Nati and our driver / tour guide were supposed to pick me up at my hotel at 7 am this morning. When I came down at 7:04, the receptionist told me they had been here 10 minutes ago but then decided to change the plan and pick up the guys first. Great. So I sat outside with all my luggage on the sidewalk and waited. And waited. And waited. After 15 minutes I thought, okay, they probably need some time to load everything in the car… After 30 minutes I thought, well, now they could really come… After one hour I was pissed. I went back to the receptionist and asked him to give Nati a call. Basically the moment he had him on the phone, the car arrived. Obviously, I first had to clarify the thing about my money. Luckily, it was past eight by now and we could go straight to a bank. I remember that I was getting nervous – what if my visa card really didn’t work anymore? In the end it turned out if anyone wasn’t working then it seemed to be the banker at the Sheraton! There was absolutely no problem with my card, I could finally pay and we headed off towards the Omo Valley…

When we got out of Addis, I must admit that I was happy to leave this place and all its annoying hassle. I was glad that I wouldn’t have to come back here - well, at least, that’s what I thought at this stage! For now, we were riding along the highway, enjoying total freedom, three of us in the backseat and Xavier next to Mike, our driver slash guide. Going on tour with three men I didn’t really know (plus Mike), felt a little strange in the beginning. Initially, I would have liked to have a woman in the group but in the end, I got to love the guys and we were a great team!

The rest of the day, we basically spent driving since it was a long way we had to get done today. Sitting squeezed in the car wasn’t always super comfortable, but taking all these roads was a great way of seeing more of Ethiopia than just the capital. I remember our stop in Shashemene, according to Lonely Planet “a strong contender for the least-attractive-town-in-Ethiopia award”. I know I remember it for having had my first Ethiopian Avocado Juice here, which turned me into an addict for the rest of my time in this country - there is nothing better than a huge creamy avocado juice served with lemon or a drop of fresh mango juice on top! Apart from that, the place can boast at least one claim: it is the unofficial capital of the Ethiopian Rastafarian community. (Rastafaris are those identifying themselves passionately with the last Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. In Jamaica, where the ‘return of Africa’ movement had been established, many saw the emperor’s coronation in 1930 as fulfilment of the ancient biblical prophecy that ”Kings will come out of Africa’. The emperor was accorded divinity - the Messiah of African redemption. The new faith’s name was derived from Haile Selassie’s name before he assumed the crown: Ras Tafari.)

Around 8 pm we arrived in Arba Minch, with 40.000 inhabitants the largest town in Southern Ethiopia. It was already dark and all we did was trying to find a hotel for the night. The one foreseen according to our itinerary didn’t have enough rooms anymore and we didn’t like it anyway (the places mentioned in our itinerary were more a kind of suggestion, we still had the choice). So we kept looking for accommodation and checked at least four more hotels across town. Although we wanted low budget, I can hardly tell you what kind of terrible places we saw. The cheapest “hotel” that offered a night for 1,50 Euro had a stinking “squat toilet / cold shower” in a rotten shed in the backyard…

The problem was that most places didn’t have enough rooms for the four of us or were simply so disgusting that we couldn’t stand it. After almost an hour, we finally returned to the least horrible hotel where each got a room with private shower (cold of course) for 4 Euro, which was already mid-range. The only trouble was that there was no water until around midnight. Maybe this should have already given us a clue about their usual business hours but only when I got into my room and saw the trashy flower bed sheets and a pack of condoms on the bedside table, I understood that this hotel apparently rented beds by the hour... I swear I never thought I would have to sleep in such a hooker hole.

At least we had a good dinner at Soma Restaurant, basically the only positive bit of Arba Minch. It is specialised in fish and only has seven dishes on the menu but I loved the bred and tomatoes I received as “mixed vegetable” plate.