May 18, 2024 Saturday

This was our last day of actual sightseeing. We met in the restaurant at 8:30 a.m. instead of the lobby because our conveyance was a boat instead of a van. Melaku had told us to bring hiking shoes and poles, and boy, am I glad I did. Not right away, though, because first, we had a one-hour boat ride to an island in the middle of Lake Tana.

Boat ride

The boat picked us up at the concrete dock outside the restaurant’s French doors. I wish I knew more about boat sizes, but it was big enough to accommodate all 13 of us, plus the captain. If anyone is knowledgeable about boat sizes and can determine the size of this one from the picture, please leave a comment.

From the dock, we stepped into the back of the boat, where the captain was seated. Padded benches lined both sides of the boat for us to sit on. A large canvas canopy covered the entire boat, providing shade, while the front and sides remained open to let in a breeze.

When we saw personal flotation devices on the boat’s benches, we put them on like good little Americans. Melaku didn’t. About halfway through the trip, someone asked why he wasn’t wearing one. He said he wasn’t worried about the boat tipping over. Well, if he wasn’t going to wear it, neither was I, so I slipped it off. I was much more comfortable.

John and I sat in the center of the boat. While there weren’t any waves on this lake, I always think the middle of the boat is more stable. Josephine, Ebony, Sam, and Micah sat at the front. Becky sat across from us, and the rest of the group sat towards the back.

The ride to the monastery was uneventful. We spotted some white pelicans that looked remarkably like the brown pelicans we see in Galveston, only white. Ha! We also saw an African Fish Eagle soaring across the lake. Melaku was excellent at identifying all the flora and fauna we came across.

Island

Finally, we reached the island of the Ura Kidane Mehret. The booklet describes it as “a small monastery adorned with beautiful paintings and filled with treasures.” While I can’t comment on the treasures, we saw plenty of paintings.

However, we hiked uphill on a rocky, muddy path before reaching the monastery. Along the way, there were numerous stalls where people sold their crafts, including paintings, jewelry, weavings, and toy-sized boats made from real papyrus. Some of the artwork was beautiful. Ebony purchased a portrait of a stunning African woman. I spent a lot of time saying, “No, thank you,” to the lovely vendors trying to sell me something.

One guy annoyed me by asking, “Don’t you want to contribute to the local economy?” Excuse me, but I thought that was precisely what I was doing when I paid for the trip. One of the things I appreciate about O.A.T. is that they strive to hire locals and ensure we stay at hotels owned by locals. I did my best to overlook his ignorance and moved on.

Monastery

The building was round on the outside.

One of the local priests gave us a tour of the monastery.

We removed our shoes, and the women covered their heads with scarves. Inside, we admired the paintings on all four walls. It was truly overwhelming. At least we had places to sit and didn’t have to stand the whole time like the congregation on Sundays.

The last wall was the Holy of Holies. Each church has one.

The priest told us the titles of each picture on the walls, and there were a lot of pictures. It was a bit too much, but as I said, at least we were seated.

Back to the boat

Finally, we walked back down the rocky, muddy path to the boat, navigating through the gauntlet of craftspeople selling their wares. Going down was easier, though I had to be careful where I placed my feet to avoid twisting an ankle or falling on my butt. Miraculously, neither of those things happened. Have I mentioned how much I appreciated my hiking poles? Yes, I did.

As a side story, John bought me those hiking poles as a Christmas present before we went to Alaska in 2022. He is very research-minded and scoured the web for the best ones. He chose the Black Diamond brand. Maleku saw them and said they were excellent poles. I credited it all to my sugar daddy, who buys me nice things. Thank you, John.

Dockside

When we returned to the dock, Josephine had quite the morning. She’d decided not to visit the monastery because her foot needed a rest. Though it was a hoot, I won’t share her story, and I’d probably get it all wrong. Suffice it to say that she received a pair of slippers she thought were a gift, but they asked for money. Whoops. Cultural differences can be uncomfortable.

Before we set off on the lake again, we were served Ethiopian coffee prepared traditionally. A woman sat on a stool and roasted the beans over an open fire, flipping them to ensure they roasted evenly and didn’t burn. Then, she ground the beans with a coffee mortar and pestle and added them to the traditional pot. She poured coffee for each of us in the small Ethiopian cups and saucers. I didn’t enjoy Ethiopian coffee, but I don’t like any type of coffee, and this one is particularly dark. However, I do love the preparation process as it is almost Zen-like. Over the two weeks, we took plenty of pictures of women preparing coffee.

Back on the boat

We waved goodbye to our island hosts and boarded the boat. The driver steered diagonally across the lake (or at least that’s how it felt to me then). Melaku explained that we were heading to the mouth of the Blue Nile, which flows southward out of the lake. It then reverses direction and joins the White Nile in Sudan, creating the Egyptian Nile River we’ve heard so much about. When you look at the water leaving the lake, it’s hard to say, “Oh, that’s a lake and that’s a river,” because they look very similar. Nonetheless, I’ll say we saw the head of the Blue Nile.

We saw people swimming and doing laundry along the banks of the river/lake, as I’m sure they have done for centuries.

We saw three hippos in the water before we reached the spot where the Blue Nile started. When we first saw them, they had their heads over each other, but as we got closer, they unfolded from each other, and all three of them were looking at us. We didn’t get too close because hippos are not the friendliest creatures, but we got some pretty pictures of them.

Back to the hotel

We waved goodbye to the Blue Nile and headed back to the hotel dock, which took at least half an hour. When we docked, we had a little downtime before our farewell discussion and dinner.

On the dock, I commented on how muddy our shoes were. Melaku offered to have them cleaned for us, which felt like such a colonial, white-person thing to do. I can clean my own shoes, but I didn’t have any tools to clean them. Also, I thought I’d prefer to pack clean shoes instead of muddy ones, so I took him up on his offer.

Rest in the room

When John and I returned to the room, I wanted to shower after all that muddy, sweaty hiking. I stripped down and turned on the water to warm it up. While I waited, I applied some face wash. Unfortunately, the shower water never got hot. I sighed and washed my face with water from the sink, saying, “Never mind,” to the shower. I took a sink bath.

Not long after my aborted shower attempt, Melaku returned to our room with the clean shoes. Wow, door service, no less! I thanked him for having them cleaned and for bringing them to us. I told him I’d repay him for the cleaning. He shrugged. I mentioned that since he was there, I wanted him to know that the shower in our room wasn’t working. He said he’d talk to the front desk staff. As he left, I thanked him again.

I lounged for about an hour in a robe, checking emails, playing games, and hoping someone would come to the room to fix the shower or let me know it had been resolved. I made one more attempt to get hot water in the shower. Not only was there no hot water, but there was also no water at all. I was relieved I hadn’t stepped into the shower, only to be greeted by cold dribbles. After that, I gave up and got dressed. I figured I’d shower the next day in Addis Ababa at the Jupiter Hotel in our day room.

Pool Side

We went to find Becky. She was reading an actual book by the pool in a shaded cabana. She had brought the complete Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis in the order they occur in the story chronology, not the order in which they were written. Yes, it was a thick book. She mentioned she was enjoying it quite a bit. Indeed, there’s something to be said for an actual book, even if they are pretty heavy. She’s young and didn’t mind carrying it around. The boys played in the pool. We chatted with her for a while and went back to our room.

Debrief dinner

Around 7, we went to the dock, where the hotel employees had set up a table for us. We all sat on one side of the table facing the lake. Melaku began by reviewing the many things we had done and seen in the four cities we visited. At the end, he asked if we had a word or two to share.

I wish I had noted what everyone said, but I didn’t. I commented that using individual plastic water bottles during the trip contradicted my ecological principles. Nevertheless, I understood why we had to drink that way, and I gained a clearer understanding of why the world deals with such a surplus of plastic. I remarked that we will never solve the world’s plastic pollution until every country provides a purified water system for its citizens.

Micah mentioned that he had gained a clearer understanding of what his life might have been like if he had not been adopted—mission accomplished. That was one of the reasons I wanted to take him and his brother on this trip. One hopes their lives would have turned out fine if they had not been adopted, but one must wonder what opportunities two orphaned boys might have faced. I looked at Becky, who was gazing at Micah with tears in her eyes. I must admit that I felt a bit teary-eyed too.

Josephine’s debrief

Josephine spoke last. Since she works for O.A.T., she mentioned that she had seen the ages of the people on the trip, while the rest of us received names and home states. Later, Becky told me that when Josephine revealed her seeing the boys’ ages, she thought, “Uh-oh.” However, Josephine went on to say that when she noticed there were boys aged thirteen and fourteen on the trip, she was excited to see how they would respond to their experiences. Becky thought, “Phew.”

Josephine likely noticed from their other documents that they were born in Ethiopia and their passport photos suggested they were Black. I was glad to have met her and her friend Ebony on this trip. Everyone took the boys under their wing and was gracious and helpful to them.

Dinner and return to our room

Dinner was a feast that didn’t agree with me. We had three types of meat and plenty of veggies. I appreciated the effort, though I didn’t eat nearly as much as was available. I still ended up with indigestion, so I had to sleep on two pillows and take antacids. Whew.

We returned to the room with hearts filled with appreciation for the people we had traveled with and stomachs filled with the wonderful meal.

The next day, we would be traveling home. But wait, more stories to come.