Day 2 Travel... an Unexptected overnight stay in Ethiopia

So, after we got our passport stamped, Sherri needed to get her overnight bag which she'd been required to check in NY, so we proceeded to find a person to explain the situation to (not easy to explain with a language barrier).  2 hours later &after many conversations with the person in charge, we find out that for some reason, Sherri's bag was not on the flight.  They dont' know whether it was left in NY or maybe was left in Rome when we had to let the person off for the medical emergency?  they weren't sure where it WAS, only where it WASN'T... at this airport.

We then went out through the metal detectors & waited in the area as instructed.  We were told 10 min... 50 min later, we asked an airport policeman if we were in the correct place, he directed us to another person to ask, only to find out we'd been waiting in the wrong area for almost an hour.  We hustled down to the new place we were instructed to go and thankfully, the driver was there and had waited for us for 45min (\YES, he got a tip!!).

The drive through the city was an eye-opening experience--a lot of open air markets... a lot of people... alot of poverty.  Houses & businesses were tin-rooted shantys--- no running water, no electricity, no bathrooms.  No trashbins, so refuse littered the streets and behind homes and neighborhoods.

Our hotel room was clean and had flushable bathrooms (no squaty potties, thank you God!) and two little beds, so Sherri and I were able to get enough sleep to feel rested for our journey to resume the next day.  The beds were a little bigger than cots and my bedspread had stains on it, but I forced myself not to think about it and just try to get some sleep.

Below is a view outside the window of our hotel room-- what isn't pictured is a huge pile of trash behind this little community.  What also isn't pictured is the sound of laughter we could hear from the kids who lived in this neighborhood as they played in the streets.  Kids are the same everywhere and have such an ability to live above their circumstances.

This was another view out our hotel window... frightening!  There is new construction in Ethiopia and this is a picture of the scaffolding used in by the workers.  This takes fear of heights to a whole new level!

We ate lunch and breakfast at the hotel and were very pleasantly surprised by the food.  I was so excited to eat the salad and Sherri whispered a word of warning about not knowing how the lettuce was cleaned, so I ended up pushing it around on my plate but not eating the lettuce, only the tomatoes, cukes and hot peppers.  The other food consisted of a green bean dish, a potato dish and rice with curried lentils.  Yum!  No tummy problems with the food!  Yay God!  For breakfast the next morning, I REALLY enjoyed the Ethiopian coffee! (I agree with Randy Alcorn... there may just be coffee in Heaven!)

Back in the room, we got a call from Mike, the director of the village, saying that Barb (the other mini-missionary staying with us) was on our flight from DC but she made it to the village.  We later learned that Ethiopian Air gave our seats away,which wasn't uncommon :(...      but that is a story for another day!