Addis Ababa - Days 40-44

It's been a whirlwind in Addis that's for sure.

I'm staying with a family friend here so it's been nice having some kind of 'anchor' even though they live a LONG ways out of the city center.

Day 1: Uneventful. Arrived really early in the morning and waited for the guy, John, to pick me up from the airport. Napped and ate and saw a tiny bit of the city.

Day 2: Uneventful. Went for a little drive in the city but was mainly home the whole day. I basically tag along with John when he runs errands.

Day 3: Quite eventful. It started out the good kind of interesting. John dropped me off at a main transportation hub so I could catch a minibus taxi to the Addis Ababa University area. I was walking toward the Ethnological Museum when this guy struck up conversation and offered to walk with me to the museum. I should have just ignored him but he was quite knowledgeable and I was guarding my things carefully so I didn't see the harm is just chatting. WRONG. Anyway, we parted ways at the museum and decided to meet up for lunch at this very old and authentic restaurant, which turned out to be really delicious. For like $5, I got a huge portion of injera (a soft, spongy pancake made from fermented batter) with a variety of meats and a bottle of tej (honey wine). It was seriously HUGE and I ate about 1/5 of it - ME. But Yonas (my new thief friend) told me that is the smallest thing on the menu and intended for one person. Ethiopians sure can eat.

After lunch I stayed with Yonas and met up with a few of his friends for coffee and chat (the plant, not the verb). It's also called khat or qat and is a plant that supposedly brings on a high when you chew enough of it. I know I know...I shouldn't do drugged, especially when I'm abroad, but it's not a drug and I had very very little of it. No euphoria for me. So basically we sit and chew and drink coffee and talk for like three hours and everyone was having a good time. Then the bill comes and I have a minor stroke. In a country where nothing I saw was over $10...the bill for three of us was the equivalent of $180, which means my portion was $60 and I had about...$7 on me. Lesson #1: ALWAYS ask the price even if it looks super cheap. So I said I don't have the money on me but I can pay them back and I think that's when they started plotting to steal my phone... They were still really nice about it and said don't worry, I can get the money later. But they wanted to follow me to where I live to get the money and that triggered an alarm. I said we can exchange contact info and I will give them the money later, but I was scheduled to leave that night to another city and won't be back for a week. Looking back, I understand why they freaked out, especially since they live in a country where one's word really doesn't mean anything. So naive of me.

They seemed "fine" with that idea and we decided to wait at a restaurant while I figured out when my bus was leaving. John called and said the bus was arranged and he would come and fetch me, so I tried to explain to him exactly where we were. I then gave he phone to Abraham, Yonas' friend, to have him explain and that's when he took off with my phone. He didn't run at first but just got up to "ask the waitress" and after 10 seconds I realized I made a huge mistake and both of them were nowhere in sight. The best part? I had to pay for their beers as well.

The restaurant people stepped in to help and to make a long story short, we went to the police station to file a report. Normally I would just call it a lost cause but I had pictures of the two guys from earlier and thought it might be worth a shot. Cross my fingers. I understand why they stole my phone but it's worth a lot more than $60 damn it!

Day 4: So anyway, yesterday I printed out the pics and took it to the police station. The two guys at the restaurant had to return and give their witness statements as well. Super nice guys (I think).

Day 5: Last night I was supposed to catch a 2am minibus to Bahir Dar (about 10 hours north) and I get sick. The whole day my stomach was cramping and by dinner time I was throwing up and by evening I was running a fever. Midnight was round 2 of throwing up so I and everyone decided I shouldn't go quite yet. Therefore, I'm still here in Addis trying to return to 100%.

Stay tuned...hopefully I will have some interesting updates for you as this saga plays out.