>Here are some road scenes from our drive from Gondar to Bahir Dar… ….they store their crops in the trees…sometimes they build actual storage units that look like huts up in the tree, but I never got a good photo of that… ….school was letting out…there were about a hundred...
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Africa
>January 23/24, 2012. Gondar, Ethiopia
>Gondar was founded by Emperor Fasalides in 1635 and served as the capital city for 250 years. His father had converted to Catholicism, influenced by the Portuguese, and tried to shut down the Christian orthodox church. This resulted in a period of great instability and great bloodshed. When Fasalides took...
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>Monday, January 23. On the road to Gondar.
>After visiting with the baboon families, we headed back down the mountain towards Gondar. Along the way, we were able to experience the agricultural lifestyle of the northern Ethiopian farmers. We first stopped off at a veterinary clinic. While we were there, the doctor inoculated a lamb (I’ll spare you...
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>Sunday/Monday, January 22/23. Simien Mountains.
>This morning, we got up early yet again! for an 8:00ish flight to Gondar…but our flight was delayed and we were a couple of hours late getting out of Axum! From the airport in Gondar, we drove two or three hours to get to the town of Debark in time...
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>Saturday, January 21. Axum.
>The next morning, it was up early (again!), and off to the airport to head to the ancient city of Axum. Despite being the most ancient Ethiopian capital, documented history is disappointingly weak with regard to this area of the world. Ethiopians are quick to point out that Ethiopia is...
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>Sunday, February 5
>Just arrived back to Addis Ababa yesterday, after about ten days in Southern Ethiopia. Hot water and electricity were not always available, so of course wifi was non-existent. Every once in a while, we came across Internet access outside of our hotels, but it was generally of the dial up...
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Lalibela – Day 2 of Timkat Festival – January 20, 2012
>Our first night in Lalibela, four of us had to share a room, as every hotel was overbooked in the town for the Timkat celebration. Some of the hotels, including ours, had set up tents to handle the overflow. The next morning, we got up and went out to the...
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Lalibela – Timkat Festival – January 19, 2012
>We flew up to Lalibela in the VERY early morning (3:30am wake up!!). This town was the capital from the 10th century to the mid-13th century. King Lalibela reigned during the 12th century. Legend is that he had a dream to build many rock churches to make another “heavenly” Jerusalem....
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Addis Ababa. January 18, 2012.
>The next day, we started out by taking a drive through the mercato, the largest open air market in Africa. Unlike the souks of Morocco, which offer a lot of tourist appeal, this market is geared more towards local commerce. 40% of the country’s GDP is related to the activity...
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Addis Ababa. January 17, 2012
We toured with our group for two days, while in the capital city. On the first day, January 17, we headed up into the Intoto Hills, which is the highest spot in town where Emperor Menelik (more about him later) established his base, and where he was coronated in the...
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