Kevin wanted cupcakes . . . Ethipia Round 3, Day 23

This morning I had the distinct privledge of braiding "M^"s hair again.  We did a slightly more complicated do from last time.  Took an hour and a half, but it is always is well worth it!

After hair time we headed out in the city for a little more shopping.  Here are some of the sites along the way.

This is one of the hubs for public transportation.  Taxis.  Vans.  Buses.  People.  Everywhere. 

One of the many many meat markets around town.  They hang the meat on the racks and cut off as people stop by to purchase.  There is usually a cross or a crescent to denote if it's a Christian meat market or a Muslim meat market.  The Orthodox Christians and the Muslims have different traditions regarding the slaughter or animals.  Most meat markets are closed on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Those are ritual fasting days.

We did some more shopping in the Post Office area.  There are many shops with lots of stuff to look at.  When you shop here you expect to haggle . . . a lot.  As many times as we've been here I've become fairly good at this.  We definitely want to pay them fairly for their goods, but we don't want to be taken advantage of just because we're foreigners.  I made some good deals!

We drove by the Tiglachin monument.  It is a memorial to Ethiopian and Cuban soldiers involved in the Ogaden War.  It was built under the Ethiopian ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam.  The monument was dedicated in 1984, tens years after the overthrow of emperor Haile Selassie.  There is a lot of debate around this monument  and some have suggested that it be demolished.

We also drove by Meskel Square. It is often a site for public gathering or for demonstrations and festivals, especially, the Meskel Festival from which it takes its name.  The festival has been celebrated for over 1,600 years.  The word "Meskel" means "cross" and the festival commemorates what Ethiopians claim as the finding of the cross Jesus was crucified on. 

This is a very prominent Orthodox church near the Bole area of Addis Ababa.

Edna Mall in the Bole area of Addis. This is a very well-to-do part of the city.  Fancy shops and restaurants line the street.

Driving and parking are always interesting in this city.  This is our taxi van finding himself in the middle of a parking dispute!

Tonight we ate dinner at Cupcake Delights (Kevin's pick!)  While there we saw some of the movie stars that were at the guest house a few days ago.  See the guy in the left side of the pic in the red/orange blazer?  He's famous in Ethiopia!  Nati thought it was funny I was playing paparazzi!  

We had fancy coffee drinks.  "M^"s came with a foam heart on it!

We all had the fajitas (even the Ethiopians had the fajitas!!!!)  Nati and "M^" both really like them!  We told "M^" this was the closest thing to tibs we could readily get in the US.  

Kevin picked a restaurant called cupcake delights so . . . that means we HAD to have cupcakes!  This time we weren't the only wanting pictures of our food!

It was a good day.  We enjoyed being out and about in Addis.  We find ourselves looking deeper into the groups of people we see.  I know that as we waited in traffic or at different places I'd watch the interaction of people.  In the Bole area there are people begging and people walking by with more than enough.  Today I watched as a man selling oranges gave an piece to a child on the side of the road that had been begging for food.  I looked on as people passed by and casually gave coins to those sitting in rags, invisible to some, but not to all.  Neighbors can be nearer to us and farther away from us than we realize.  It's not always distance that separates us.  Sometimes it is time, money, circumstances . . . but it doesn't have to be.  We can shrink that distance with a mere smile, with a mere acknowledgment of each other.  Today love they neighbor in whatever way you can.