This was a really short day, or so it seemed. Most of it was on the plane and that day really ran into the previous one. We landed very late at night. It was very dark and I think close to midnight. Maybe it felt like midnight, but in any case it was really late. We gathered our stuff and went to the visa line where there was only one other person waiting. This was a good thing as how I mentioned in the earlier post.....I had decided I wouldn't use the bathroom on the plane again and really really.....REALLY....had to go at this point. Thankfully, the visa process took only two minutes and I used the airport bathroom which is not much higher on my list than a airplane bathroom, but I have no fear of being sucked into space on that one and there is more room to maneuver. I am glad that I had toilet paper with and in a matter of minutes was ready to rock and roll. We were waived through customs, changed our dollars to birr and ventured outside to find our CHS driver. Fekadu was waiting for us with a sign. We loaded up into an old van and scooted through the streets at full speed ahead. We took in the city which was rather alive at night and made a stop at the director's house to meet him and his wife. They were very nice people and wished us luck.
Exhausted we made it to the guesthouse where Massi showed us around and gave us the lay of the land. We met a couple of our travel date mates for the first time. Some were already asleep, but the ones we met seemed like okay people (okay....we would get to know them as phenomenal, but at this point, half asleep and shell shocked.....they were okay). We were the last to arrive which meant that we had the last room available. A small room with a double bed and closet, no private bathroom.
The bathroom was right next door and not too bad. As you can tell....I have major bathroom issues (mostly psychological) and was terrified of the fact that you weren't supposed to flush t.p. and also that the door did not lock.
But, I was more than happy with the accommodations as this was not supposed to be a vacation to a five star hotel or a romantic get away. This was a trip to pick up our very handsome twin boys and we liked the idea of the dorm like atmosphere as we were first timers, me with no experience at all - not one diaper- and it was good to have helpful hands and advisers a stone's throw away.
Looking back, the friends we made, the way we were treated by staff and yes, the accommodations were more than adequate. They were perfect and nicer than any vacation we could have even had in the states.
We wouldn't change anything about our trip. Almost immediately after arrival we went to bed. We looked over the packet of info we were given on the boys. Tons of new pictures, their schedule, their personalities -likes and dislikes. This was real and we would be meeting them tomorrow morning. TOMORROW!!! We tried to memorize every detail for the embassy appointment the next day as well.
The other travelers would be going to the museum as they arrived days earlier and had already had time to adjust and meet their little ones. No one to guide us in the morning, so to say. Even with all the excitement.....it wasn't hard to sleep. Okay, wasn't hard for Mike to sleep. I still had a horrible cold and phlemy cough. I was hacking and choking all night and finally took the antibiotics my uncle gave me just to get some relief. I finally got a couple of hours of sleep. The alarm didn't go off and we woke up about 15 minutes before breakfast and needed a shower the next morning.....but that is for tomorrow's log. I will end today just saying how much I loved the guesthouse, the staff, our travel mates and also....the most important thing........the unlimited supply of SODA. Okay....Ben and Seb were the most important by far as the other things I mentioned previously...but the Soda was mighty fine.
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