We spent 6 days in the northern part of Ethiopia.
Can I just tell you how honored I felt upon returning to Bole International airport on the flight back? The Ethiopian military was there in formation. It looked like an honor guard. Huge numbers of people with flowers were waiting. The airport had been cleared out and was very easy to pass through quickly.
When we got outside, there were cases and cases of soda waiting to be handed out. Plus, there were numerous shiny black sedans to choose from.
I thought, “This country is so great!!! Look at the way they welcome visitors to Addis…if you are the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso!” Can you believe all that hospitality was not for moi?
Since the African Union is headquartered in Addis, visits from Heads of State are not infrequent. Massive traffic detours because of visits from Heads of State area also not infrequent.
Because of the traffic situation at the airport when the Prime Minister was arriving, the taxi drivers felt it best to super-hike their rates. We chose to walk out of the airport, past all of the additional police officers, and take a minibus. It was much cheaper and probably almost as fast.
Also, if you ever fly domestically from Bole, keep in mind the domestic section of the Bole airport is no where near as nice as the international area. Bring your own toilet paper, soap and flushing toilets to the domestic section. It really was quite sad and disappointing the dramatic difference between the two areas.
