Ethiopia, Addis Ababa

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Again I am at a loss for words upon arriving at a new African destination. WTF?!?! Where am I?!?!?! first leaving Kigali airport was a treat in and of itself which I appreciated the superior nervousness I obtained while taking my first inter-African flight. I succeeded in arriving in Addis Ababa, but somehow failed to connect with the guesthouse I booked and more importantly with the driver who was supposed to pick me up at 1:30am…..blurg….buuuuuuut I yet again managed and arrived to not speak English to the security guard but did get a room with my own toilet paper, towel, soap, sandals, and bottle of water. #WINNING!!! So my first day entailed arriving (success) and then trying to find contact solution as I was running low. Contact lens solution is a rare commodity in the developing world and I have actually had my mom ship me some in South America to save costs as the price can get ridiculously expensive. This time I travelled around by mini bus between broken English instructions to find my way to 6 different pharmacies. Normally, ie, in the states, you can buy this product at Target or even a grocery store. Outside of the US I have found that this particular item is usually only found in pharmacies or chemists…silly but whatever. Weeeeelllll……I never found it in any place in Uganda or Rwanda, so Ethiopia was becoming a last chance effort. I think I could get it in Cairo, but the timing would be sooooooo close this was a necessary investment in time to find anything. After the 6 pharmacies one lady informed me that I could probably only find it at an eye clinic. So I walked a lot up and down past fancy hotels and the office of the prime minister to eventually come across this place where I could obtain my commodity. Also, usually in target I can get two larger sized bottles for around $7 USD. The bottle I purchased was half the size, only one bottle, and twice the price….butts!!!! So I paid like 8 times what it should/could be but this is a thing for me and I guess I need it so I have to pay the price. $15 USD to see for a quarter of what im used to seems silly, but again, I was volunteering the last month or so in which I really only paid for beers. And only about 80% of them…so I spent about $70 for the month instead of my usual $1000 so Im ok with the difference in price to be able to see….Also my first impression of Ethiopia is that I made a mistake. I really should be here for longer. This place has so many different cultural things going on and the people look different, the language is way foreign, the food is totally different than the rest of the places ive been….so many things and I only have 11 days to explore the whole country. Impossible. I have decided to RUN to the rasta place and hopefully its terrible and I want to leave immediately to get on to the next spot but I am quite aware that I will not have enough time to explore this country to the fullest. Its day one and im already planning on coming back. Just too many amazing things to see and I don’t have enough time to do it all. I will get the main things I need to have happen, but I already feel incomplete in my adventure of this place and the day isn’t even over………cheese and rice……also, YAY Ethiopia! Somehow I had a weird feeling about this country in that I wouldn’t really like it. Too much Christianity or maybe the MSP connection with the crack stacks gave me an icky taste in my mouth about this place, but for real this is pretty facking cool. Im digging it. Cant way to see what the next 10 days brings!!!! Yay travelling!!!!!

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