So, what's it like in Ethiopia?

My trip to Ethiopia generated so many potential blog posts. Before I get too deep into water and sanitation needs or Ethiopian coffee, let me tell you a little about what it's like in Ethiopia.

We started our trip in Addis Ababa. Addis has approximately four million people, many traffic circles and only two or three stoplights. The streets are crowded with cars, blue and white minibuses, people and, every now and then, donkeys. This picture gives you a sense:

UPDATE:  The picture above was taken by Sam Effron.  I found it through a Google search and thought it provided a great illustration of traffic in Addis Ababa.  Many apologies to Sam for not providing credit in the original post.  

Driving down the road, we saw men playing Foosball on tables out in the middle of dirt sidewalks, buildings under construction with wood scaffolding and cement floors that didn't seem very level, vehicles loaded with people and goods. One pickup truck we saw near The Mercado was stacked 10-12 feet high with sacks and sacks of items from the market. A goat balanced on top of the tower of purchases.

Our hotel was relatively fancy with an elevator, wi-fi and flush toilets. We saw many people in town standing in line to get water at public water points. And power outages seemed like a common occurrence.

The second part of our trip was spent two hours outside of Addis. We stayed in a town called Ginchi and visited two nearby villages where Water 1st sponsored water projects. The courtyard of our hotel in Ginchi looked like this:

During the day, donkeys and other animals wondered into the courtyard. At night, our drivers parked their 4x4s in the courtyard. And inexplicably started the engines hours before we were supposed to leave.

The countryside near the villages we visited was beautiful and reminiscent of California.

The villagers live in one room huts with no electricity or running water, dirt floors, and very little furniture. Frequently, animals spend the night in these homes. Women build cooking fires in these poorly ventilated homes, creating a very smoky environment.