Preview of Addis Ababa

I finally made it to Addis (the locals pronounce it 'Adees'), but will be here longer than the planned couple hour layover before going on to Dar. Flight from DC was delayed bc the plane was coming from Rome, which was late bc of volcanic ash. I missed my connecting flight to Dar by 5 hours, and the next one doesn't go until tomorrow. So Ethiopian Air put me (and 2 van-loads of nice Africans connecting to different places who also missed their flights) up at a nice hotel for the night.

 I made it! Me outside of the Addis airport. And, yes, I did chop off more hair. I'm not too fond of it at the moment, but didn't want to grow a mullet over the next 3 months...

I made friends with quite a few people on the long flight here: a woman and her kids from Uganda (living in Rwanda), a guy from a village in Kenya who is studying in Kansas, a girl & her little niece from Nairobi, Kenya who have family in Maryland, and a guy who lives in Virginia who is from Addis (and coincidentally knows a lot about water issues here & is planning to email me some material).

 Loading the bus.

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The clouds broke as soon as we got into the van. It's so lush and green here- I love it! 

It's already late afternoon here & raining outside, so I'm deciding weather I should go out into the city for a preview, or take what I can see from my balcony as enough for the night. I'll give Livy (someone who went to school w my friend Jamie who now lives in Addis) a call in a bit to see if logistics of getting together would be a hassle or easy-peasy & go from there. 

Addis Ababa- view from front of Hotel Riviera. You can't tell much in this shot, but the city is very hilly.

4 star hotel. 

 Room balcony. 

This view is great. The rain hasn't stopped a group of teenagers from playing soccer in the muddy field (which they are sharing w horses, donkeys cows, and some sort of wildebeast thing) behind the hotel. 

 View.

 Field/soccer game/livestock. Maybe this will be one of my research sites.

Feeling so sleepy all of a sudden.. Maybe I'll just take a little nap.... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.