Lake Tana

Birds are abundant in the islands

Notice the monastery in the midst of the island

Life is hard aboard a papyrus boat

The attractions of Lake Tana are mainly the 14^th century monasteries found in each of the more than 30 islands.     I went to the ones easier to reach and

where women are allowed entry.  The monasteries are really isolated and some are built on mountaintops that more adventurous tourists find them challenging to explore.  Pictures speak a thousand words.

It's a gong of heavy rock that sounds like a bell

Back in the dry lands, I got several offers from shoeshine boys to polish my boots.  

The sentry (in yellow) 

Well, at the start they would quote 10 Birr around USD 50 cents, but as they proceed, they will now double the price because they say that my boots take too much of their Kiwi.  Oh, well.

Brushing my teeth with the bush in my polished boots

A Filipina VSO volunteer in Ethiopia

Uziel in action

I was mighty proud of her as I watched her teach 3 visually impaired students in a borrowed classroom at the  Addis Ababa University.  I was moved by the sight of 3 blind young men trying to get an education despite their disability.

Interaction

 Uziel was very patient with them and I could see that she was enjoying what she was doing.  She has a computer and was playing listening movies such as “The Beautiful Mind”.  She would play the audio and ask her students to paraphrase what they heard.  The exercise is to develop keen

Safely delivered to the ground

 listening skills.  The audio had to be replayed several times because the accent of the speakers are difficult to follow.  For example, mysteries was heard as mistress and we  had fun explaining to them what a mistress is. 

Gates of the Addis Ababa University

Billboard at the Uni campus

I also did my bit by telling the 3 students that I liked the harmony of the colors of the shirts that they were wearing and I described to them the colors.  When the class was over, Uziel had to guide all three of them to descend the stairs and out of the school building. 

Church of the Holy Trinity

Uziel is a volunteer whose placement is in Adwa (near Axum) in northern Ethiopia.  During the term break, she volunteered to teach special needs students in the capital city.

Church of St. George

When I visited Axum, I learned that many people (hotel guests, shop owners, Ethiopian airlines staff) know her.  Well, I was not  surprised because she calls herself Miss Friendship.   Ethiopian airlines staff remember her as their most important frequent flyer.

The Ethnological Museum, former palace of Haile Selassie

Just like the other Filipino volunteers in Uganda whom I visited in their accommodations, Uziel loves to cook.  She even made a cappuccino (minus the western appliances)  which was very addicting.  She boils fresh milk, puts some sugar and a little coffee

Bedroom of the Lion of Juda

 and stirs the mixture.  She pours the made coffee in a cup, adds the mixture and sprinkles the froth with chocolate.   Voila, you have the best cappuccino in Addis.

Dr. Gerry, Uziel and Eve

 While staying with Uziel,  I also met another Filipino VSO volunteer, Dr. Gerry, who works at the Yekatit Hospital.   I attended a Sunday mass at the Holy Saviour Church with Doc Gerry and I saw how popular he was with the Filipino churchgoers and the staff of eateries that he frequents.

Yekatit Hospital

I have not doubted my impression that the Filipino VSO volunteers I have met in Africa not only share their skills but also bring laughter and sunshine to the people around them.   May their tribe increase.

Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Ethiopia.  The Patriarch lives there.

  

God sent me an angel

Notice that Ethiopia's official date is 8 years behind current date.

A young man was referred to me by my hotel to assist me get a bus to Bahir Dar.  He said he could arrange for a hotel pick-up at very early in the morning but he offered me his services.    He will

One of them was my guide

go  with me as a guide and I pay for his fare, hotel accommodations and food.  That sounded like a good deal so I took him along.  His name is Dude, 23 years old, carries a tourism ID and a self-confessed ex-addict of all sorts.

Beautiful tree-lined street of Bahir Dar

Bahir Dar is a beautiful town, a government center being the seat of the Amhara region, and a launching pad for tourists who visit Lake Tana, the biggest lake in Ethiopia known for its islands and ancient monasteries.  In Ethiopia, as in some parts in Uganda, the bus fare is different for locals and

Bahir Dar

farengis (foreigners), and this goes for hotel accommodations, too.  The difference could be more than double.  Well, my guide had proved to be helpful because he would tell the driver that he is the one paying for my fare, so I get the local price.  But the script did not work for hotel rooms.  For the same type of room, I pay more than twice as much as what they charge my guide.

Lobby of the hotel where I pay as a farengi

 In one of the towns that we passed during the 6 hours trip, the driver stopped the bus and had an argument with some passengers.  I was told that 5 passengers did not have enough fare money to complete the trip so the driver would not take them any farther.  I told the guide to tell the

A Lake Tana sampler

 driver and passengers that I will pay for the difference.  That said,  we continued our trip.  I learned later that the 5 passengers were Ethiopians who lost their jobs in Sudan as soya bean pickers and had barely enough money to reach home.

They said thank you with a smile

 When they arrived at their destination, they thanked me profusely in their broken English.

I felt sad seeing them walk home and happy that I was able to reunite them with their families.

Walking home to their families

An aborted seduction, so I thought

A coffee-maker, wearing a formal coffee ceremony attire

At the Gondar tourist information office, a tour guide offered me his services.  We agreed on the price and as a sign of our deal, he treated me to a coffee ceremony.  

Coffee house:  See the grass scattered on the floor

(Well, a coffee ceremony means that you enter a coffee house that has grass strewn on the floor for good vibes, with incense burning and watch the coffee being prepared.)

See the jebena, the boiling pot.  Horsehair is used as sieve.

 Afterwards we passed by his rented room to pick up his guide uniform.  The tour was good as the guide was very knowledgeable.  As I was curious what lunch was like, I accepted his invitation to join him for lunch at his rented room.    

Incense.  I will start burning them at home.

If Ugandans have their posho or kalo dipped in sesame or peanuts paste,  Ethiopians have injera (a white leavened bread made of teff flour, much like a crepe) that is eaten by dipping it in a mixture of sauted vegetable or meat. 

Pinch the injera and wrap the sauce with it.

  A friend of the guide dropped by to deliver some grass and lemons and to burn incense.  

Hand-feeding

Before showing him the door, the guide pinched some injera, dipped it in the paste and hand-fed his friend;  he also did the same to me.  (I understand that in Ethiopia, hand-feeding someone means that he or she is liked.)

The guide's shared abode

 At the end of the meal, we washed our hands in the bathroom sink then returned to his room.  The guide started to unbutton his shirt, added more incense to burn, and spread the grass called chat on the bed.  He plucked some stems and started to chew them, sucking the lemon juice every now and then.  I firmly declined his invitation to "chat" with him.

A chat plantation

 Chat is a plant that is widely grown in some parts of Ethiopia and it seems  that it is used as an upper.  It is legal to plant chat and it is openly traded in the market.  

A chat market.  The commodity is in plastic bags.

Before the chat's reputed powers took effect, I showed my displeasure and told the guide that I would have to leave immediately so that he can continue his chat-chewing ritual.  

I love to chat but not with grass.

Background:  One of the castles in Gondar