We are headed back to Addis Ababa today, leaving the hotel at 8 AM. To break up the almost five  hour drive (274 km) Chris has planned a couple of stops to see yet some more of Ethiopia. Near the hotel is the local daily fish market and we stopped for a short tour with a local guide. This market is not what I expected. We are on the shores of Lake Awassa and the fish that are for sale are those caught overnight by local fisherman, mostly catfish, Nile Tilapia and Nile perch. A team of 4-5 fishermen go out in rowboats at night, lay out large nylon nets with empty water bottles as floats, and spend the night on the lake. Part of the group handles 1/2 night while the others sleep in a nearby village, then they trade places during the night. The nets are retrieved early in the morning and brought back to shore where the catch is separated from the nets. There is a fish cleaning house nearby where men clean and filet the fish before offering them for sale and/or sending them to a series of nearby outdoor simplistic restaurants where an Ethiopian fish soup or fried fish  are prepared for waiting customers, mostly men. Oh, the other major visitors to the area are pelicans and storks who wander around looking for scraps. There are always young boys throwing fish scraps to the birds in hopes that tourists will give them some local currency (birr). There are also the souvenir hawkers trying to sell products. There are concerns that the lake is being over fished and the government is building a land based fish farming operation here to make sure that it does not happen. The tour was somewhat interesting because of its uniqueness, but after about 20 minutes we were ready to move on.

By 11:30 we stopped for a brief comfort stop and to pre-order lunches. Then it was more driving. I swear we spent almost as much time in the left lane, passing slower moving trucks, local buses and tuk-tuks as we did in the right lane!  I was amazed at how fast we often drove through the smaller villages, often over 40 mph, even though there were people and animals standing on or at the side of the road. Our drivers were certainly skilled at maneuvering the roads and situations they encountered. I am totally surprised there are not more accidents here.

It was a late (2 PM) lunch at a restaurant overlooking a lake that had been created in an extinct volcano crater. Forty five minutes later we were back on the road for the final 1.5-2 hour (depending on traffic) sprint back to Addis Abba. Thankfully the final stretch was mostly on a major, modern toll road freeway. We did see evidence of some major road building going on, compliments of the Chinese, so future driving to the south (eventually all the way to Kenya) will be easier and faster.

We were back to where we started, the fairly decent (hot water, flushing toilets, AC) Best Western hotel in Addis by 5 PM where we said good by to our drivers and thanking them for our safe journey. Our trip covered over 5400 km (3355 miles).  We had time for a quick shower before meeting at 6 PM for a final group dinner. I changed into the clothes I intended to wear on the plane as I had planned to leave later tonight, rather then spending the last night of the scheduled tour in Addis. International flights from here leave around midnight and had I spent the night I would have had to kill the day tomorrow before flying home. In hindsight it was a great decision and many others wished they had done the same. Everyone was ready to go home!

Dinner was at a Mediterranean inspired restaurant owned by a lady of Armenian heritage. Chris had ordered a set menu that included typical starters (hummus, tabouli , falafel, burek), followed by shish-kabobs of fish, chicken and beef. The restaurant had recently added a wood-fired pizza oven where you order pizza by the meter. Chris wanted to try it so he ordered a “meter” of margarita pizza to augment the meal, not that we needed more food. Everyone agreed the food was excellent and the restaurant was a wise choice. To top off the meal, Chris treated us to gelato at the ice cream store next to our hotel. It was a fitting ending to our trip.

By this time it was a bit after 8 PM. I finished packing up my things and returned to the lobby to catch the complimentary 9 PM hotel shuttle to the airport which was only about 10 minutes away. The airport was crowded as I expected, but flying business class allowed me to find the lightly used business class line and I was able to avoid the madness of the airport. There was even a special line at immigration for diplomats and other VIPs (like business class). I was safely seated in the surprisingly busy business class lounge by 10 PM. We boarded our Ethiopian flight to Frankfurt around 11 PM for a scheduled 11:30 PM departure. There was about a 30 minute departure delay but I was not concerned as I had a fairly long layover in Frankfurt.

Once aboard I put on my slippers, told the stewardess that I intended to sleep and wanted no meals so she put a “do not disturb” sticker by my seat. After take-off I put on a sleep mask and drifted off to a fairly decent five hour sleep. We landed in Frankfurt pretty much on time at 5:19 AM, local time. All in all it was a very nice flight and I was rested.

Trivia:  These big jets land at a speed of about 150 mph; good brakes are important!

The business class lounge in Frankfurt was almost empty when I arrived so I decided to take advantage of the nice free showers they offer there. It is amazing what a hot shower does after a long flight.

I boarded the plane to Seattle with a German pretzel I bought at the terminal; I really enjoy them. Our flight left on time; it is slated to be a 10 + hour flight. Lunch was decent; surprisingly the menu was the same as our flight home from our German river cruise last September. I slept a few hours, worked on the narrative part of my blog relying on hand scribbled notes I had taken on the trip, and watched a movie. I had a window seat hoping to get more pictures of the Canadian mountain ranges as I had on previous trips but our entire flight has been with clouds below so no new pictures. Total transit time Addis Ababa to Seattle was about 24 hours including the layover in Frankfurt.

Yvonne had warned me that it had rained in Seattle every day the entire time I was gone so I had packed my raincoat in the outer pocket of my suitcase so it was readily accessible when I landed. Sure enough I needed it but it felt good alter the dry, sunny weather I had experienced the past three weeks. I caught a cab to the Seattle ferry terminal, then walked on the Bainbridge Island ferry where Yvonne picked me up and brought me safely home to Miller Bay. My “Ethiopian adventure” was over.