Please Exit Through the Gift Shop... Bahir Dar PART 1

Saturday morning, we woke up at 4 am to get ready to for our trip.  Assefa, the manager of Afroland, picked us up, and we made the short drive to the airport. It was quiet that early in the morning, and it was not difficult to make it through security, though different than Edmonton or London.  There is a machine right as you enter the airport that xrays all bags and personal belongings.  It is so close to the door, that the line up goes outside.  I was very glad it was not raining!  After that, we checked in and got our boarding passes.  We went directly from there to the gate, as it was nearly time to begin boarding (according to the boarding passes) but they didn't board the plane for another 30 minutes or so.  When it was time to board, we went down some stairs and then took a bus to where the plane was ready for us to get on.  The kids thought that was kind of neat.

It was a smaller plane, 2 seats on each side of the aisle; I think it said it held 75 passengers?  The flight was short and we made it easily to Bahir Dar.  Some of the passengers were continuing to Lalibela, so it didn't take long to collect our luggage.  The Bahir Dar airport was very modest but it did the job!
[photo - Thomas on plane; luggage carosal]

At the airport, I was looking for someone to be holding a sign with our name, but we didn't see anyone.  There was, however, someone from our hotel, so we assumed we were supposed to go with him.  The van from the hotel was the nicest we have been on since arriving in Ethiopia; not only did it have seatbelts, but headrests, cupholders and shoulder belts!  I thought perhaps this bode well for the hotel, which did not have favorable reviews online.

I was wrong.  The van was the nicest thing about the hotel!  The hotel was probably gorgeous when it was new... Too bad that was probably 50 years ago!  Our room was large, and there was a double bed and two twin beds... But that is the only favorable thing I can say about it.  If we had been scheduled to sleep there for more than one night, I absolutely would have called our tour operator and had him move us somewhere else.  But as we had a busy day ahead of us, and were only spending the one night, we decided we could handle it.  Barely.  I'm still not convinced we escaped without bedbugs or something similar. lol.  It was pretty "special".

When we arrived at the hotel, I called Werku, our guide.  He said he was on the way, and indeed, he arrived before we were even done packing the raincoats into the backpack.  He introduced us to the driver, Asenakeaw.  They will be with us for the first 3 days of our trip.  We left the hotel and drove through Bahir Dar to the dock, where we boarded a boat across Lake Tana.  The boat ride was long, but Werku entertained us with lots of stories about Ethiopia, and little tidbits of history.  He played with the kids and pointed out things of interest along the way.  Faith and Thomas had a little squabble over who got to sit on Dave's lap at one point, and I could tell they were tired.  We finally made it to the peninsula where the church was.

We got off the boat and headed up the mountain.  It was muddy and slippery, and keeping our shoes clean quickly became a hopeless cause.  As we walked, there were many children with small "booths" along the path.  "Please have a look at my shop. Good prices."  Repeat, repeat, repeat.  We are not huge trinket buyers and it was sort of annoying to not be able to enjoy the hike in peace and quiet (not to mention, the path was rough and slippery at times and required my full concentration not to end up tumbling down the hill!).  We made it to the top, and visited the church.  Such amazing history!  It was a round church, with three concentric circles.  The outer ring for services, the middle for communion, and the holy of holies in the centre.  The walls of the church were covered with artwork, depicting bible stories and the life of Mary and the Apostles.  It was fascinating to consider how that artwork ensured that a non-literate population was able to gain familiarity with the basics of the faith.

Ura Kidane Mehret church dates from the 16th century

I liked the pictures of Mary nursing Jesus... To think there are Christians who think breastfeeding without a cover is "immodest"!  If it's good enough for Jesus... ;)

There were several other buildings, and at one of them, Thomas lost a tooth!  He had been wiggling it all morning, and he came to me and said, "My tooth is bleeding."  I looked and it was barely hanging on.  I gave him a kleenex and he pulled it out!  He was so pleased with himself.  He lost a tooth in Ethiopia!!! lol.  One of the Ethiopian men at the building got such a kick out of Thomas with his loose and then missing tooth!  He was grinning and giggling like crazy.  There were two other men with him who didn't crack a smile. lol.

When we were done looking around up top, we began the descent down the mountain.  It was still very slippery and muddy, and of course the children were peddling their wares. It's tough, I don't really blame them for trying to earn a living, but it is just so wearisome.  We did buy some coffee, and a cross, which we will use as a Christmas tree ornament (I usually buy something to put on the tree whenever we take a trip).  We were about half way down, when we heard monkeys!  I saw 2 or 3 run past, but Faith and Thomas missed them!

When we got down to the boat, there were young men offering to wash our shoes.  Dave started to say no, but I asked how much.  They only wanted $10 birr per person (about 50 cents).  Yes please!  So they scrubbed our shoes and got them more or less back to wearable condition.  I didn't have any 10 birr notes, so I gave a 50 and told them to divide it.  They began talking excitedly among themselves, and I thought maybe this was a problem, but our guide said they were just so excited by the extra 10 birr!  It sure put things into perspective...

After that, we began the boat ride home.  The guide had bought a bag of lemons to bring back for a friend, and he gave the kids each one.  They had great fun sniffing, tasting, and ultimately eating the lemons!

 The boat took us to where Lake Tana meets the Nile River.  We can now say we have been on the Nile!  Apparently there are hippos in that area, but we didn't see any!  This woman was steering her boat with a baby on her back!

The boat took us to a very cool restaurant for lunch, and that is where we said goodbye to the "Captain".  Werku got us set up at the restaurant, and then disappeared while we ate.  I think maybe he is also fasting, but doesn't want us to know?  :)  When we were almost done, he came back, and entertained Thomas while Faith finished eating.  Werku is going to have to adjust how long he leaves us to eat compared to other families, as Faith, though doing better than she was this summer, still takes a VERY long time to eat!

The driver met us at the restaurant, and we proceeded with the rest of our day... A trip to the Blue Nile waterfalls...