Ethiopia (Part 1)

26 September 2012. Met the tour leader for the Peregrine trip Kabel and the rest of the group. There's 15 tourists in all. We drive several kilometres to the National Museum and on the way see some people taking their sheep for a walk. At the museum there are crowns of previous Emporers and a throne together with paintings and statues. We look around a church and have our first experience of Ethiopian coffee and it is good. After lunch we walk around the Markato. This is open air market (notice I didn't say fresh air) that stretches for as far as the eye can see. This place is an assault on the senses. Smelly, dirty and hang on to your valuables. We go back to the Hotel to freshen up and then head off to the main square for the meskal celebration. Ethiopia is a strongly Christian country and the celebration we witness tonight is part of this religion. It culminates in the burning of a "bonfire". On the walk back to the hotel there's lots of locals dancing and singing.

27 September 2012. We leave the Hotel at 5:30 am for a 45 minute flight to Bahir Dar and pass through a tree lined avenue to our hotel on the banks of Lake Tana. We then head out to the Blue Nile falls passing what look to be poverty stricken towns. After an hours drive we commence what ends up being a 40 minute walk up and down rocky paths, past sales people and over a 17th century Portuguese built bridge. There are 3 distinct falls now. Before the Chinese built a hydro electric scheme on the Blue Nile it was one big fall. Kabel tells us that there are plans to do something similar near the Sudanese border. Not sure if that country has been consulted. Peregrine told me that there are no atm's away from Addis Ababa however the working machine outside the Dashen Bank in Bahir Dar challenges that assertion.
28 September 2012.  We take a 2.5 our boat trip on Lake Tana to an island monastery, Nargaselassie. It's a round building full of paintings dating back several hundred years. When we return to our craft their are people in boats with souvenirs for sale. Later on we go to a similar monastery on another part of the lake. This complex has locked up in cupboards old books and crowns. Not sure if the locals realise the fragility and the value of the objects they have.

29 September 2012. We leave Bahir Dar by van, crossing the Blue/Brown Nile as we head for Gondar. There are many people walking by the side of the road dressed in white and we are told they are going to a funeral. The country side is green with rice and we slow down many times to avoid donkeys, sheep and cattle. We reach the turn off for Sudan but decide to continue on to Gondar. In the mountains we stop for a photo opportunity and as usual people come out of nowhere to watch. There are also shepherds who use slingshots  to protect their flock. Our tour leader buys some "chat" for us to try. It's a stimulant used by locals but I don't think it's as tasty as coca. We arrive in Gondar early afternoon and after lunch go to a church which has a painting of Mohammed being "led by the Devil". Later in the afternoon we are taken to the Dashen Beer Garden. This not something I would expect from a poor, christian country. Loud music, dancing and beer served from a 3 litre beer bong which costs the equivalent of $3.50 US.

30 September 2012. Our hotel is high up on a hill and has a birds eye view of Gondar. You can even see the Royal Enclosure. We explore the Kings Palaces and they are everything I expected. My only disappointment is that we are not permitted to climb to the battlements of King Fasilidis Palace. We later visit the ruined mauseleum of Zobel, the King's horse. In Ethiopia meals for two people cost around $7.00 US including drinks, tips and government charges and coffee in even the dodgiest of cafes is to die for.

The Markato

Performers at the Meskel celebration