Day 2 "It goin rain!"

Wake up time is 8.30. 2 hours sleep doesn't feel great but at least it's something. Nothing that a freezing cold shower won't fix. 

We head for breakfast. We now see Addis in the light of day. It's hilly, cool  and a little rough around the edges

We wait for a long time for our tea and breakfast, but it is good and needed.

Decisions and roles and jobs need to be divvied out. Mike and Jack have the very important and responsible job of organising and administering the budget, Ellie and Lucy are our chief linguists, Will and Phoebe are the morale boosters, Emma is malaria-tablet-taking officer and Arseniy is in charde of decanting meths. George and Hinnd are the formidable food team, Billy and Briony are sorting accommodation, Dan is chief journalist and Christian and Holly are organising our transport. All of them are under astute leadership of Amelia and Pete.

First up is meeting and talking with our in country agent, Andarg. His English is fantastic and he supports Arsenal!

Mike, Jack, Tom and I then go on an adventure to exchange a lot of US dollies into even more Ethiopian Birr. The first bank said their 'machine wasn't working'. I'm not sure what machine was needed. We found another bank which was pretty chaotic. We were sent from pillar to post trying to find the correct teller. Eventually we got the cash, however it had taken so long that the weather had turned drastically on us. The rain was torrential. We were late for lunch! Tom made the decision, we will need to run. We regretted wearing just a shirt shorts and flip flops.

The first 100 yards of our storm dash went well. The hotel however is on a hill and we had to negotiate cascading water coming down the hill  . The altitude in Addis (2200m) suddenly became noticeably as the run became harder and we were short of breath. Disaster struck! My flip flop broke! I had to do last few metres with one bare foot, with local children goading me.

For lunch we had some lovely Ethiopian food of beef with the tangy injera bread. It is still raining however. 

Some of the group have gone to the supermarket to stock up on supplies for the next few days. Others shelter from the rain in the hotel planning our next activities and adventures.

Tomorrow we drive to Dodola in the south for the start of the project phase