What follows in this post is a rough outline of our itinerary. Things could change on the ground, but this is the tentative plan as of now.
July 30: Fly out of Detroit Metro airport on KLM airlines, changing planes in Amsterdam and probably again in Khartoum before landing finally in Addis Ababa on the evening of July 31.
July 31: Overnight at the Desalegn Hotel in Addis, which is down the street from the European Union building, and less than a block from Dr. Rick Hode's house. (To read about Dr. Rick, go here.)
Aug 1: We will probably sleep late to recover from the flight, but then we'll walk over to Dr. Rick's house and visit his kids. Rick himself will actually be in the US, in Ann Arbor in fact, when we get to Ethiopia. We are like two ships passing int he night. He will arrive in Ann Arbor tomorrow morning, shortly before we head to the airport. He's planning to stop by our house to see Feleke and visit with my family before we leave. Anyway, on Tuesday, we will visit his home in Addis, which is occupied by his adopted children, several of whom are adults now, as well as by a bunch of other kids who are former patients of his. We have been told that his household runs remarkably well even when he is not around. Thomas and I will store some our luggage at Rick's place when we go up north. Also, I will be bringing a computer to give to one of Rick's sons, Million, who has started a new business. He is a travel planner. Indeed, he is the planner of our trip, and he has done an excellent job. Anyway, I learned that he needed a laptop yesterday; I emailed the IT guy at the Law School (John Loyd) tonight; and he agreed, three hours ago, to donate one of his old laptops to the cause. He just emailed me that he left the laptop on my desk at the office. (Thanks, John.) We are also taking a laptop for Feleke's brother Kabede. Kabede is completing an IT trading program and needs a computer. One of my very best friends, Michael Gill, found a great one for him at Costco and paid for most of it. (Thanks, Michael.) So Thomas will carry one laptop on the plan, and i will carry the other. We will also be handing Feleke off to Kabede, and maybe to Feleke's other brother Simee, who will be coming to Addis to pick him up. We spend the night again at the Desalegn.
Aug 2: We get up early and fly to Bahir Dar. There we get to see the Blue Nile Falls, take a cruise on Lake Tana, and tour some ancient monasteries.
Aug 3: Drive to Gondar, the ancient capital of Ethiopia, where we will see the ancient castles of the Gondarine Kings. (Sounds like a line from Lord of the Rings.)
Aug 4: Drive to the Semien Mountains. It is the Grand Canyon of Africa, and the highest peak is 4500 meters above sea level. (You do the math.) There we will fraternize with the endemic Galeda baboons. Or not. We'll see how we feel about that when we get there. (Will they be on leashes, for example?)
Aug 5: Fly to Lalibela and see the 11th century rock hewn churches. You can read the NYTimes profile of the area here. They apparently do not have safety railings, a fact that prompted Ruth Ann to remind me roughly seven times not to let Thomas get too close to the edge.
Aug 6: Fly back to Addis and relax. Maybe see the city a bit.
Aug 7: We are supposed to get a tour of Addis on this day, either from our tour guide, Million, or from one of Dr. Rick's assistants.
Aug 8: This is the day reserved for meeting with my former student and now professor of law at Addis Ababa University. His name is Taddese Lencho. Taddese and I will be meeting to discuss some research we are doing together on the Ethiopian tax system. We will meet with some Ethiopian government officials to talk about the struggles the government faces in administering their tax system. I will also be doing some research on the nature of property rights in Ethiopia.
Aug 9: We drive to Adama, also called Nazret. This is the first leg of the trip to Dafe Jema. We needed a driver and translator, since none of Feleke's family speaks English (other than him now). We were fortunate to find such a person. He is the brother of a doctor at the University of Michigan hospital, who happens to be from Ethiopia, and he is a geo-physicist at Addis Ababa University. He has volunteered to take two days out of his life to drive drive two Americans he has never met to remote village in Ethiopia so that we can visit a little boy's family. (Thanks, Shimeless.) We will probably spend the night of Aug 9 in Adama.
Aug 10: Get up early and drive to Dafe Jema. Well, drive as close to Dafe Jema as we can get. The last leg of the trip will be on horseback. Should be cool. We plan to spend the night in the village with Feleke and his family.
Aug 11: Say goodbye to the Biru Kumbis and bring Feleke back to Addis.
Aug 12: Flight leaves Addis.
Aug 13: We land in Michigan.
This will be my last post until we get to Ethiopia. I'm not sure how much time, or Internet connectivity, I will have to post during the trip. But I will try. I will definitely write something up when I return.
Here is a shot of Feleke in the University of Michigan Law School library.
