The Road To Addis Part ???: Addis. At Last

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Now before I launch into a celebration of the fact that we had finally reached Addis let me remind you what has gone on.

Mike & I had set off on Saturday Morning (I didn’t eat breakfast)
They tried to over charge us in Lake Nivasha, and then charge us for our bags in Nairobi
Saturday night was spent into Isiolo, we woke at 1.30 am to catch a truck at 2am
Sunday was spent on a truck, in the back with the cargo.
There was the episode during Sunday afternoon when I though my bags had been stolen
Sunday night was spent sleeping on the back of a truck
Monday was the bus ride from hell
Tuesday is today and its early evening and I want a bed
I have eaten 1 & 1/2 plates of chips since Friday evening (4 days and why? What goes in comes out and I didn’t want it to come out on route)
I have had about 7 hours sleep in a bed and another 6 on the various forms of transport

You would think that given all of this my focus was on getting to a hotel a meal and some sleep. I was sat wide eyed on that bus trying to take in as much as I could.

The one thing that struck me about Addis straight away was the contrast between 2 sides of a road. On one side were various embassies, their walls too high to peer over and gates guarded by very well garbed security men. There was almost grass on the bit of land that separated the wall from the road, and the bit of land was almost flat. Across the road was, what I can only describe as a shanty town: bits of corrugated metal held in place as a roof over bits of wood, dirty water and lots of rubbish. Soweto comes to mind very quickly.

Once the traffic was negotiated and we were in the bus station I thank the Ethiopian I had been talking too over the last 6 hours and went to get by rucksack. It was then a case of a private taxi to the Baro Hotel, where Natalie and Rene said they would be staying, just in case we got there before they flew off again. Thank fully I wasn’t that eager to get there other wise I would have paid about 4 the normal tourist price.

Whilst in Nairobi I had come across about 4 individuals travelling to Addis overland. Walter was one of them. I fact at Nairobi Backpackers no one could remember him mentioning that he had obtained his Ethiopian Visa before setting of for his Mount Kenya climb from which he intended to head straight to the border. But no here he was, this mild mannered sociology professor from Canada who liked dance, and sport arguing very hotly with the reception staff.

Walter had made a reservation for a single room. They didn’t keep one for him. And they had been telling him too come back every hour since midday. As an apology they did offer him a double room at full double room price but he was a bit irked at that. He then found somewhere else to stay across the road and asked for his bag. They said that the manager was on a course. This did not improve Walters’ mood. After some shouting, and a couple of staff ready to cart him away, he decided that he was going to call the police. By some miracle Walters’ rucksack was produced and off he went to Hotel Wutma.
I wish I could tell you a fantastic tale about what Addis is like at night, or what crazy exciting things I got up to that evening but it was a case of have a shower and, feeling slightly refreshed, off find some food.

We found some chips, and then a restaurant that could serve some thing a bit more substantial, tuna salad with chips. Then it was time for a quick drink and bed. However while getting the quick drink we did run into a group of about 6 people from Nairobi. So much for an early night...

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