We were still waiting for a call from Bruke at the garage, but it never came. It was becoming more and more frustrating having no car in a large city and having to rely on Rolf to give us a lift everywhere. The other option was to use the Hilux HiAce minibuses which were really complicated unless you knew the city really well, or to take a taxi which were quite expensive.
In the evening we had arranged to meet up with Jack and Ryan, along with Adam who had just arrived in Addis on his bicycle. We met at a top Italian restaurant in the city centre, introduced Rolf to everyone and shared stories about our journeys so far. After a few beers we aimed to get a taxi home, but as usual various taxi drivers constantly quoted us ridiculous prices just because we were white.
For a short journey which should cost us 50birr (£2.50/€2.75) we were being quoted 130birr, but a stupid quote meant we would search elsewhere. Eventually we found a taxi who quoted us 50birr exactly and we accepted. On the way back though, he took a wrong turn and tried to drive his Lada over a 20cm (8 inch) concrete central reservation in the road and got stuck. Me and Nathan had to get out and tell him how to drive it out safely, otherwise we would never have got home. This is why we needed our Landrover back.
Day 74
The call came in the morning that the car was fully ready. We arrived at the garage to see the mechanics still working and cleaning the car. After an hour it was complete though and we could finally drive off into the city to get the engine jet washed. The Landrover now felt and looked new again, it had never been so clean.
After going out for a bite to eat at Lules, Rolf reminded us that we still hadn’t sampled the local Taj, an Ethiopian wine made from honey. We had left tasting it all through our trip in Ethiopia until Addis where we had heard the quality is much better, and so in the Afternoon we went to a local bar which was renowned for the best Taj in Addis along with Lule and Chimey.
As per usual when with Rolf, the drinking didn’t really stop, and carried on until the late evening when we finished the night off by going for another traditional Ethiopian meal called Kitfo, a raw minced meat served with cheese and spinach, a weird taste, especially because I prefer my food cooked.
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