Addis Ababa Merkato and flight to Nairobi

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Fish and Daniel picked us up about 10:00 for a trip to the Merkato - the largest open air market in Africa. We wandered around for a couple of hours and were amazed by the variety of goods for sale - foodstuffs, mats, baskets, furniture, building materials, carpets, -- if it’s not there, you don’t need it.

Cheryl was fascinated by the donkeys. Daniel told me that if one owns a donkey, he can earn up to 100 Birr (about $9) per day. Goods are transported around the Merkato on peoples’ heads, on donkeys, and even on trucks. Most store keepers in Ethiopia come to the Merkato to buy their goods in quantity and then truck them back to their home town to be sold for a profit. People, trucks, cars, mini busses and donkeys coexist and share the streets of the Merkato.

By noon it was time to head for the airport, check in, have a Coca-Cola (universally available throughout the world) and get on the plane.

The two hour flight on Keya Airways Boing737 was calm, well-serviced, comfortable and generally uneventful.

That all changed when we were met at the airport by our taxi driver, Gabriel, who took us on an adventurous ride through Nairobi traffic. As a former British colony, they drive on the “wrong” side of the road, you know. We arrived at about 5:00 PM, the beginning of the rush hour. By the time we got close to the center city, it was nearly impossible to make any headway. It was move two blocks, sit for 3-5 minutes. Move two blocks, sit for 3-5 minutes. Until we finally cleared the central city and traffic opened up a bit. We checked in at the Mennonite guest house and the desk attendant had a message for us. You’re not going to fly up north day after tomorrow, you’re going to fly out at 7:00 AM tomorrow.

We had geared ourselves for a relaxing day on Thursday to see the Elephant Orphanage and the Giraffe Center. We would also have time to repack our bags since we will be flying on a small MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) plane to meet Gloria and are only allowed 20 Kg (44 pounds) each, including our carryon items. We also planned to hit the ATM for some more Kenyan Shillings to take care of our trip away from places where ATM’s are available.

Instead, we got to jam in our ATM run, our repacking, our trip to the nearby Cedar Road the WMPL (World Mission Prayer League) house to store the extra luggage with Julia Harrington (the director there), and perhaps even squeeze in a pizza, since we really hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Mission accomplished! We made it back to Mennonite by about 10:39 in time to climb into our jammies and a few hours of fitful sleep before arising at 5 AM in time to shower and meet our 6 AM taxi to the small private airport for our 7 AM flight to northern Kenya.

Since our time in Nairobi was so rushed, we didn't get a chance to take any pictures. You'll just have to wait until we return in about two weeks.

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Photos

Merkato - Addis Ababa
human transportation of goods

Merkato - Addis Ababa
woman preparing cheese for packaging in small package to be sold