Adventures in Africa
Slightly delayed posting but things have been busy. Yes, I was in Ethiopian briefly. How it all went down was that I went to renew my Kenyan visa for an extra 10 days (it expires while I am away hiking Mount Kenya and 10 days before I leave for South Africa. I figured it wouldn't be a very big deal. I was wrong. Apparently you cannot extend your visa past 6 months. Ever. Or so says the senior immigration official. And that you have to leave East Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania) to renew it. WHAT? Ok, seeing as I have 2 days free before I head to the coast I think I had better do something about this. I head to a few travel agencies and they managed to find me a fairly cheap flight to Addis Ababa - the capital of Ethiopia.
I payed for the ticket, packed, gave Karen some emergency numbers in case she needed any help from my friends, and the next day I was on the plane to Addis. What a beautiful city! It has lots of really nice highrises, the streets are in great condition and it seems somewhat less chaotic than Nairobi or Kampala.
I spent most of the day wandering around the Merkato (the largest open-air market in Africa) and bartering for silver objects. Most things were actually quite a bit more expensive than Kenya. The people were sweet and interesting with most of the men greeting you with a "You look beautiful today". Not bad for my ego.
I treated myself to my favourite meal (Ethiopian or otherwise) of Shiro (tasty bean paste stuff) and Tej (Ethiopian honey wine) and head back to the airport for my flight back to Nairobi. It was a good little adventure. I want to go back and see more of the country but I guess that will have to wait for next time!
I payed for the ticket, packed, gave Karen some emergency numbers in case she needed any help from my friends, and the next day I was on the plane to Addis. What a beautiful city! It has lots of really nice highrises, the streets are in great condition and it seems somewhat less chaotic than Nairobi or Kampala.
I spent most of the day wandering around the Merkato (the largest open-air market in Africa) and bartering for silver objects. Most things were actually quite a bit more expensive than Kenya. The people were sweet and interesting with most of the men greeting you with a "You look beautiful today". Not bad for my ego.
I treated myself to my favourite meal (Ethiopian or otherwise) of Shiro (tasty bean paste stuff) and Tej (Ethiopian honey wine) and head back to the airport for my flight back to Nairobi. It was a good little adventure. I want to go back and see more of the country but I guess that will have to wait for next time!
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