Lake tana

Trip Start Jul 10, 2006
1
28
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Trip End ??? ??, 2007


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Flag of Ethiopia  ,
Saturday, September 9, 2006

Just the one day in Addis, Assewa was guiding me for the afternoon. We went to the National Museum, then were joined by his "brother" who turned out to be pushy and unreliable and taking a course in tourism (figures). Spent 5 minutes at an awful menagerie with just lions and monkeys, then a chat joint where someone came along and supposedly said all the vacant tables were reserved, but I'm sure our buddy was persona non grata. After that I brushed him off and had injera with Assewa. These guides have excellent appetites but it works out well because they give you a lot of food and I only want about one-third of it.

Yesterday up at 4:30, taxi was there on cue at 5, reached airport at 5;30, boarded at 7:30 but then rode the shuttle bus back to the terminal due to bad weather at destination Bahir Dar. Boarded again an hour later and took off, but after 5 minutes we circled back to the airport due to a "minor problem" (wondering what they would say if there was a major problem). Stayed on board while they fixed the problem, and reached Bahir Dar at 11:15 after the 1-hour flight. The bus takes 1.5 days, so not so bad.

I pitched my tent beside Lake Tana at the Ghion Hotel, then took a minibus to the Blue Nile Falls, one hour drive plus half-hour hike. The falls were unusually full because it's the end of the rainy season, it's been a wet year, and it was late in the day, all favourable conditions. Still considerably less flow than prior to hydroelectic projects.

This area reminded me of Lesotho but lusher, muddier, less rocky. Women without shoes were carrying bundles up and down the stony paths. I bought a scarf from a kid for 30 birr ($4 CAD). I bought $2 US from another kid just to help him, then wondered whether it could possibly be some kind of scam. I've heard that kids in town who guide or befriend you will ask for a book instead of money, a good gambit because you think they are being scholarly instead of mercenary, but they'll take it back to the shop and get half the value from the shopkeeper.

Today, a full-day tour of 4 monasteries on Lake Tana, four of us in a small boat. All of them featured centuries-old paintings in a very appealing, naive style. The first, Narga Selassie on an island far out in the lake, was very peaceful with very sweet monks who nevertheless were quite adept at extracting the birr: just when you were ready to put away your camera they would bring out another cross and pose irresistably. The last was the best, though open to men only (Jean had to stay in the boat and we were told that some of the monks a 5-minute walk up the hill had never seen a woman). The priest spoke good English and had more amazing stuff tucked away in the tiny cellar-like museum than the National Museum had.
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