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Just below the horizon, amongst the armada of the bustle, stands a beacon; a white knight looking to siege the scenery of Meskel Square in Addis Ababa. This is the Hyatt Regency. From afar, it is a cornucopia of blanche. From near, it has an architecture resembling a consecrated holy ground – if you consider luxury to be sanctified – then yes, it is holy. The first text to see when one comes out from the square heading to Bole is the emboldened HYATT REGENCY in all caps and in a contrasting gray to its background. Between the white and gray colors, the Regency’s pulse is reverberating across the city. Click! The Wi-Fi enabled key unlocked the world of Hyatt. The weekend started on a Friday. It was the influencers and media weekend prepared exclusively by Hyatt aimed at promoting Addis Ababa as a destination for leisure and business and Hyatt as the heartbeat of the city. The gaslight was fuming at the back as we all mingled and talked. We headed to The Oriental at 7 for dinner. The Oriental is a living, breathing organism. Just as I entered, I felt its presence – its extraterrestrial abstractions from the very organized but chaotic vibe. Transfixed by the chandeliers which looked like celestial protrusions from a fantasy epic or meridians from the spirit world, we passed from one table to another finally to reveal a separate and more intimate dining room with a long Jacobean style dining table coronated with candelabras and cutlery. Infront of us was a painting of Addis, specifically Meskel Square, reflecting its real counterpart from behind us. The prestidigitation of the weather on Saturday morning was not really something new in Addis. It started off as cloudy and windy but ended up being sunny and hot. We were near Holeta, around the outskirts of the city, somewhere in a field driven from the Hyatt in black Mercedes sedans. We were surrounded by a grove of trees carrying and blowing winds from different patches of the land. The air was frisky so we digressed to our bodies and kept warm with tea and coffee. The sun was beginning to peak. We saw a giant balloon in front of us, the aerostat, which scattered across the field waiting to be filled with hot air. The time has come to fire it up. Our skilled Dutch balloon operator (aeronaut) instructed us about safety and the landing procedures. He was from Abyssinia Ballooning, the only ballooning service provider in Ethiopia. The burners started roaring. Our aeronaut fired up the cylinders and an explosion of hot air engulfed the balloon. As it slowly started to expand, the chase crew huddled near the gondola (wicker basket) and pushed until it culminated in us, the balloon and its entirety floating in midair. Everyone exclaimed. We were in the air. A few meters up and the air calmed down. As we held on to the beams in the basket, we felt the level of serenity encapsulating a sense of meditative trance with in us. Nature and the aerostat become one. The beauty is something words cannot describe. It was not only a treat to the eyes but a spiritual journey at its height; it attests to the transcendent piety of Ethiopia’s magnificence. By the end of our waltz with gravity, we slowly descended to earth. We disembarked from the gondola and drove by car to a mound nearby for our first flight ceremony – a centuries old tradition anointing us with the titles of count and countess with champagne and orange juice. This was the Balloonist’s blessing – a sign of assurance in the past but a sense of accession for the present. In the spirit of the blessing we raise our glasses and say, “To my city, to Addis Ababa, to the Hyatt Regency; we are gently back again into the loving arms of mother earth. Here! Here!”