Hoying Party of Five: Day Three Ethiopia Trip February 1, 2011

On Tuesday, our last day in Ethiopia, we woke up and had a leisurely morning and breakfast at the hotel.

A photo of our hotel, The Jemimah House

Around 10:00 a.m. we met Tsegaw, who would be our driver and tour guide for the day. I cannot say enough about this man. Everyone that we talked to absolutely loved him and by the end of the day, we did too! Our friends said that he was a "rock star" and that he was. He was funny, nice, very knowledgeable, well respected and the best possible person you would want to take you around the city. So.. if you are ever in Ethiopia, you need to get together with this man.
First, we went to the Institute of Ethiopian Studies at the Addis Ababa University.


The Institute of Ethiopian Studies

Addis Ababa University

It was interesting to see a college campus on the other side of the world, very similar to here I must say. The institute was very beautiful. We had a guide take us around and explain the exhibits. I only understood about 1/3 of what he said but what I did get was very informative and interesting. There is so much diversity and history of Ethiopia which I would love to learn more of to share with Bejigo someday. I was amazed at the fact that almost everything that we saw at the museum was so symbolic from their baptism rituals to their musical instruments. After touring the museum, I gave Tsegaw my shopping list and he took us to some very specific stores to get the items that I wanted. First off, a store to buy Bejigo an Ethiopian soccer jersey. Very fun! Then, Tsegaw took us to a silver shop for jewelry. To enter this store, you had to walk underground and we would have never even seen this store without him. As we entered the shop, I was amazed. It was beautiful and all of the jewelry was handmade by the young man working there. In this store, they just price the jewelry by weight. So the owner would weigh the jewelry, make the calculation and then just show you the price on the calculator. One of my favorite moments, was when I asked the owner how much for a specific piece of jewelry, Tsegaw looks at the calculator and says "we don't like that price," and then the owner re figures the price for us. It was so great to have a trustworthy local there to help us out.

Next we went to lunch at the Lucy Resturant. For those of you who don't know who Lucy is. Lucy is
the skeletal remains of a female hominid, Australopithecus afarensis, found in Ethiopia in 1974 and dated at about 3 million years old. Lucy is the most complete australopithecine skeleton yet discovered, being about 40 percent intact. So anyway, there is this restaurant at the museum where Lucy is.

As we got out of the van, Tsegaw asked us if we wanted to stand on a turtle...was he serious??? Yep. Here I am standing on top of this turtle.

It was beautiful outdoor gardens and then there was also a traditional house with tables inside. We sat inside the traditional house which was amazing to see the craftsmanship that goes into one of those. It was also interesting that although it was hot outside, about 70-80 degrees, it was nice and cool inside. Tsegaw told us that because of how the leaves are on top of the house, it lets the warm air out and keeps it cool inside.

Greg and I with Tsegaw


Inside the traditional house for lunch

Next, we headed to the music store where we purchased a CD from where Bejigo is from. We asked them what the teenagers like to listen to there. Their response, Michael Jackson and Beyonce. So funny! Then off to the spice store to purchase some berbere, a spice used in lots of Ethiopian dishes. We were wondering of we would be able to get it into the US just because it was not marked and in a baggie, but we did.

Tsegaw and I at the spice store

Our last shopping stop was a store to buy traditional clothes and then to a very neat cafe. For those of you who know me, I hate coffee, so I had a hot chocolate instead. This was a new coffee shop opened by a famous singer who just came back from the US and opened it up a few months ago.

We were pretty tired after our adventures in the city of Addis, so we went back to the hotel for dinner and packed up for our flight home later that night. Here were a few more pictures from around the city.