Fri 24 Jan 2014 (16 Tir 2006)

Fri 24 Jan 2014 (16 Tir 2006) Before we leave Bahir Dar, a brief word about people on the street. Yes, there are beggars. Yes, there are people with missing or defective limbs. Yes. there are mothers with small children on the street. But we are not besieged. The kids can be a real trip or a real hassle. Some just want to try out "Hello" or "Meester" (or "You You You"). The really annoying ones say "Give me pen" or "Money." No one has blocked our path. And Mike has begun to stash his pens, which were otherwise visible in his shirt pocket. On our last breakfast at the Ethio Star: mango juice and the usual mains. We will miss this cozy hotel, where all the lights and all the plumbing seem to work. We started off a little before 8:30 AM. We take a tuktuk to the bus station. At the bus station, contrary to what we were told, there was a class 1 bus to Gonder. Quick, quick, onto the bus! We were seated on the right side not far back in fairly good seats. 55 birr per person. 50 birr per piece of luggage, tied in on top, plus a tip for the guys who lifted it and tied it down. (We later learn that this luggage charge is exhorbitant.) Being on the bus does NOT mean that you are leaving soon. This bus was still fairly empty, a bad sign indeed if your goal is to hit the road right away. For the next two hours or so, there were vendors in and out of the bus, selling food, cell phones, like in Buenos Aires, etc. At some point during the wait, the bus next to us, going somewhere else, accumulated a woman and a guy carrying a boxed full sized refrigerator on his back. He set down the refrigerator. Going outside of this bus, we saw a woman, two refrigerators, and guys on top of that bus loading things. A fifteen minute discussion ensued, during which time they loaded 6 (9 volt?) batteries and a satellite dish on top. Finally, the refrigerators were on top of the bus, strapped on upright. During the wait, the buses keep their diesel engines running, and there were lots of diesel buses in this corner of the station. Cough, cough. We finally fill up and leave about 10:30 AM. As we leave town, we cross the Blue Nile, a fairly small river at this point, less than 100 meters wide. There is a mix of residential and industrial in this area, ranging from small houses to apartment buildings. The Blue Nile is the biblical Ghion River, mentioned in Isaiah as the "country ... beyond the rivers of Cush." Eventually, we are in the country. We are following Lake Tana along the eastern shore, but far enough away that we cannot see it. Therefore, it is not hilly, but relatively flat. 2 hours into the trip, the bus picks up passengers, and turns left sharply uphill. We see a prominent rock formation that looks like a pillar. We are not the only people to note this rock. A couple ahead of grabs their camera and takes several shots. We learn later that it is known as the Devil's Nose. From here to Gonder we are generally climbing in rougher terrain. Gonder was the capital of Abyssinia from the 1600s through the 1800s. All of these capitals seemed to have been placed in high points. So we climb. We finally arrive at a bus station in Gonder. Gonder is in two parts: a thin strip of tourist city, and a large section elsewhere that tourists (and us) never see. A tuktuk for apx 1.2 km takes us to the Atse Bekafa Hotel. Here we start talking prices. A sign behind the desk says: Single (US$) 26.00 Double (US$) 33.00 Suit (US$) 35.00. Above it in Amharic are: Single (birr) 200.00 Double (birr) 250.00 Suite (birr) 300.00. These numbers translate as $10.50 $13.10 $15.75. We point this discrepancy out and get a price of $30.00 US, which we pay. The first room (302) we check is spacious, and has two beds, but the toilet is leaking and the floor is wet. We reject it and get the identical room (102) two floors down where everything seems to work, except it takes us until the next day to figure out how to turn ON the hot water. There is a nightclub in this hotel and one across the street. We figure this out at 10 PM, when the noise really starts. The first night (Fri) they don't close until 4 AM, when we finally can sleep for two hours. Nonetheless, two good things about the hotel are: (1) that it is next to Habesha Coffee, highly recommended in both guidebooks, and (2) that it adjoins Simien Image Travel, to arrange our national park visit. The Simien Mountains, a natural area, are an east-west mountain range, with Ras Dashen, apx 15,400 ft, the highest mountain in Ethiopia, and the fourth highest in all of Africa. Ras Dashen is generally seen only by hikers who spend at least 5 days in the park. After getting settled in the hotel room, we walk back toward the bus station. On the way we stop for our first juice of the day: avocado for Mike and mixed for Carol. There is another foreigner, absorbed in his computer screen even though the kids are trying to bother him. On the way we pass what used to be a restaurant where you could buy food tickets for beggars, to hand out. The restaurant seems to be gone, and so are the food tickets. Across the street from the bus station is the only bank shown in Lonely Planet. There we change 250 US$ into birr. In an attempt to answer Mike's question of whether new or older $100 bills are acceptable, we present one post-Oct 13 $100 bill (with the new security features and colors), one pre-Oct13 $100 bill (all green), and one $50 bill. Again, for the third time, it makes not a whit of difference, suggesting the answer that as long as the money is clean, unused, and unmarked, it will be accepted. Tourist Gonder is a small strip north and south of the oval-shaped historic Royal Enclosure, which lies within a high wall. We walked originally to the west, which is commercial. We walk back on a side street which leads us to the east side of the Royal Enclosure. On the side street we see some disabled kids, along with a few who just want to speak some English and perhaps ask for money, or pens. On this occasion, one of the kids counts in Amharic with Mike, all the way past 20. On the east side of the Royal Enclosure are two very old arches, along with several old churches, and a good number of the most expensive hotels and restaurants in town. We pass Simien Mountain Travel, a different tour agency, and negotiate a little bit, but the prices seem too high. We start to discuss a plan where we will visit Gonder on Sat, and on Sun, go north to Debark, where we will be met with a car which will drive us the entire driveable length of the Simiens. At the end of the day, we will stay in Debark, where we will catch the northbound bus toward Axum. Everything about this plan is wrong and expensive. The bus ticket for Monday will have to be purchased Sunday AM after we have taken the bus to Debark. This means that it will have to be purchased by a travel agent on our behalf, and somehow driven to us in Debark. Furthermore, the bus driver somehow has to be convinced (a) to leave two seats open, and (b) to stop for us. We demur to the Simien Mountains tour agent's price, which exceeds $200 US for the day. Back toward the hotel. Simien Image is now open. We go in with a much reduced plan. We will take a day trip to the mountains, drive in a much shorter distance than earlier planned, not see Ras Dashen, do some hiking along an escarpment, and drive back. We say our budget is $100 US. The tour is mostly booked, with one day tripper already paid, and three who will be starting their four day trek. Though it is an established rule that you should NEVER BE THE LAST ONE ON A BUS, Carol's Rule states: It very often is advantageous to be the last ones to book a tour. (This is because your fees are nearly pure profit.) Our proposal is accepted, and we will be off at 8 AM the next morning. It is now close to 7 PM. Rather than go to a nice restaurant, we drop in on Habesha Coffee. Habesha Coffee is a young, trendy place, with a certain amount of flirting going on. We order two juices, which are quite competent, and a spaghetti with vegetables which is far inferior to what we got the day before in Bahir Dar. At our table the napkin holder is decorated with the cutest smiling condom. Habesha waiters show off their sundaes when they make them and regularly come by with the freshly roasted coffee to smell. They do not, however, punctually serve you your food. We also order a fish goulash, which comes about 1 minute before we going to pay for only what we have gotten and leave. By that time, we are finished eating, so Mike takes a few bites and we get the rest to go. "To go" costs 5.75 birr (30 cents US) for the packaging, a sheet of aluminum foil - to add insult to injury. We hit the Internet, but are unable to get on the blog. To bed.