Paradise Found, Part 2

OK. Lucrezia is leaving the country tonight and heading back to Rome so myself and our German professor friend, Klaus will bring her to the airport soon.

I have a few minutes to be online with a shaky internet connection so I’ll see if I can post the rest of the weekend photos from Bahir Dar. Below are some more photos from the Blue Nile Falls and the surrounding paradise-like area.

 

This is the village just by where one can hike to the falls.

After our hike we had lunch and it was kind of cool to see Nile Perch on the menu even though I didn’t order it.

Here are some of the gigantic pelicans in their hang-out area along with locals by Lake Tana.

The next day we went with Dessa in a boat to some remote islands that house a selection of monasteries. Most don’t allow women so we only visited the few who might let us set foot inside.

This is the village of Ura and the port. Below is a wild coffee plant with red berries.

Here is one of the monasteries, inside and out with a painting style I absolutely love depicting Bible stories and Ethiopian Orthodox Christian stories.

Below is the original cross from the 14th century. They put (normally seven) ostrich eggs on it to symbolize the seven days of creation.

So, is it just me, or does the Baby Jesus below look a bit like my brother Kevin? I thought so.

Outside I bought a few paintings made by a local artist using all natural colors and painted on goat skin.

Next we visited Azewa and the monastery there.

The stone in front is a bell that has a deep, pleasing sound.

This is a fisherman’s boat made in a very similar style out of bamboo and reeds like the ancient Egyptians used.

This is a view after we were back on the water.

Here is our awesome guide, Dessa.

We were able to see a few hippos along the way. I had no marbles to feed them. (Only children of the 80’s will maybe get that reference…)

Later we headed back to the hotel and then to the airport. It was a memorable trip and it’s also always nice to get out of the big city.

Thanks for reading! I’ll try and post more tomorrow.
Read the next blog post in this series.