Bahir Dar – Lake Tana

Tuesday, 18 December

Giggles and I both slept soundly all night, waking only at 7 when Laoye came knocking on our door. Giggles dressed quickly and trotted off to Laolao and Laoye's room while I showered. Breakfast in the hotel dining room was a choice of eggs and toast. Our guide, Kas, was a few minutes late arriving, so we put the time to good use, purchasing a book on Ethiopian endemic birds to help us identify all the birds we're sighting as well as an alphabet and number book of African animals.

Kas and the driver arrived at around 8:40 and we piled in. Today's highlight was a boat ride on Lake Tana and a visit to Udo Kidan Mehret, one of the monasteries on the many islands dotting the lake. We avoided the one where women are not allowed to set foot, proceeding instead further to what is really a peninsula stretching northwards into the lake. If this were Canada one might have expected the place to be uninhabited, or at best sparsely inhabited by two-legged animals, but being Africa there are some 10,000 inhabitants on that seeminly small patch of eath, or so Kas told us.



Upon our disembarking, one of the 10,000 attached himself to me and again became my second "stick." With a bit of training (hold my hand, not my arm, and keep it low so I can lean on you, rather than high where you feel like you're supporting me but I can't control my balance) he did a decent job. I was appreciative of the assistance, as the path was somewhat rough in places with the ubiquitous pitted, black volcanic rocks that dot the landscape. In the mottled shade cast by the many trees lining the path, the rocks were not always easy to see. The climb took us a good hour, I'd say (since I'm not a fast walker) and Giggles managed to catch a few more butterflies on the way. We saw banana trees – sans bananas – jacaranda and coffee bushes with green beans that we picked and munched on. They were somewhat sweet inside.

At the top I made use of the "facilities" – a tin-walled shack with your basic squatty potty inside – and then we entered the monastery compound. Kas pointed out the dining hall, storage rooms and museum building, which we did not enter. Rather, we focused on the church itself. We took off our shoes to enter and then Kas gave us a lengthy "tour." As the son of a priest who went, initially, to traditional church school, he is quite knowledgeable in things churchly.

In the Orthodox tradition, all things are symbolic. The church has three areas under one roof, to represent the three persons but one authority that is the Trinity. The outer two rings are circular while the inner one is a square. Only the priests are allowed to enter the inner sanctum, where the replica of the Ark of the Covenant is kept (the original, so it is said, being in Axum). Its outside walls are decoarted with myriad paintings to help instruct the illiterate masses in the mysteries of the faith. Men gather in the northern section of the middle ring to hear the mass, held every Sunday, while women gather in the southern section. The two sexes spill over into the eastern section, and in the west the priests stand and serve Holy Communion. Mass is accompanied by the beating of drums and ringing of the sistral; the women approach from the south and men from the north, then circle back to their original places via the outer ring. Seeing as both the middle and outer rings are not large, many people will stand outside the church itself to hear the mass. Even if there were room for all, there are three reasons for standing outside the church, Kas told us. One is if you are late, because once the mass begins the angels descend from heaven to listen and if you were to enter the church you would be treading on them, which is forbidden. The other two reasons have to do with purity. Women are not allowed to enter the church on account of impurty at three times – when menstruating, for 40 days after the birth of a son and for 80 days after the birth of a daughter. Finally, anyone who has had sexual relations the night before is also impure and must not enter the church to hear mass. (Good thing the climate is warm enough one wouldn't mind standing outside most any time of year…)

In this particular church, the frescoes on the north wall of the inner sanctum told the stories of the martyrs of the faith and are said to have been painted in the sixteenth century. Two sections were apparently touched up in the nineteenth century, and the colours in these are somewhat brighter. The "good guys" are painted with two eyes while the "bad guys" have only one (so are shown in profile). Anybody with no eyes is dead. The frescoes on the west side, where Holy Communion is served, tell the stories of the Bible, from the annunciation to the death of Christ. On the south wall, the women's domain, the frescoes are primarily of the virgin Mary. All the characters in the frescoes are given somewhat Ethiopian features, though the skin colour is not as dark as one might expect for an Ethiopian, but the facial features and hair tone and texture match!

The south wall is the scene of one of the interesting stories of the faith, and one from which the monastery draws its name. A man was made by an evil spirit to eat human flesh, notably the flesh of his own child. Upon doing so he became a cannibal and proceeded to eat 78 people. One time, however, when he was travelling, he came across a person in the desert who was dying of thirst and begged to have a drink. He obliged and gave the thirsty man some water. Some time later the cannibal died and went to heaven, where Saint Michael set his good deeds upon the scale against his bad. One cup of water versus 78 cannibalized people. Mary, however, remembering how she promised that she would reward all good deeds, laid the shadow of two of her fingers on the scale on the side of the cup of water, thus making it weigh more than the man's evil deeds, and so he was admitted to heaven.

We talked more and at length, but there is too much to report here. During this time, Giggles had grown quickly bored and played outside chasing bugs and watching animals. Now we joined her once again and proceeded to walk down the mountain, passing two stands with goods for sale but not purchasing anything at this time.

The boat ride back across the lake was pleasant in the warm sun, and made moreso by the boatman's spotting of two hippos. He took us quite close to them, and we watched them submerge and rise again several times, drifting slowly closer to us. Kas figured they were standing onunderwater rocks, as their backs were quite far out of the water and that would not be the case if they were swimming.

Once ashore on our way from the boat launch to the van we again walked past a construction site where a tourist lodge is being built using traditional methods. All manner of people were hard at work, mixing concret, sawing wood, carrying rocks, making thatch. A part of the lodge appeared to be completed, but other sections were still under construction using all local materials -–the volcanic rock, various types of wood, and grasses for the thatched roof. In response to our question, Kas said the workers would probably earn about 20 birr a day ($2.20). When one realizes that, it quickly becomes apparent why serving actual tourists may be prized, as one might be able to earn as much or more for simply singing a few songs or selling a few trinkets… The 10 birr I paid my young friend for cleaning my shoes suddenly seems, on the one hand quite extravagant, and on he other hand oddly justified, for nobody should have to survive on $2 a day, especially not for doing such hard manual labour as building construction.

We ate lunch at a small local restaurant not far from the baot docks. Laolao and Laoye each had a fish dish while Giggles and I sampled the traditional national cuisine – a selection of wats served on injera. It was quite tasty and not too oily – something we'd been warned about.

Next on the agenda was a visit to the basket market, which didn't turn out to be much at all but where I bought Giggles a leather visor she liked.

This was followed by a drive out to Haile Selassie's palace. This was indeed little more than a drive, as the palace is off limits to ordinary mortals and one is not allowed even to wander the grounds, let alone enter the house. Tourist opportunity wasted! However, we did get a chance to view the city and surrounding countryside from the rise of land on which the palace is situated, and to run and stretch our legs a bit after a wee snooze in the van.

We then returned to the hotel and said goodbye to Kas. Tomorrow we drive to Gonder and a new guide will meet us there. It was nice getting to know him a bit; he was a pleasant young man, at 21 quite knowledgeable about the countryside, history, flora and fauna, and very pleasant and personable. He is studying journalism and communications, finishing a diploma this year and hoping to continue on to a Bachelor's degree starting next year. Guiding is work he does part time to earn money to pay for tuition, books and the like. He seems to enjoy it!

First thing back at the hotel was for Giggles to read a book to me – got to do some homework as she'll be missing three weeks of school. That was quickly accomplished, and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the hotel grounds, including a game of Tilley Hat frisbee. (Now you know just how versatile a Tilley Hat can be!) Supper was at 7:00, from the hotel's rather limited menu – good soups but the rest of the menu seems to consist of four dishes. Then I took Giggles to get ready for bed before the final surprise of the evening – a bonfire! This was actually the finished touch to a conference whose attendees were staying at the hotel, but we watched for a while before heading off to bed, to get another good night's sleep before yet another day's adventures.

(Continue to 19 December: Gondar)