Queen Taitu Pension Gonder

Destination 374<br><br>km187'717<br><br>My journey across Ethiopia continues. Another part of this beatiful country could be discovered, even if I have discovered places, I didn't want to see... It was a lot talked about people throwing things at travelers. Here my experiences along the highway to Gonder: <br><br>Number of items thrown ...

... Gonder is Ethiopia's 'Camelot', complet with castle and fairy-tales, but I've got other tasks first, specifically malaria meds. Bahar Dar is next stop on the trip and they say malaria is endemic there, especially this time of year. So I find some mefloquine. They say start the treatment 1-2 weeks in advance is best, but 1-2 days at least. That's all I got. I'm sensitive, so hopeful. At least these prophylactics don't leave a ring in ...

... br><ul><li>Chilling out at the Belegez<br> Pension and meeting lots of cool travelers including Peter who we<br> went up the Siemien Mountains with &#8211; he taught at a Tanzanian<br> school with the Peace Corp <br> <br> </li><li>Randomly having tea with a group<br> of American grad school students who were researching baboons on top<br> of the Siemien Mountains.<br></li></ul><br><br><br>

... land confiscated for refusing to convert, once Christianity was adopted as the state religion. From 1985 to 1991, most of the Falashas were airlifted to Israel, so today only a few remain. Then, after a quick lunch, we headed down to try our luck at the bank. I'd gotten a pin for my Visa before I'd left the States for just such occasions, but who knew if my card had been shut off or not since I'd just used it to charge a plane ticket in Addis ...

... and they can tell you where anyone is and what they're up too! Last weekend we payed a flying visit to Steve and Sarah in Bahir Dar. Their place is fantastic (not only does it have water, but it's hot!!) so was nice to just hang out there. Was nice to have a full weekend off and whilst Debs explored the monasteries I had seen before I got my frolic on in a rather fancy hotel pool. Unfortunately this wasn't to last long as my ...

... climate. On the way we saw lots of young Eucalypt plantantions to cater for the ever increasing demand for cooking and heating fuel in the form of charcoal. Gonder is a provincial centre with a World Heritage site: the Royal Enclosure. This is a 7.5 ha walled compound with several castles dating back to the 16th century and ...

... When multiple patients come staggering through the doors it's like a war zone - on my first afternoon we had a patient in status epilepticus on the couch, a convulsing patient with cerebral malaria on the floor and then a man is carried in having seemly had a silent heart attack. In a similar fashion to the UK they are admitted directly to the ward, discharged or sent to the, what I call, medical assessment centre. This is a tent. The floor is mud ...

... England where they would probably be cheaper but wouldn't arrive for at least another day. It was 6am in England and with the parts in Addis needing to be on an internal flight in under 2 hours, yet again the clock was working against me. Jim was up and trying his hardest to make contact with the Bristol Bus Company but in the end I was forced to bite the bullet and go through with the order. The mechanic had managed to negotiate a discount of 1900 birr ...

... rather than circular). It was round, but was changed to honour the Ark. King Fasilada's bath was built simply for pleasure! Kinda like olden day pool parties. It was under a lot of renovation, but you could still imagine it's glory. Every year even now, they fill it up and have a huge celebration to honor Christ's baptism (Timket) and many people are also baptized in the water at this time. Empress Mentewab's ...