Friday, January 15, 2010

We're in Addis!

We arrived in Addis at 7:45 am and then took a couple of hours to get our visa and get through the passport lines! But T met us in the lobby and we were out the door and on our way into the city in no time! It was culture shock in the parking lot immediately. The poor that lined the streets and sat near their makeshift homes was heartbreaking. We stalled in the road a couple of times to wait for bull or donkeys to get out of the way, and watched the scenes passing around us.
We arrived at the hotel and dumped our things, changed shoes and headed out to the National Museum with two other families who had arrived. We saw the home of Lucy, the 2nd oldest human fossil believed to be discovered, as well as other rich artifacts which told us more of the history and culture of this beautiful nation. After a quick tour of the Lion Zoo we had a wonderful lunch at the Lucy Restaurant. We watched in amazement as T and D finished off a huge plate of injera and meat in what seemed like 30 seconds flat!
We then headed to the top of a near by mountain to view the ruins of an ancient church. The trip up the mountain was incredible, the road was not a road, and I assure you in America we would have requested an ATV to take us up the path our minivan took!
After climbing through the mountain and taking in a panoramic view of Addis we returned and had dinner at the Zebra Grill. We obviously need some recommendations from the BTDT's on the YG, because we ALL ordered horribly. Do not eat the steak, the fish, or the hamburger when you travel here my friends! :)
We can't believe we're here, so close to our kids, and enjoying this beautiful people. There seemed to be some problems with arranging to meet our birthfamily, but T seems to think he has it worked out and we will be going on a one day trip on Sunday, rather than a 2 day trip Friday and Saturday. It will be 10 hours in a car, and with the roads they are here, that's saying a lot! But, whatever we have to do to meet them, we're willing! Pray for that journey to be safe and successful. We will leave here at 6:30am Sunday, ET time, and travel, meet and return in the same day.
We love you Nathan and Corban! Sorry you forgot your computer at Nana's but we hope we get to Skype with you soon! It was good to talk to with you, and we hope Grandpa has some more chores to keep you busy! We love you!!!!

1 comment:

  1. Hey there Roots! If you get this - we loved the lentil somosas and tibs at Zebra Grill. We also had good luck with chicken.

    Richardsons

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