Qat, cycles and the Blue Nile in Bahir Dar

  Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Sunday, October 16, 2005

From Lalibela, we caught a public bus for 2 short hours, bound for a village called Gashena where we were supposed to catch a connecting bus to Bahir Dar. Passing through a village to pick up more passengers we had yet another adventure. Our bus assistant was attacked by a couple of tribal men dressed in their blankets. Out came the iron bars (located conveniently by the bus door! Me thinks this may happen regularly) and the whole village gathered and tried to calm both parties. We sat on the bus communicating and bedazzled with the beautiful girls outside.
Eventually, after about an hour, the entire police force of the village (1 man) appeared to get everyone under control and the bus set off again.

An hour later we eventually arrived in Gashena and were immediately pounced upon by more local boys wanting to help us out. We accepted the help of a boy called Jordan who took our bags over to a restaurant for coffee. We sat in the sun as he explained that we wouldn't make it to Bahir Dar in one day on the buses, and that the best way was to try and catch a ride with a 4WD or a truck. We were skeptical and decided to wait for the bus.


We sat around for about 4 hours talking and drinking and eating as we waited for the public bus. Eventually we gave up and decided to hitch with a truck driver instead. The truck driver was muslim and so was on Ramadan. He spoke little English, but had with him a physics teacher who loved talking and flirted blatantly with me (and completely ignored Kirsty) for the rest of the day.


With 4 of us in the front cab it was a very tight but (for the most part) enjoyable journey. That was until my 'friend' started to get 'turned on' and started talking about sex, trying to convince me to 'play' with him. He said that in Ethiopia when a man likes a woman he will force her to have him. And if she says 'no' he will 'kick' her. Later after speaking with others we found this to be quite true! We managed to ignore the tricky situation until the tension appeared to have passed. At night the truck pulled into a hotel ($1 for the both of us!) and we set up room before heading off to a restaurant for some muslim food with the truck driver and teacher. We locked ourselves well away in our room that night and slept until we were woken at 5.30 to continue our journey.

Only a short while into the morning journey we managed to drop the physics teacher in a town, and set about fully appreciating the extra space in the truck. The driver was awesome and set about looking after us, stopping at roadside stands to by us food (even though he wasn't eating himself). We arrived in Bahir Dar just before lunchtime and said very reluctant goodbyes to our new found friend.


Bahir Dar is a large town by Ethiopian standards perched on the edge of Lake Tana. It is, to our utter amazement, tropical! We checked into the tropical (but expensive) paradise at Ghion Hotel and enjoyed fruit juices next to the lake, surrounded by hundreds of extraordinarily large hornbills and birds of all colours of the spectrum.


We ventured outside the complex for a walk around the lake and were immediately jumped on by two fellas, Robel and Tadele, wanting to be our friends. Having nothing better to do, we took them up on their offer, and the next morning hired bicycles and headed off on a marathon 23km journey over dirt tracks and through rivers, bound for a very distance penninsular where we were to visit a monastry. (Very cunning of them not to tell us the distance BEFORE we started...). The ride itself strenuous to say the least, and was followed by a 30 min trek through the woods until we came to a circular building with religious paintings on the wall and a stiff entry fee - the Monastry. We soaked in the atmosphere and took the opportunity to catch our breath before heading back.


Once finally back at the village and absolutely exhausted, Kirsty and I collapsed into the nearest restaurant, where we were fed and watered, watched coffee ceremony, and were forced to eat copious quantities of qat. This time we were taught how to properly - don't swallow! Just chew and chew and chew.... eventually we got ever-so-slightly high and set about planning to save the world.


We headed back to town in luxury (the back of a truck) and settled down on the banks of the Nile soaking up the atmosphere, enjoying the full moon and the wailing of Ethiopian music crackling over the loud speakers. Once we had soaked up more than enough alcohol, we were then dragged kicking and screaming for a night out on the town. We boogyed away at more than our fair share of bars before shaking on hotel gates begging them to let us in (we had been locked out...)


The next morning we checked into a much cheaper hotel and set about exploring the city by day light. The boys took us to the market, and then by special request, to have our hair plaited Ethiopian style. For the grand total of...$2 for the both of us!


I'm not sure where the time has gone but somehow we ended up spending a very enjoyable week in Bahir Dar and the region with our friends. Another day was spent watching videos, more time was spent at the Nile and at traditional dancing clubs, and then Robel and Tadele took us away for the night on a REAL adventure to see the 'holy' source of the Nile in a wee remote village deep in the countryside where they hadn't had any contact with 'ferengi' before.... but that is in itself another very long story...

In summary, we are having the journey of a lifetime through a breathtakingly beautiful country. Each day brings new friends, new adventure, and more deepfound respect for this very special country which has managed to preserve so much of its own culture.