After a long bus ride and rainy bike ride tour yesterday and a good sleep in our new hotel in Bahir Dar, today day began at 6am prayer call with a much needed scenic run on the shore of Lake Tana. The peaceful lack of traffic and views of the water were a wonderful contrast to hectic Addis. I ran halfway and then stopped for a short yoga routine (very very short, I am still not much of a yoga master!) where I had a great view of the lake and could hear nothing but the morning chanting. Running back to meet up with Kwazo, my head finally started to feel clearer and my legs not so angry with me for cramming them into a tiny bus seat for almost 10 hours the day before. Highs and Lows.
Kwazo and I enjoyed a delicious (included!) breakfast on big victorian style (?!) couches in what looks like a parlor room to me in our hotel. Eggs, toast, and tea are much better than the biscuits we had on the bus the previous day (although those were a nice treat too considering we didn't think we'd get anything on the bus at all). After eating, we met our rasta tour guide to take us to the boat for our island monastery tour.
On Lake Tana, which is fairly large, I first noticed the lush green plants on the shore, the locals in homemade kayaks piled with branches, and pelicans all over. Then the boat revved up (well puttered maybe more like it) and the journey to the first monastery began. On a small island surrounded by monks in various shades of brown and yellow, we paid 100 birr, climbed a narrow windy stony staircase and had a brief "museum" visit, with a female monk who described everything in a low, sing-song voice (thank goodness we had four others in our group to translate for us!). I then put my new scarf on my head, took off our shoes, and wandered around the yellow monastary at the top of the hill and looked at the paintings of religious scenes inside. Very beautiful.
Back on the boat, we headed to a second monastery, Kebran Gabriel, which is from the 17th century. Sadly, no women allowed. So, the men in our group climbed a hill while the rest of us sat on benches in the shade to wait amongst the monks who were busy with a construction project. I wandered to a rock pier and took some photos of the scenes and monks washing clothes in the lake, and then headed back to join the others for a banana break. Bananas never fail to make me happy. We were ready to move on by the time the two men returned though!
The third monastery, Ura Kidane Meret, was the largest and most famous, and probably my favorite. After getting out of the boat, we walked almost 25 minutes over rocks and among trees and through many strategically placed "gift" stalls displaying silver crosses from all the different parts of the region (each area has its own design), coffee beans, silver bracelets, iconic paintings, leather items, you name it. I made it through with only a few purchases :) and the temple made of sticks? bamboo? was definitely a sight. Totally calming once you set foot inside, the lighting and shadows cast on the huge murals was really beautiful. There are curtains pulled to the side that add another element of artwork and different lines to the scene I took many pictures!
After leaving, we wound our way back to the boat, and enjoyed a traditional coffee ceremony with some of the most adorable kids playing around as their mom (?!) prepared the drinks. Then, we tasted some homemade honey (I was so sure the bees would get me!), and I successfully avoided making any more purchases before boarding our little boat.
The last monastery was also beautiful and very similar to the third but with a grass roof. I did not go in this one as our money was running low, but I did walk around the outside and a very nice and again adorable (sorry, but they're all so cute) Ethiopian boy led me both to see it as well as the school where the monks learn the language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, which is called Geez (pronounced: Ge Iz). It was really interesting to see the little huts where they live and study and beautiful to hear their chanting.
We took the boat back for a veryyyy slow 1hr. return trip to the starting point (we had our doubts that it would make it on that puttering engine!), and enjoyed a very delayed lunch that our stomachs were much appreciative for. Kwazo had a huge vegetarian wheel of colors atop enjeera and I had fish (still not so daring in the vegetable department!). We rushed back to prepare for our Blue Nile Waterfall trip, only to find out that the waterfall was "not on". As in, no water...um, great. It's supposed to be quite a sight (think a baby Niagara Falls), so we were pretty upset that we'd be unable to do the hike to see them, but we rallied and went for a walk to find some CDs of the music we've been enjoying here for the past few days. Kwazo scored Teddy Afro and Astar CDs and then we tasted our first Ethiopian beers, called Dashen, which are brewed in Gondar (our next stop tomorrow!). A light dinner and we are back "home" now relaxing before we go via minibus to Gondar (Lonely Planet calls it the Camelot of Africa!) in the morning. There, we plan to see castle of Emperor Fasiladas from the 17th century, and set up a trek into the Simien Mountains for Sunday, which I am very excited for! Alright, off to try and finally finish my book and get some sleep. I'll try to tone down the amount of exclamation points and parentheses for next time...! (oops).
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