Ethiopian Excursion

Over Christmas we decided to take a trip to Zanzibar, Tanzania. We flew through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a night where we met up with Nuri and Lil. Nuri is working in Zambia for an NGO,but is originally from Addis. Lil is one of our roommates in Lusaka who was also headed to Zanzibar for the holidays.

Nuri was a wonderful hostess. She had a bit of a challenge since we were only there a night. She took us to Yod Abyssinia an authentic Ethiopian restaurant. Yod means "a respect of declaring to pay attention to a visitor." This restaurant didn't just cater to foreigners there were a mix of locals which is always fun. Who wants to be in a place without locals? It kinda defeats the purpose.

One of my favorite things about this restaurant was the seating. It was very open, each group was seated near the other. We all participated in the same show as we sat around our food. There were no booths to barricade us from one another which offered the feeling of sharing in an experience together.

One of the many things I learned that night was about the dance patterns of Africa. The type of dancing a person does may be an indicator of where in Africa they are from. The further down in Africa you get the further down the body the dancing goes. For example: In Ethiopia they dance more with their shoulders and head. In Zambia they use more of their hips and legs in their dancing. The dancing here is incredible, it brings such life to the culture.

A little live music, we don't get that too much in Lusaka.

A little drama in Amharic, the local language.  

They danced for hours.

This is our beautiful hostess ordering for us.

Getting cleaned up for dinner.

Honey Wine (it is very sweet)
and an Ethiopian Beer.

The performers came around to different
people and danced with them.

Couple shot.

Our delicious food.

They serve popcorn when you order coffee. The coffee
is some of the best I have ever had.

It was a quick trip to Ethiopia. We wished we could have stayed longer but Zanzibar was calling our name.