Fifth post from Porter in Ethiopia

Day 5, part 2

After the morning visit with Elsa, we were off to explore the city a bit. Our driver was really helpful and pointed out lots of interesting things as we drove through town.Addis is choked with smoke and diesel fumes, and it gets really overwhelming on Bole Road or one of the other main drags… after about 15 minutes of it, I get kind of nauseated from it. Luckily we were not on Bole Road very long.We drove though the Piasa neighborhood which was fun to see – it's a charming older part of town with lots of shops and tons of people. Very bustling and happening.

Then we drove out of the city up Entoto hill to the church of miracles (I forget the name of it), which was very cool. It was shocking to see the women carrying firewood down the hill by foot in giant bundles, which were literally bigger than they were. They carry it all the way down to the city to sell (for very little money). It was a great view from the top of the hill – we could see all of Addis, cloaked in smog but nevertheless a nice view. It was great to be in the fresh air, too. :-)

After we came down from Entoto, we went to the National Museum where "Lucy" is usually on display (the early human skeleton discovered in Ethiopia). Sadly, Lucy is on a world tour right now, so we didn't get to see her. But there were lots of other things to see.

We had our cultural fix, and it was time to relax a bit so we asked Henok to take us to a local coffee place – somewhere that we could go himself and not somewhere that a foreigners would go. And he did an awesome job . we were on the side of the road, on little 3-legged stools, and drinking the most delicious coffee I think I've ever had. It was awesome. A friend of his joined us too – a graduate student at Addis Ababa university who is studying Public Health. Really cool guy and fascinating to talk to.
Internet is slow now, so will try again later to post photos…