We went to Ethiopic last night to rehash the trip.
Ten things I'll remember...
Getting off that Ethiopian Airlines plane and seeing that air base, knowing we were in Africa, thousands of miles away from home. And it not looking so different. But also completely different.
Narrating to myself as we drove down the streets to the safari, seeing the barefoot children, seeing the women carrying parcels above their heads, the soccer teams, the school children in uniforms, the fresh produce we could not eat, the livestock at the side of the road, the boda boda riders with three passengers and sometimes a baby.
It was not nearly as hot as we thought. Lots of rain. We didn't use much sun block.
The women hanging out at the gas station. They were over-employed. The vendors, frantic to make a sale. The desperation to make a sale.
The colorful dresses worn by the wedding. Culturally significant, maybe. The Buganda culture. The Luganda language.
The mosquito nets over all of the beds.
The many, many bottled waters consumed. Washing our face, brushing out teeth, taking out the contacts. The nasty yellowed water.
The Waragi and the Bell and the Nile. All cheap drinks.
The excitement when we had wifi access.
Seeing those volunteers in the airport and being slightly uneasy, maybe more like disturbed, by their volunteer t-shirts, the saving the orphans. I almost felt like it was a bit patronizing, advertising their "look at me do-gooderness" good service. Is that silly?
Seeing three college friends together, two decades later and all of them grown up and married and so far from where they started. Good times.
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