I was able to travel back to Ethiopia with Travis Dunn to pick up his new adopted son Asher. Ethiopia has such a different culture than the United States. I was very excited for the opportunity to go back and explore more of this wonderful country.
In Ethiopia, what you can take pictures of is very limited. You are not allowed to take pictures inside of churches. You also cannot take pictures of ANY government buildings. While driving by the US embassy, someone in the front of our vehicle took a picture that used a flash. A guard saw the flash and reported it. The street was quickly blocked off so we could not go through. Three guards armed with AK-47s came and got us out of the car and questioned us. After 40 very tense minutes, we were allowed to go. It was definitely an experience I will not forget!
This is a scene of the streets of Ethiopia.
These sheep are led around through the streets in between the cars and people.
In Ethiopia, you are not allowed into the churches if you are not of that religion. Pictures are definitely not to be taken inside the churches.
Construction scaffolding is not the same in Ethiopia.
We found out that you are not allowed to take pictures of police officers without their permission. Travis and I asked over 50 police officers, all of them armed with AK-47s, if we could take a picture with them. They all said no. I finally found this nice female officer who said it would be okay for us to take a picture. It's very different here!
The Ethiopian National Museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is located close to the University of Addis Ababa Graduate School. By far the most famous exhibit of the museum is the 3.5 million year-old skeleton of "'Lucy," the oldest hominid that has ever been found. Lucy was found on November 24, 1974, at Hadar in Ethiopia. After two weeks of careful excavation, 40 percent of a single hominid skeleton had been discovered. ("Hominid" basically means a being in the ape/human family that walks upright.) Lucy's skeleton has been dated to just under 3.5 million years old, making her the oldest hominid ever discovered. When she was alive, Lucy would have been about 3-1/2 feet tall and weighed about 60 to 65 pounds.
