March 26-7

Wandered Kathmandu one last morning, streets familiar and unfamiliar, then took taxi to airport for entirely too many hours of dubiously comfortable travel. Let’s just say connecting through New Delhi is more than any human should ever have to endure, even if paradise is promised at the other end. Flying out along the wall that is the Himalayas– clouds indistinguishable from glaciers– was a hard farewell. Many long and frustrating hours later I landed first in Addis Ababa finally relaxed– a new continent and new attitude. Ethiopians with genuine welcoming smiles and some good food before the last hop to Dar Es Salaam where Charlie waited with transportation to the Safari Inn– making it all worthwhile. We took a few hours to wander around near our hostel, overlooking the restaurants we expected to find. In the afternoon, the steel grates are down and all the sidewalk chairs and grills are stored, so what looks like an empty side street becomes, in the evening, a string of restaurants packed with laughing customers and full of the smell of grilling food. Delightful.

 

T. Hugh Crawford