Guesthouse Adventures

While in Ethiopia we stayed at the Ritmo Guesthouse. It is owned by Gail's husband so it is multipurpose. Families can stay with their children, and there are 15 babies that are currently staying there as well. This makes for interesting evening sounds. The weather in Ethiopia is a fairly steady 70-80, so the doors and windows were open most of the time. I am not bothered by the sounds of crying babies so I really didn't notice it. The ladies that had the adjoining room found it harder to ignore, but they weren't beating on my wall all night. They were so cute, that I don't think I would have minded.

The day we arrived was moving day. We started at the old Ritmo, and when we returned from picking up Nes, we were at the new Ritmo. This caused a small bit of confusion when we needed to have drivers pick us up. Thank goodness that the guards could give driving directions. The streets aren't really named, and houses aren't numbered, and I have no idea what the landmarks might have been. They all found us.

The biggest perk of the new guesthouse was the garden, and parking area. Nes spent a lot time kicking a ball. The first family that was there with us supplied a volleyball, when they left we were very sad. Another family came the next week and bought a soccer ball, oh happy day! The area around the house got a lot of use. The babies got to "tan" for an hour or so each day. We all would sit outside and discuss everything from baby care, to lice, to digestive systems, to Djibouti, to what the current smell wafting by might be. Good times.

The first day we all got to shower, flush the toilets and have our laundry done. After that the water got very temperamental. We could usually flush the toilet first thing in the morning, but by about 10:00 that was all over. You had to lay down in the shower and let it drip through your hair, which is not very effective if you have thick curly hair. I had pretty much given up on showers by about day five. My saving grace was Terry insisting that I accompany Helen on her trip to get a massage. She needed someone to go, so who was I to say no? We did have better water pressure, but it was cold. After the massage I really didn't care, I was that relaxed. We figured out how to conserve enough water to rinse ourselves off, to save the good water for the important things like coffee, and top ramen. As inconvenient as it was for me, it was really hard on the babies, and the kids at the orphanage. They were also without water. We had 12 people that had to use the toilets, they had over 100. It made me appreciate that we in the US have wonderful plumbing. Why us? I don't know why, but I am grateful, and I am here to tell you not everybody has what we have.

The people that came through while we were there were wonderful! They had great kids, they were funny, they were patient, they were bright, they were a pleasure to get to know. It was very much like girl scout camp, or freshmen year dorm life, you had to keep a sense of humor and go with it. Nes was very relaxed about the whole thing which helped a lot. We were probably the hardest to live with since we were there all the time, and we are an active group. Nes also liked to push the buttons on the VCR, so you could only watch five minutes of each movie. You got to preview a lot of movies that way.

We could have stayed at the Hilton. We would have had a pool, a fancy lobby, hot showers, easy access to the Ethiopian Air office. We would not have made the friends we made, or had the stories to tell, or the great pictures of all of the babies. All in all it was one of the best trips I have ever taken.