Addis Ababa

Sadly no good films to watch on Ethiopian Airways, so I watched some West Wing before trying to get some sleep. Maybe dozed 90 mins max. After arriving in Addis we joined the visa queue and when that was done (£38 each) we went in search of our bags. They did not arrive on our flight. This happened to Mr C on our flight to Chengdu in the spring and to me going to Armenia in May. So after all the paperwork relating to the bags, we got to our driver and then our hotel.

Negusse is our guide and we have two companions, Jane from England and Karin from Texas.
Our rooms were not ready so we had a coffee and Nagusse tried to find out more about the bags. They are still at Heathrow, which is a pest as we fly on to Mekele first thing in the morning. Nagusse is very concerned we have the right gear for the Danakil Depression, averaging the hottest place on Earth. I have light trousers, top, underwear and sun hat in the hand luggage but my walking shoes and poles are in the missing bag. I’ll have to tread carefully in the sulphurous area. We are getting gas masks.

We had a minibus to Church of Holy Trinity, where we visited the grave of Sylvia Pankhurst, our of our more radical suffragettes. A random priest pounced and blessed me several times with his big silver cross.

At the National Museum we saw Lucy, discovered in 1974. It’s the partial remains of one of our earliest ancestors, believed to be 3.2 million years old.

A lot of devout Christians were celebrating St Mary’s Day, so we’re out in the street with fronds, and wearing white scarves and dresses. In a church near the museum they were singing so we went along to listen. We couldn’t see for the crowds but it was very jolly. Negusse took my phone and out it in his inside pocket as he thought it might get snatched in the crowd so I’ll have to take my camera out too.

We had some tasteless veg soup and thin fish with rice for lunch. I haven’t got my head round the money yet but I think 100 Bir is around £3.

We went to the Ethnographic Museum which is situated in the university. There were some interesting artefacts, like wooden head rests so the fancy hair didn’t get messed up, beautiful icons and silver crosses dating back centuries. They were all different. I wish I hadn’t been so tired as it was hard to take in. Also Negusse is very keen on telling us about every dead and alive relative of Haile Salassie. He is also very devout and kissed all the steps going into the cathedral not to mention various bits and pieces in the interior - a bit of a contrast to Amir, our Iranian guide who said he was born a Muslim but didn’t believe in religions. Negusse is a nice guy and speaks English but it is limited and he doesn’t understand our questions well enough to answer appropriately. We don’t really need to hear repeated several times what we have already read in Lonely Planet.

An early night as we are up at 4-30 am.