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)

Bahir Dar – Blue Nile falls

Monday, 17 December

I spent a rather restless night. I was quite cold when I went to bed – in particular my feet – and I spent half the night trying to warm up. I kept moving my icy toes towards Giggles, but she kept wiggling away from them. It seemed hours before I fell into a deep sleep. At one point I awoke, worried that perhaps Laolao hadn't set the alarm right after all and we'd miss our wake-up time, only to overhear Laoye say from the other room "What time did you set the alarm for? It's already (mumble mumble). Shouldn't it have rung already?" To which laolao replied, "We have another two hours to sleep." So I did.

The call came all too early, and I woke Giggles, hopped out of bed, dressed, and put the few last-minute things into the suitcase. Our driver, Fasil, knocked on our door at the appointed hour and we set off in the early morning darkness.

By the time our flight left the sun had risen and we had a good view of the city's southeast section from the airport's upper storey. Mount Entoto is located in that direction, up which women climb every morning and down which they come hours later, heavily laden with firewood. We boarded around 6:45 and proceeded to take off at 7:10. An hour later we touched down in Bahir Dar, a city of some 250,000 people located on the shores of Lake Tana, Ethiopia's largest lake, capital of the province of Amhara. The airport at Bahir Dar is a very small affair, in size (though not in amenities) much like one that we would find in a small Canadian city with only local service.

From the airport we were taken to our hotel, the Tana hotel, set on the shores of the lake. After a short interlude during which we checked in and took our bags to our rooms, we were met by our guide, Kas, and headed off for our day's adventures.

The main event of the day was a trip to the Blue Nile falls. To get there, we first drove some 30 km along bumpy gravel roads, though small villages and alongside farmers' fields. Giggles was very excited to see cows! goats! and especially donkeys! carrying heavy loads of all sorts. Along the way we stopped briefly while our guide, Kas, purchased a stick of sugar cane. We proceeded to peel and chew it, sucking out the sweet juice and spitting out the woody pulp. A lovely treat

When we arrived at our destination, Kas gave us the option of walking the long route to the falls, which would allow us to see them from above, or taking the short route, which involved a boat ride across the Blue Nile river and would allow us to get quite close to them from the bottom, even feeling their spray. We chose the latter option, as much because I'm not the best walker as for the chance to get close. Some of the village children and youth tagged along up to the river. One young man saw that I was being particularly cautious and slow navigating the bumpy, rocky ground, and asked if I wnted a stick. "A walking stick?" I asked him, to be sure. "Yes," hr responded. "Sure!" I said. I always use a walking stick when hiking, but had not brought one from Canada, figuring they might object to my carrying it on the plane.

(When we went to China I was able to take my stick with me there and all around the country, meeting with objections only on the final return flight from Beijing. But I had taken one of my more ordinary sticks just in case it was taken away from me. This time the one stick I might have taken had broken shortly before we left, and I didn't want to risk losing the others, so I came without one. We often just make a "stick-of-the-moment," finding a good branch in whatever forest we happen to be walking through

So off he trotted, and came back with a lovely stick – just the right height, thin but strong and not too heavy. I thanked him, and he said he'd wait for me at the river crossing and when we came back I could return it to him. While crossing the river, a few musicians got into the boat with us and played some traditional music. Our guide explained that these were Asmari (?) singers, who sang praises of people – and the people praised then paid them some money. Okay, our first taste of tourist trap enterprise…

The Blue Nile at that point is not too wide, and the water is muddy brown in colour. Kas jokingly told us that the reason the water is brown is because the Ethioppians bathe in the water and it takes its colour from them! As we were crossing, we saw some egrets, pelicans, and a few other birds Kas couldn't identify.

Once across, we started our trek to the falls. The path was wide and generally smooth, though there were a few rocky parts where I was very glad to have a walking stick. By now the day was getting hotter. Bahir Dar, at 1800 metres (about 6000 feet), is at a lower elevation than Addis Ababa (about 2400 m or 8000 feet), so is generally several degress warmer. We passed numerous bunches of cows or goats, each with one or two children standing guard.

Some of these children, Kas said, would be too young to go to the village school (but still old enough to herd cattle!) or they might go to the afternoon shift at the school. Or they might not go to school at all, though the government mandates that all children should.

As we approached the falls, we needed to cross a small streamlet. Rocks served as stepping stones, but I missed my footing at one point and ended up calf-deep in mud. My white shoes were now all muddy, and even my jeans had suffered! This rather upset Giggles, wheo insisted on finding some large leaves and cleaning some of the mud off. That still left them rather dirty, but we assured her that we'd be able to clean them off later.

Finally, a good half hour later, we arrived at the falls. The roar of their thunder had been steadily increasing, and now we saw their beauty. We had crossed the river upstream from the falls; here they plunged about 40 to 45 m (133 to 150 feet) over a cliff of volcanic rocks into a first pool, then some 30 or 40 meters downstream took another, smaller dive before continuing their lengthy journey towards the Mediterranean Sea. As we approached the path we were to take, we watched some young women driving their cattle down a steep, rocky path to drink from the pools at the base of the falls.


We then descended from the height of land down a path that was slightly less steep. As soon as we were over the llip we could, indeed, feel the falls' spray, carried to us by a strong wind that seemed to be of their' own making. I sat there for a while on a rock enjoying the scenery and basking in the sunshine while Laolao, Laoye and Giggles went with Kas down another path that led right to the water's edge.

As we bagan our return journey, I noticed a cluster of cows and people in a small tree-shaded patch of ground where the young women had driven their cattle earlier. They seemed to have been joined by others, perhaps for a midday drink of water, perhaps to benefit from the falls' cool spray and the trees' shade in the heat of the midday sun.

One of the musicians had accompanied us on the walk to the falls and now, on the return journey, he stuck fairly close to me and was quick to provide assistance over the rough patches of ground. Normally I don't really require assistance except over particularly rough or steep terrain, and Laolao and Laoye know to judge when that is. And frankly, the "help" offered by strangers is often more of a hindrance, as they tend to grab me by my elbow or arm and try to hold me steady, when what is useful is for me to have something to hang onto that I can use to hold myself steady – which is a horse of a different colour and not something someone else can judge. But this fellow mostly just proffered his hand for me to hold, which was of some assistance and so mostly appreciated.

On the return journey Giggles was up to her usual tricks, chasing butterflies and dragonflies and spotting birds. Sharp-eyed as she is, she spotted a firefinch and a few other birds before anyone else did!

More musicians had appeared out of thin air for the return trip over the river. While I was quite content to pay the fellow who had accompanied us and helped me at the rough spots on the trail we all felt rather miffed at the expectation of payment on the part of the others, as we had not asked them to play for us, we had not invited them to join us, the entertainment they provided was skimpy at best, and they provided no real service.

I contrast these musicians to the young fellow who had fetched the stick for me. He was waiting for us as promised. I offered to buy the stick off him, as I knew I would be wanting one during the adventures to come. He was quite agreeable to that. He also noticed the state of my shoes and offered to clean them for me. At first I said it was okay, we'd do it ourselves later, but he said his house was close by and it was no problem, and ran ahead so that by the time we passed by he was sitting ready with a brush and a bucket of water. So what could I do but stop? He did a great job cleaning them thoroughly, brushing the muc off and rinsing them inside as well. I was quite happy to pay him for that service, since it did save me the effort later and I felt good seeing how clean and shiny my shoes were when he'd finished with them.

I saw in him an enterprising young man who saw a real need and found a way to respond to it, offering a real service. One does not mind paying for real services. The musicians, on the other hand, were doing nothing to benefit us. It may well be that their function within their society is as described, but I would imagine that they have a well-defined role, with a place and time for performing their functions. I would doubt that within the context of their society they force their unwanted presence upon total strangers and demand payment for doing so.

This is where the business of being a tourist becomes tricky. We go to a foreign country seeking an 'authentic" experience, but we are indeed foreign to that society and do not know its customs and practices. In seeking out the "authentic" we may cause it to distort itself and become something other than what it is in order to feed our appetites for the unique, quaint, or otherwise picturesque.

Getting back to my young friend, though he looked to me like he might have been in his late teens or early 20s, he was probably still a young teenager, as he told me he went to the local primary school (Grades 1-8) in the afternoon shift. I asked him what time the afternoon shift started. "Six thirty," he replied. "That's awfully late," I said. "No, it's only about twenty minutes from now." Right, in Ethiopia the day starts at 6 a.m. so noon is 6 o'clock. I knew that! I hope that he is given good enough opportunities to make a good life for himself. People with initiative like that – no matter how small the matters might be – deserve to do well.

On the ride back to town we were all rather sleepy and dozed a bit. Giggles had a fairly good nap but I found the road too rough to sleep particularly well. Our itinerary had called for an afternoon of sight-seeing around Bahir Dar, but we were all too wiped out, it was already after 2 o'clock and we hadn't yet eaten lunch. We ate in the hotel dining lounge, then Laolao took Giggles for some playtime in the hotel gardens while I had a nap in our room. After I awoke, Giggles showed me the lakeshore path where she and Laolao had walked. Then we played near the dining room and watched the sun set over Lake Tana at around 6:30.

Supper came next, followed by an early bedtime. Giggles was so tired she fell asleep before I'd finished reading her a single page of These Happy Golden Years, one of the Little House on the Prairie books that we brought along for bedtime reading. I followed suit shortly thereafter.

(Continue to 17 December: Bahir Dar - Lake Tana)

Hello from Addis Ababa!

Friday 14 – Saturday 15 December

We arrived late Saturday night after a lengthy but uneventful trip. (The most eventful happening was a phone call from the adoption agency on Friday, the morning of our departure, saying that Poppet's visa had arrived in the diplomatic pouch – so everything is a go – and now we know we won't have to extend our trip!!!) We left our hometown well before our Friday evening departure, since the weather was rather unsettled and there was a storm in the eastern States that was threatening to move up into Canada. The roads turned out to be mostly clear, so it took just the usual two hours to arrive at the airport in our departure city.

That meant we arrived a good five hours before take-off, and a full hour before the airline, KLM, was ready to accept our bags. So we found some coffee and sat down for a munchy lunch. Finally we off-loaded our 8 checked bags (including 7 full of donations for the various agencies and projects for which we collected items). About two hours after that, we went through security with our four carry-ons and finally were able to board the plane. It was a wide-body MD-11 and we occupied the mddle three seats and one across the aisle, near the back of the plane.

After a light supper we all settled down for some zzzzs. Giggles and I slept the best; Laolao and Laoye just dozed off and on but didn't really sleep. When I awoke, it was breakfast time, and then we began our descent into Amsterdam. The gate for our next flight was just a short walk down the hall. We had three hours to kill and spent it wandering the airport and resting. Giggles and I spent some time in the terminal store where she became intimately acquainted with all the stuffies on display, including one very realistic guinea pig. Then she and Laoye spent close to an hour walking to the other end of the airport and back.

Next we boarded the flight that would take us to Addis. We were in similar seats but closer to the front of the plane. This was a daytime flight (though very early morning Canada time!) and we spent a good part of it reading, colouring, and watching movies or playing games on the personal seat-back monitors. Giggles and Laolao also slept an hour or two. The flight landed in Khartoum and we waited on the airplane for about an hour and a half, then took off for the last leg of the trip!

Finally we landed in Addis Ababa, at just after 10 pm local time. We had to stand in line for our visa for close to 45 minutes, as the line-up was quite lengthy, but by the time we were done our bags were all off the plane. As we exited the baggage claim area the tour operator rep was waiting for us, sign in hand. They had a good-sized 4WD and were able to fit all 12 bags in! Outside the airport, the temperature was quite nice. We had expected a cooler evening, as nights this time of year (according to the internet forecasts we've been watching) can dip down to 6 or 7 degrees, but it was a pleasant 15 so we were fine with just the sweaters we were wearing.

The trip to our rental house took all of 10 minutes. The landlord was waiting when we arrived and showed us around. It is a fairly spacious and comfortable house – in many ways quite basic, but pleasant. The three bedrooms vary in size from a large master bedroom with a double wardrobe and attached bathroom, a middle-sized bedroom with a wardrobe, and a very small bedroom with nothing but a double bed.


Giggles and I have taken the master bedroom, since once Poppet arrives we'll need the extra space to move around and store clothes. (I think the bed is also a queen-sized, and it wouldn't surprise me if we all end up in it together.) Laolao and Laoye have the middle bedroom, and the small bedroom is "overflow" (!). There is also a small kitchen with a small fridge and a gas stove, and a large dining room with a good-sized table and about six chairs.

The living room has three sofas, a coffee table and even a television with lots of channels (the satellite dish is very prominent in the front yard). There is a lovely garden full of roses, geraniums, bamboo, lilies, and many other plants I don't know. A palm tree graces the front lawn.

For all this we are paying $40 a night (including the nights we are off touring, so for those nights we are "double-paying," but it is worth it to have the space and being able to spread out our stuff on arrival and not have to worry about packing up and changing rooms or lugging everything with us).

The kitchen has only very basic equipment (about 5 each of forks, spoons, plates, and cups and a few pots) but that should be enough. There are sheets and blankets on the bed and a few towels. My friend's friend, JN, who found the place and made arrangements for us, had put a few breakfast things in the fridge, so there was enough to do us for today and next Sunday once we're back from our first tour.

We did some very basic unpacking and hit the beds promptly – which still meant after midnight.

Sunday 16 December 2007

Laolao had set the alarm for 9:00 this morning, but we woke up spontaneously around 8:15. Breakfast was cereal and cold juice and milk, since there were no matches to light the stove. The landlord, Akilu, showed up around 9:00 and we asked him for matches, some table knives, and some toilet paper. Then his son, Fasil, took us to exchange some money. Our friend had told us that we could do so at the Hilton on Sundays, but Fasil took us to a black market exchanger. Not a street exchange – that is to be avoided, as they are very slippery-fingered – but a little shop that provides exchange services on the sly. The rate is somewhat more favourable there (9 birr to the US$ vs the official rate of about 8.5 birr) though the difference is slight enough that there's not a huge incentive to use the black market. We needed to exchange money right away as we needed to pay the landlord and he wasn't about to wait a week for us to get back from our tour!

Next on the agenda was a meeting with the tour operator. He came to our house and took us to his offices not far away where he gave us the airline tickets for our flights for the northern tour that begins tomorrow, and we made the final payment to him as well. From their offices on the 12th floor we had a good view of the city, with rolling hills in the distance and lots of green dotted amongst the buildings. By now it was getting quite warm – in the low 20s.

Those two transactions lightened our load of money considerably!

After that, our new friend JN arrived and we were finally able to meet her after numerous e-mail exchanges! She first took us to buy a few more groceries. Seeing as we'll be gone for six days, we didn't buy much but picked up some more cereal, water, and toilet paper (to go beyond the one roll the landlord provided). We also looked for a hairbrush for Giggles, since we forgot hers at home and her hair doesn't take very well to combing, being quite fine (so far that's the only thing that was forgotten!), but that store had none.

After unloading the purchases at home, we loaded up two of the donations suitcases and headed to the Weygoss to drop them off for a CAFAC representative who is currently in Addis. One and half of our donation suitcases are destined for Kids' Hope, a project of Canadian Humanitarian, CAFAC's charitable and development sister organization. We had to wait there for a few minutes for R to get back from lunch (it was almost 2 o'clock by then) – and when she did we realized we'd brought the wrong suitcases! We had brought the ones for AHOPE, not Kids' Hope. As JN says, everything around here is Hope this, Hope that, so an easy enough mistake to make. But R knows of AHOPE, which is an orphanage for HIV+ children, and said she would make sure the suitcases reached their intended destination. She also gave me the contact info for one of the local staff of the agency they partner with in the project so when we're back from tour I'll call him and we can get him the right suitcases. We hope he'll also take us to visit the project.

Next on the agenda was lunch, as our stomachs were starting to grumble. While waiting at the Weygoss we'd seen pizza arrive for some people (an adopting family from Calgary who had just picked up their 7-month old baby girl) so Laolao said pizza would be good! JN took us up towards the university on a bit of a tour of Addis (during which time I confess to having dozed off somewhat in the car, though I did catch some of the highlights) and we ate at a lovely café on the university grounds.

They did indeed have pizza. The waiter said one large pizza would do for one person, but the size he indicated seemed rather large, so we ordered two pizzas for the four adults plus some spaghetti for Giggles. Wise decision, as the pizzas were even larger than he'd indicated and we took half of one home with us!

On the way home we stopped at two more stores in a vain attempt to find a hairbrush… no luck. Combs aplenty, but no brushes. We'll try again later, on tour. Giggles said she didn't need to brush her hair while we were in Ethiopia!! Well, says I, if you don't then by the time we get home it will be so matted we'll have to cut it all off. "I don't care," says she with a little flip of the head. But she would!

Next was NAP time. We all lay down for about an hour. After that I had energy to play with Giggles outside in the yard. We played hopscotch on the stone driveway, played flying ponies, investigated the garden behind the house where we discovered three dogs and two chickens. Abraham, the landlord's second son, showed us the resident tortoise. It was starting to cool off, so we came inside and played hide and seek.

This fun was followed by a light supper of fried eggs, left-over pizza and tea (now that we had matches and could light the stove). After supper, Laolao and Giggles read stories and played while I got organized for our morning departure on tour. I had packed with the tour in mind, so most of our clothes were ready to go in one suitcases, but I needed to round up the necessaries I'd unpacked for today's use – my medications, our toiletries – and add a few things for Giggles to play with.

We set the alarm for 4:30 in the morning as we need to leave for the airport by 5:00. Fasil will take us there – his father has a taxi company and I think he drives for his dad – so we made sure he was aware of the time we need to leave. "11 o'clock Ethiopian time, about an hour before sunrise."

(Continue to Dec 16 - Bahir Dar: Blue Nile Falls)

One more sleep!

... and we're off!!! (if I ever get to bed, that is...)

Here are our donation suitcases.

We also have five and a half suitcases with our own stuff - one and a half large two small, and two backpacks. (The other half of the large is also filled with more donatins that came in after these bags were packed.)

Our small bags and backpacks will be carry on. Sure glad we won't have to lug them through too many airports!

I may not be able to post pictures during our trip, or not easily Laolao does have a digital camera, but the laptop we're taking is old and still runs on Windows 98. Laolao left the CD for her digital camera at home in Alberta, and I have been unsuccessful at finding a driver for it on the web. (The company stopped makiing Windows 98 drivers available for download just this past July.) So either I manage to get my film developed and put onto CD while in Addis, or Laolao finds somewhere that can download her photos for her... or we wait until we get home. We'll see.

An early Christmas

We celebrated Christmas last Sunday with our friend, Chuckles. Here are photos of Giggles, me, Laolao, Laoye, and Chuckles at the dinner table and during our gift exchange.