It’s A Hard Knock Life

Azuwa Maryam Monestary
see all photos »

By Christina

After boarding an early morning flight from Addis, we began our journey through Ethiopia’s “Historical Circuit” - the Northern part of the country, home to castles, island monasteries, rock hewn churches, and ancient tombs, not to mention Ethiopia’s largest lake, the mighty Blue Nile, and one of Africa’s tallest mountain ranges. Our starting point: the small town of Bahir Dar, on the shores of Lake Tana.

Post-rainy season, Lake Tana is not the blue jewel described in the guidebook, but rather a brown mud bowl comprising 1000 square miles. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful spot to spend a couple of days and, more importantly, it is the source of the Blue Nile, which flows north to the Mediterranean. We had fun telling the kids that the water they were looking at would be flowing past Luxor and Cairo in a few weeks’ time.

Firewood seller in papyrus boat
see all photos »

We checked into the Tana Hotel, a government-run hotel that is part of the Ghion chain located on a picture-perfect promontory on the Lake. The combination of concrete block architecture and mediocre service and food led to several enlightened conversations about communism with the kids, and we later learned that there was some accuracy to the communist label, as the hotel was built during the reign of Ethiopia’s communist party.

After a quick breakfast, we met up with our guide Solomon, for our first excursion: a speedboat ride on the lake to visit the island monasteries. It was great to be out on the water, and we enjoyed bird watching (the younger travelers are quite the budding ornithologists) and marveling at the passing boats made from woven papyrus. It is mind boggling that these flimsy looking boats float (in fact, they last for 2-3 months). What really blew us away, however, were the men we saw rowing papyrus boats filled to capacity with firewood. Solomon explained that it takes these men five hours to row from one side of the lake to the other. After selling the firewood for about $8 and grabbing a short night’s sleep along the shore of the lake, these guys row all the way back across the lake. They then gather more wood, load up their boat, and start all over again.

priest with ancient manuscript
see all photos »

Watching these men brought to mind a subject that we have revisited time and again on this trip: where one is born is just the luck of the draw, and we could just as easily be running barefoot in the bush or selling plastic pyramids on the banks of the Nile. All of us have been reminded about how lucky we are to live in the US where there is plenty of food, medicine and opportunity. Here in Ethiopia, getting water is a struggle, many, many children do not go to school, and these men put in two days’ hard labor to earn a lousy $8.

see all photos »

Scattered around the lake are islands, many of which contain monasteries dating from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. As Dan explained in his earlier entries, Orthodox Christianity is huge in Ethiopia and the people are very pious. Although several of the monasteries are for men only, we were able to visit two on the Zege peninsula (about an hour from our hotel in Bahir Dar). The first, Azuwa Maryam, is known for its colorful biblical paintings, and hearing our guide walk through the stories of saints, apostles, and angels depicted on the walls, harkened us back to the time we spent at Notre Dame in Paris.

Blue Nile Falls
see all photos »

Abby continues to be fascinated with the saints, and really enjoys hearing the Ethiopian legends about saints and spiritual people. Of particular interest to her was the story of Belai the Cannibal who devoured seventy-two people, including members of his own family. Despite his cannibalistic tendencies, he had a very kind side to him and offered water to a leper begging by the side of the road. When he died, Belai went straight to hell, of course, but then St. Mikael intervened and “judged” Belai by balancing his victims against the water he gave to the leper. The Virgin Mary, pleased with Belai’s kind act, cast her shadow over the scale containing the water and tipped the scales in favor of Belai, whose soul was then saved.

Firewood carriers
see all photos »

Our second monastery, Debre Maryam, was less colorful, but nonetheless interesting. After exiting the boat, we walked through a grove containing coffee, mango, banana and papaya trees to a cleared area containing the monastery. In the distance we could hear the deacon novices practicing their chanting and when we entered the sanctuary, we were surprised at how cool it was inside. There we met a priest who proceeded to bring out treasures from the interior called the Holy of Holies (into which only the high level priests are allowed), including 400-year old goatskin manuscripts with decorative script and paintings, and an ancient silver cross two feet tall. I whispered to Dan that I would prefer that the items be kept in a glass case so that they could last another 400 years.

Ethiopian Orthodox Christian children
see all photos »

On the way back to the hotel we diverted to the lake’s outlet to the Blue Nile, a fairly unremarkable spot other than the marvelous kingfisher eagles we spotted high in the trees. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of some hippos, but the recent building of a nearby hydro-power plant meant that we weren’t allowed to linger in the area. (Evidently, the Ethiopian government is concerned that we may try to steal the technology being used at the plant. This idea brought a chuckle to Mr. Energy Guy (Dan).)

see all photos »

With the afternoon off, the kids decided to get a jump on their schoolwork and journal writing. They were quickly distracted, however, when Grayson spotted a troop of vervet monkeys. Grayson was so excited; I thought he would bust his gut. Needless to say, the schoolwork was put off for awhile while the kids tracked the monkeys through the hotel grounds. They also learned firsthand just how difficult it is to take pictures of animals in the wild.

Our second day in Bahir Dar was even better than the first, as we set out to see the waterfall near the source of the Nile (Blue Nile Falls or, in Amharic, Tis Isat, “Water that Smokes”). For about an hour, we drove down a dirt road passing folks carting things to market, with thatched roof huts in fields of millet, and acacia and baobab trees in the background. This is real Africa, with topless ladies doing their wash in the murky water, herds of cattle tended by six year olds blocking the road, donkeys pulling carts piled 20 feet high with cut grass, and crocs lurking in the papyrus.

sunset on Lake Tana
see all photos »

Everywhere we looked, we saw Amhara women in their green pleated highland dresses and men carrying dulas (long sticks used to carry loads and fend off annoying dogs). The people are so friendly, and during a short game of “sweet and sour,” every single person returned our waves. (For those of you who don’t know, “sweet and sour” involves waving at people from a car window. If your wave is returned, the person is sweet. If it is not returned, the person is sour. We have played this game in nearly every country we have been in and, without question; Ethiopia is the sweetest by far.)

The hike to the Falls was sweaty, but cool. Everywhere we go, we are attracting a lot of attention. Dan and I had speculated that the appearance of two white kids would be a bit unusual in Ethiopia, and this fact has been confirmed by several of our guides. To their consternation, both Abby and Grayson have been kissed, patted, and generally “loved” wherever they go. The Ethiopians, particularly the children, like to follow us around and generally check us out at length. I find it incredibly endearing and really sweet; the kids, however, aren’t always so enthusiastic and tend to stay close at hand, especially in the markets.

Before you can start your hike, you must take a short ferry to the opposite bank of the river. This may have been my favorite part of the journey, as the local folks were also taking ferries, munching sugarcane on the shore, swimming in the river, and transporting goods to market. The women and even some young girls (as I pointed out to Abby), would hoist incredibly huge loads of firewood (sticks and dried cow patties) or large water jugs on their backs and head off down the road. Sometimes a child would be hanging from their body as well. While inspiring, the harshness of their circumstances once again helped us appreciate the bounty of America and the ease in which we live at home.