Warning: My blog may be too detailed as I tend to observe and take in everything I see, experience, etc. I apologize if my blog is too detailed, but I guess you could say it’s my personal online journal. I don’t want to leave anything out!
Traveling Day, Jan. 9-Jan. 10
After staying up all night, I left the house at 4:30 am for the airport with my good friend, Cheryl. I arrived in DC to catch my connecting flight to Ethiopia. For those of you who know me and my travels, you know it never fails that something always goes wrong or happens nearly every time I travel. This time was a 2 hour delay by Ethiopian Airlines. Due to the delay, I missed my connecting flight to Douala. I can’t complain too much though because the airline gave all of those who missed a connecting flight a $150 voucher and paid for an overnight hotel stay, 3 meals and transportation to/from the airport. It was actually nice to have one unplanned day in a country you didn’t expect to see any of at all.
The flight over was 12 hours, which I managed to sleep mostly through. The airline provided passengers with the usual pillows and blankets, but also provided a toothbrush with toothpaste pack, eye cover and the ugliest gold socks you’ve ever seen. Why socks? No idea. It was either hot as hell or cold as ice on the plane-no in between. Thank goodness I bought a warm blanket for the plane just in case! On the flight, I was reminded of how much I do not miss airline food when traveling abroad, particularly on Ethiopian airlines (EA). EA has topped my list of worst airline food ever.
Prior to landing I was quite ready to get off, especially after listening to a baby scream for the last 30 minutes and the gawd awful elevator music that was playing overhead. I was nearly ready to jump through the window after the man in front of me stood up to go to the restroom prior to our landing. Cameroon is called the “Armpit of Africa” due to its location; however, this dude gave a whole new meaning to the “Armpit of Africa” after a 12 hour flight-ugh! I would have to sincerely argue that the “armpit” exists everywhere and not just Cameroon after getting a whiff of him and later passengers…Peeyew!!
The time difference in Ethiopia vs. home is +8 hours, so when we landed in Addis Ababa at 10 am, it was 2 am at home. I had to go through a very lax security, which I nearly walked around looking for the hotel waiting area. Airport security is not even close to American airport security, which is why I nearly walked right around it. I would’ve been tackled by this time if I would’ve been in an American airport-lol.
The weather was perfect, in the 70s, when we got outside to the airport shuttle. On the way to the hotel, I am immediately exposed to the first signs of the poor in Ethiopia, as well as the poor roads, run down stores and businesses, and poor landscape in general. There are no traffic lights or lines on the roads, so people just wing it and somehow manage to avoid accidents. Raleigh traffic suddenly wasn’t looking so bad after the ride to the hotel…
At the Riviera Hotel, I met some new friends from the states. We all shared 2 taxis and went downtown to cash our vouchers at the EA offices. On the way downtown, I saw many, many slums. It is quite sad that people live in such squander, and the stench in the slums is horrible due to no sanitation. At the EA offices, many solicitors hung outside the building in the hopes of selling us a map, pirated DVDs or whatnot. As white Americans or really white in general, we attract the poor who assume we are all rich.
After we left the EA office, a few of us decided to go to the local museum. The museum was quite small, and you could tell the people were proud of it. The building was beautiful, and I estimated it to be about 25 years old by the damages inside (cracks, peeling walls, etc.). The building was only 10 years old! I came to the realization as to how simple the African architecture is and that the building materials here are not even close to the quality of American buildings (depending on the builders that is!). Riding in the taxi over to the museum, I particularly noted the log scaffolds used for building. There were many, many abandoned buildings that we passed surrounded by log scaffolding. One can’t help but wonder why they were never completed. While riding in the taxi, we were told not to take pictures of the president’s home or any government buildings. If caught taking pics of them, your film or disks will be confiscated.
Fried fish, various salads, meat dishes, fresh bread, etc., was served buffet-style at the hotel for dinner. All of us were so exhausted from traveling that most of us were ready to crash about 7:30. Somehow I managed to stay up until 10:15, so as not to screw up my sleeping schedule too badly. I had to be up at 6 am to get ready, eat breakfast and then be picked up for the airport by 7.
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