Sat & Sun, 12/25,12/26

We trek a few km to meet our van waiting for us for the two hour ride back to Lalibela airport. Plane is quite late but we meet an American couple from Charlottesville who have a seven year old Ethiopian child who they adopted at age 2 1/2. They are on the way to reintroduce him to his birth mother and aunt who raised him. Lovely child who immediately engaged in play with Rachel, but with an all too common story. THe child was developing very slowly and after a year or more they realized that he was deaf. There is at least an interim happy solution. He has had a cochlear implant for one ear that has provided him with essentially normally functional hearing; he has had a developmental spurt and is nearly caught up with peers.

We arrive in Addis, get our bags at our original B&B, and proceed to the Sheraton for our first hot water shower in days, a real mattress, a warm room.

Sunday is another novel day. I asked Rick to rent a bus for us as we are going to take all of his kids to Sodero for the day. 2 1/2 hour each way, but a favorite treat for the kids. We have about 30 packed into the bus -- his 17 + some available siblings.

The kids swim for two hours. Rachel teaches one of the gIrls to swim. We watch dozens of monkeys au natural. On the way back we stop for lunch in Nazaret, where they can order whatever they want. They ask if they can order soda (coke, orange soda, 7up,etc) for an extra 6 birr. Total bill for more than 30 of us for a big lunch and a case of sodas is $30. Would be more than double that in Addis and at lest five times that in U.S.



Lynn says a prayer as we proceed back to Addis in our aged rattling bus after dark and prepare for their last night in Abyssinia, in the luxury of the Sheraton.