When I last left off on our Ethiopian adoption adventures, we had just had court and had been able to adopt four child.

Greg, Michael and Ashenafe leave tomorrow night. The rest of us hope to follow in a week. If Ethiopian Airlines has their way, though, we'll never get home. They are just OUTRAGEOUS!! Every time we talk to them, the story gets worse!! The latest is, they won't issue any tickets for the kids until they see their visas AND they want me to fly separately from the children (as if) AND they can't get us on any flights from New York or Newark to Salt Lake AND they won't “allow” us to fly any airline but Delta, even though our tickets are for United.

We finally just said forget it and Greg will take care of it all when he gets home and can use a US travel agent. Sheesh! And this is going through the office at the Hilton – the one at the airport is supposed to be worse! So, I'm trying not to worry about it and just let Greg take over dealing with the frustrations.

We did some running around today and got to the Mercato – or as H called it, the “crazy market”. It is pretty crazy! Before Z had even parked, there was someone who attached himself to us as our “guide” (for a fee of course, but they never tell you that). We looked at baby blankets (the little receiving blanket I brought – even though it's thermal – is not enough now that the rains have come), native clothing, where I think we paid a lot, but what do you do. Then, we went into an area where they were selling spices – cardamom, curry, berberi, metmete, and much more, as well as all kinds of lentils, rice, other legumes, etc. They had great big slabs of butter sitting on tables and just hacked off a hunk for people who want some (hopefully they hack it off – it almost looked like they could take chunks out with their hands). The area smelled like . . . .rancid butter. :) Tons and tons of spices though. No saffron.

They also use stuff from the “false banana tree” and we watched them sell it and “work” it. I'm not sure where it comes from – inside? They end up with something that is a flour consistency, but that sticks together better than plain flour. They “sculpt” big towers with it and then the women use it to make bread. While we were out, we got sugar cane because Ashenafe wanted some. It's sweet, of course, but very fibrous – you chew it up and spit it out. Michael (age 14) was eating some inside the spice area and some older teen girls wanted some from him. He shared and Greg said one of them started being very suggestive in the way she ate it. Michael was totally oblivious and I was off doing something else. We have seen mamas that I swear can't be more than 14 or 15. I'm sure she knew what she was doing. Anyway, the Mercato was fun. We were the only ferengi as far as the eye could see, so yes, we REALLY stuck out. :) I'm supposed to go back next week and get more spices. Mmmm.