livin' and livin' in Ethiopia

I don't have many opportunities to photograph the daily life of average Ethiopian people or families.  It's always something I wish I could do more of.  This would require walking in Addis and this city is simply the worst place for walking. Although it's the only mode of transportation for most Ethiopians.  OK, so I could walk if I were more adventurous.  

While we were in Gonder we took horse drawn carts through the villages to get from one historical site to another and during these rides I snapped a few photos of what we saw.  Using a term coined by my wise 3 year old Addie during our time in Manila- "Everyone's just livin' and livin'".  Indeed

Homes

Making injera

 Market Day in Gonder

women selling onions

spices

the mattress and bed shop

the famous Debre Brihan: the Kiki series

The ceiling of Debre brihan.  The angels seem to be making eye contact with you no matter where you stand.

There are a gazillion famous churches in Ethiopia.  This one happens to be my favorite.  We visited again while we were in Gonder.

some of the amazing painted cloth that has been sealed to the walls.  

All originals preserved

canes that fit in one's underarm to assist in standing during the entire mass.

Addie inside the church, posing of course

no shoes allowed.  Men and women enter the church through separate doors

Italian men tourists waiting to enter the church.  The well preserved entrance to the church grounds in view

Justin's Virginia Tech hat at Debre Brihan, I guess not the wildest place this hat has been!

Gonder with family: the Kiki series

Justin's mother is the very first of our parents and the only grandparent to visit us overseas.  It was her first trip out of the United States and Ethiopia isn't exactly a desired destination, so her efforts to see us meant a great deal to us.  Addis is a sprawling, filthy, hard mess of a city and it's tough to find anything redeemable on first glance; so we took  Kiki to Gonder for the weekend.  She loved it and we were thrilled to show her some of Ethiopia we have come to love.

breakfast at Loge du Chateu is a highlight

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Greenery is all around

Kiki found the coffee a bit strong for the afternoon so she indulged in spiced tea

Ash and Kiki bonding, Bella growling

our "other home"

The girls got weepy and sad on Saturday night when they learned we were returning home to Addis Ababa on Sunday.  Justin and I were a little bit shocked at the response.  We knew the girls had a great time in Gonder but we had no idea how much they loved it.  We all loved it.  It was probably one of the nicest weekends we have had in Ethiopia.  For a number of reasons.

Our daughters are good travelers.  They love adventure and seeing new things and this was the first trip we've taken where there weren't any complaints for the amount of walking and site seeing we did.  They were as fascinated with the castles, churches and villages as we were.  I was extremely impressed with their stamina during the trip.

boys playing football in the streets.  We honestly couldn't walk anywhere without a gaggle of Ethiopian kids following us the entire way.  They loved speaking Amharic with Justin.

The children at Falasha village trying to sell us American coins among other things.

The little girl in purple picked flowers for Addie, Bella and Ashlynn at Fasilides Bath.

There were no major meltdowns even when we skipped naps for both Bella and Ashlynn.  We just crammed our day with adventure, had a reasonably early dinner and all three of the girls were asleep at 7PM.  They crashed for the night and were up early to start a new day.  Ashlynn is still at the age that she snoozed in my arms and on our horse cart rides.  I was mostly impressed with Arabella making it through the busy days without a nap.  We were pretty proud of their behavior.

Ashlynn playing the drums at The Four Sisters Restaurant, entertaining all the staff

A major contributing factor to the success of the weekend was keeping it to two days.  Kids (and parents) can only go full speed for about two days before everyone is tired so having just two full days of adventure was a perfect amount.

Dashen beer is brewed in Gonder and was a saving grace for Mom and Dad as we sat in the courtyard after the girls had gone to bed.

Our guide, Tamirat also helped things go smoothly.  The girls really took to him and having an extra pair of adult hands with three small children is always an added bonus.

We weren't surprised that Bella likes Tej.  She likes everything a 3 year old shouldn't.

Our Lodge was centrally located to all the things we wanted to see.  We literally only had to walk 5 minutes to the castles and the longest horse cart ride to the Falasha Village was only about 20 minutes.  Short travel times in between our site seeing stops helped move things along and prevent the girls from getting bored.

The girls are also pretty adventurous eaters.  Addie was satisfied with her meals and Bella asked for more of the boiled Ethiopian eggs that came with the tibs.  Go figure!

Justin and I laughed about how some day we'll be visiting some third world city and hail a run down horse drawn cart for a ride and our girls will roll their eyes and tell us there is no way in hell they are riding in one of these things.  For now, we are thankful they are still at the age that this kind of travel is totally cool, maybe even the best part of the weekend!

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend for all of us.  It's truly a once in a lifetime experience for our children to see Ethiopia and all it's history.  For them it's as normal as going to the mall for the weekend.  I'm sure some day they will realize just how spectacular it was and how cool it is that their weekend activities included ancient Ethiopian castles and historic churches.  When we returned to our home they were happy to relax and play but almost immediately Bella announced she wanted to go on the airplane again to our "other home".  Gonder clearly was pretty awesome.

Ashlynn is such a happy easy going baby that we couldn't go anywhere without crowds of local men and women cooing at her.  She was a rock star all weekend.

Debre Birhan Selassie Church

Debre Birhan Selassie church was built by Emperor Eyasu II in the 17th Century.  It's the only ancient church of this style and age still standing in Gonder.  In 1888 the Dervishes of Sudan attacked Gonder and burned down every other church in the city except this one.  Legend says that when the soldiers approached the church they were met by a huge swarm of bees that kept them away and the church safe. It is also believed that the Archangel Michael himself stood at the door protecting the church from harm.

It's a wonderful example of ancient Ethiopian church art.  A must see in Gonder.

There are two entrances; one for men (in the front) and one at the side (for women).  The girls were thrilled to have to remove their shoes.  No flash photography was allowed to preserve the paintings.  Some of the colors are still very vivid.  I really love the ceiling covered with the Ethiopian angels.  In Ethiopian art good people are painted with two eyes showing.  Bad people are painted in profile with one eye showing.  

In the top left is the King in the castle, his face is in profile.  One eye=bad guy. 

Angels facing east and west

drums representing Jesus, played during chanting

The priests lived in the top of these guard towers.  

Now the priests live in the top of the building shown here.  It's the building at the front gate of the church.