Dear Aidan: Day 7

Friday, December 28, 2012

Dear Aidan,

What a day!  I can't believe we spent an entire day in Ethiopia without you with us to share it with!  Although it's only been a day, I've realized 2 things.  1: I truly, utterly, completely love and adore you as my son.  There's something about being with you that makes me feel more complete and happy.  2: I truly, utterly, completely love and adore the country of Ethiopia.  It is an amazing country and we are blown away by everything- the landscapes, people and culture!  Who knew Africa kept such a precious secret in its horn?

This morning, Dad and I woke up very early, around 5AM for our flight.  I thought that our flight was at 8:00AM.  Dad and I figured we would leave the guest house be 5:30, be at the airport by 6AM, and be all set to go 2 hours before our flight.  Well, I re-checked that morning when Dad was showering and our flight was leaving at 7AM!  OOOOPS!  I ran upstairs and told Dad, who jumped out of the shower!  We quickly got dressed and I went without a shower that morning.  After we jammed the last few things in our suitcase, we hurried down stairs.  Luckily, our driver was early and he somewhat sped to the airport!  We arrived around 5:45AM and were able to check-in at an express lane for our flight.  As soon as we cleared security, it was time to board our plane.  We made it!  We did not need caffeine this morning as we had plenty of adrenaline racing through us to keep us wide awake!

About 45 minutes later, our Ethiopian Airlines flight landed in the oasis of Bahir Dar.  Bahir Dar is northwest of Addis Ababa, and is located at the southern end of Lake Tana, Ethiopia's largest lake, and the second largest lake in Africa.  Lake Tana is famous because it is the source of the Blue Nile, which joins with the White Nile River in Sudan to form the Nile River.  The lake is also home to many islands and incredibly old monasteries scattered about.  During our trip planning, we decided to spend two days here to see the sights!

At the airport, we had a shuttle from our hotel, Papyrus Hotel, waiting for us.  Inside the van, there was a hotel guide that was willing to help us out with our daily plans.  We talked with him and arranged for a private boat to see the monasteries on the lake for the remainder of the morning.  When we arrived at the hotel, we quickly checked in and went to our room.  The hotel was very nice and our room had a large bed, internet, TV and a warm shower with high water pressure!  Dad and I quickly changed as it was signifcantly warmer here than in Addis.  It's funny because the 2 cities are relatively close but because of Addis' elevation, it is much cooler!  The warm air felt wonderful!

We met our guide, who then rented an Ethiopian-style tuk-tuk for us to take to the boat dock.  There, we loaded into our boat and met our captain.  We started across the lake (well, part of the lake as it takes about 6-hours to boat across) to a peninsula.  There was a famous monastery that was about 1,200 years old.  Along the way, we saw many endemic birds.  There were also many canoe-like boats made of papyrus reed.  These boats are handmade and the locals use them to transport everything on the water.  Today is Friday, which meant tomorrow is market day.  All of the boats were loaded high (which made them very low in the water) with firewood from the peninsula.  The men then spent 6-8 hour paddling their goods for the market to town.  It was quite the site, and I'm sure quite the workout!  But those men were going fast!

Once we reached the peninsula, we hired a guide for the monastery.  We walked along a beautiful trail for about 15 minutes up to the monastery.  Along the way, we were looking for monkeys, but didn't see any!  There were also many locals selling religious items such as bibles and paintings, as well as historic items.  There were many coffee ceremony stands as well.  To be honest, Dad and I didn't know what to expect with the monasteries.  In Europe, monasteries are often large stone buildings.  However, when I searched for pictures online of these monasteries, mud huts appeared.  The first and largest monastery looked like a very large mud hut from the outside, but with an aluminum roof.  We were told that the original straw roof was replaced a few years ago because the straw was becoming too heavy for the historic structure.  The outer wall was made of mud, straw and blood!

Inside the circular structure was another large wall.  It was like a hut within a hut.  Inside that hut was a large square room.  Only the monks are allowed to enter the room where precious holy items lie.  On all 4 outer walls of the hut were old paintings of Biblical stories.  These paintings were all done with natural pigments from plants and flowers.  It was incredible to see how vibrant some of them were, especially the blues!  All of the paintings were simple in technique and showed stories.  Many of the stories were about the Virgin Mary.  This surprised Dad and I as we thought there would be more stories about Jesus.  When we asked, we were told that Orthodox Christians have many holy books, including the Book of Mary.  They revere this book!  We later found out that King Zara of Ethiopia (ruled a few hundred years ago) was almost obsessed with Mary.  As such, he made all female Ethiopians tattoo or cut a cross on their foreheads for her.  Today, this tradition of scarring/tattooing female foreheads, as well as the worship of Mary, continue in Ethiopia.

Christianity came to Ethiopia in about the 4th Century, and it was one of the first countries to become Christian.  The first Bibles were written in Ge'ez, the ancient language of Ethiopia (similar to our Latin).  All of the old Bibles were written in Ge'ez and masses/ceremonies were given in Ge'ez.  However, only the monks and priests knew Ge'ez, so none of the villagers understood the Bible or the preachings.  The paintings were done as a way for the locals to learn about the Bible.  When looking at the paintings, many of the people have two wide open eyes.  These are the believers in God.  There are some people in the paintings where only their profile is seen and they may or may not have an open eye.  These people are the non-believers, or people who haven't been enlightened yet.  Learning this made understanding the stories much easier.

After we finished looking at the monastery, we went outside.  There, we found large drums made of cow and goat hide.  The drums were used before cell phones as a means to communicate.  People could be called to worship or for a meeting with the drums.  There was also a bell made of two stones that was used for the same purpose.

In a small museum, we saw many old Bibles written in Ge'ez, as well as some crowns that were at least 1,000 years old.  Most of the crowns were made of silver, but some of gold.  On the roof of the monastery and other buildings  were crosses with 12 smaller containers circling it.  Each small plate/lip held an empty ostrich egg.  Dad and I still aren't sure what the purpose of this was, but it seems important nonetheless.

In Ethiopia, there is a large system of trafficking of religious items.  Many tourists and people overseas buy the ancient paintings, bibles, crowns and other religious artifacts.  There is a push from UNESCO and the World Bank to help Ethiopia itemize their important antiques and document them.  For now, each museum or monastery holds onto their own- with little or no protection from theft.

Once we finished touring the monastery, we walked back down to our boat.  Along the way, we stopped at many of the vendors to see what was for sale.  Dad bought a small book written in Ge'ez with pictures that was leather bound (no, it wasn't an old Bible).  I bought what I found out to be an old Ethiopian lunch box!  They are round baskets with a lid covered in leather.  There are straps for wearing on your back and locals used to carry their injera with them for the day!  I got a fantastic one for about $20.00!  I love it!  Dad is not the biggest fan!  We also saw local baby carriers and I'm kicking myself we didn't buy one!  They're made of leather and are for mothers to carry babies on their backs.  The best part about them is that there are long threads of leather with cowry beads going to the ground.  These are so that when the mom walks, the beads and threads jingle like a soft wind chime to help the baby stay relaxed and sleep!  How clever is that!

Once we reached our boat, we had a 15-minute ride to the next monastery.  The next monastery was very small and had the same layout- a hut within a hut with paintings.  We saw many more priests at this monastery.  Although there were 3 more monasteries to see, one monastery did not allow women, and the other two were even smaller than the last.  As each monastery cost $7.00/person to enter, Dad and I decided against going into the last few.

On the way back to Bahir Dar, we went to the east portion of the lake to see the outlet of the Blue Nile.  There were many reeds along the bank and it was beautiful!  The best part about it was that we found 3 hippos eating in the shallows!  So Dad and I can now say we saw Ethiopian Hippos at the source of the Nile River!  

Back in town, Dad and I ate at a restaurant on the water.  It was very nice to sit on the shore of the lake and relax.  We had a delicious meal of beef, injera and fish.  The fish here is wonderful!  To be honest, I never thought I would eat fresh fish in Ethiopia, but I was wrong!  

After lunch, Dad and I walked back to the hotel.  It was around 3PM and we were feeling a bit tired.  It actually felt that both of us were beginning to get a cold, which we wanted to fight.  We took a nap and ended up waking up at 8PM!  I guess we needed our sleep!  And it's no wonder- we hadn't been sleeping well through the night since we've arrived (well, I hadn't been sleeping well and because I kept waking Dad up, he hadn't slept well either). 

Dad ate dinner at the hotel restaurant- yummy pasta, and I stayed in the room to check e-mails.  When Dad came back, we watched a little TV and got ready for bed!  For some reason, I was still a bit tired.

We arranged to go to the Blue Nile Falls tomorrow with our hotel's guide.  We'll have an early morning and I'll need my sleep!

I hope you had a great day today, Aidan Bedassa!  I know you were well loved and played like crazy!  It makes me happy to know that Dad and I are falling more and more in love with Ethiopia.  I cannot wait to show you the pictures and tell you the stories as you get older

Sleep well little angel.  I love and miss you very much!  I cannot wait to write more tomorrow!

Love always,

Your Mom