The first part of our Ethiopian adventure is coming to an end as we fly back to Addis Ababa today.

We had all night chanting again, supposedly because today (January 21) is the feast day of St. Michael, so the celebration goes for one more day!  People were walking toward the ceremonial grounds for yet another service. I asked if chanting goes on every night and was told it occurs only on feast days (of which there are many), plus 1-2 days a week. Apparently it is a way of life here.

We left the hotel for a ~ 25 minute drive to the airport at 7:45AM. The airport is tiny, as expected. There were only two other vehicles in the area also unloading small tour groups. We were told there would be two security checks even here and sure enough there was; one when you entered the terminal and one when you enter the gate area. Once again having a tour director made life easier. He simply collected our passports and told us to sit down and relax. He orchestrated the check in, tagging the baggage and collecting the boarding passes for us. Nice! We were safely seating in the boarding area by 9 AM, waiting for our 10:05 departure. There were no planes at the airport until 9:10 when a plane landed. No sooner it was unloaded then we were being boarded. We actually took off 15 minutes ahead of schedule.

Once back in Addis we will have the afternoon free before our group dinner. Only one of our group is not going on the southern leg of this adventure, where the emphasis is on the tribes who live there. It will be more like what we think of Africa- nomadic tribes living nomadic lives. I spent the afternoon relaxing and trying to get caught up on my blog entries, at which I had limited success. I did wander next door when I heard there was a good gelato store (we had not seen or had ice cream in two weeks). It was heavenly!

Because this is theoretically the end of the first tour there was a final group dinner at a local restaurant, where the major theme was Italian which everyone appreciated. Better yet, the food was very good.

Tomorrow we meet our new driving team; we retain our lead Ethiopian driver, Tommy, but get a new team of supplemental drivers for the trip south.