B was sitting up in the middle of the big bed watching a movie. The gal could not get over how alert and cute the baby was. Incidentally, they don’t believe in paying for child care in this country and we never got charged for the three nights of babysitting. OIE (only in Ethipia!!)
Mark and I then met Fikru out at Habesha, a traditional Ethiopian restaurant with live singing and dancing. Mark has been a bit worried about the food and so this was his first injera experience. While I don’t think he is a convert, his stomach has held up so far. And have his eyes, by the way, no conjunctivitis for him or Tali Bamlak. Phew.
After dinner we went to a really night club where the performers sing and, from what I could gather, do improv comedy. Mark and I were out of the loop on the jokes but they seem to be gently making fun of people and making people laugh and smile. Then the dancers came out and OMG.
It is absolutely incredible how they can move their shoulders, chests and other parts while keeping the rest of their bodies still. It was really fabulous and they insisted that we, and the other guests, got up and tried to dance ourselves. We are not winning any Ethiopian idol contests for sure, but it was a great time.
I was so tired from my Ethiopian dancing (oh, and did I mention the honey wine???) debut that I was too tired to blog when we got home.
Mark left for Kenya this morning but changed his plans to come back for New Year’s Eve and day to spend Sunday with us!
Love from Addis,
--Jen and Tali B
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