Travels With Maria

africa

China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone. We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects. What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don't understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment,…
More

Not Like Other Africans

Ethiopia is unique among African nations in that it has never been colonized by Europeans. The Italians occupied twice and the British invaded, but no one successfully established a colony. Ethiopia has a very strong national identity that they trace back to the Queen of Sheba who they say gave birth to King Solomon's son and brought him back from Israel and established a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia. Many other African "nations" are based on European borders that are meaningless to the peoples that live there. They claim that Christianity came here from Egypt in the first century. Probably it was really several hundred years later, but still way earlier…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Ethiopian Emperors

Because of the mosquitos the other night, we started taking malaria pills earlier than we had hoped. The rest of our stay here is at altitudes over 6000 feet, too high for mosquitos. We had hoped to delay until we got to Uganda, but now we need to take them every day until a week after we get home. We spent the day today in Gondar, the third capital of Ethiopia. The first two, Axum and Lalibela are our next two cities. Somewhere along the line, a king established his capital here at Gondar and built a castle in 1638. Gondar is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so evidently…
More

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More

China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone. We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects. What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don't understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment,…
More

Not Like Other Africans

Ethiopia is unique among African nations in that it has never been colonized by Europeans. The Italians occupied twice and the British invaded, but no one successfully established a colony. Ethiopia has a very strong national identity that they trace back to the Queen of Sheba who they say gave birth to King Solomon's son and brought him back from Israel and established a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia. Many other African "nations" are based on European borders that are meaningless to the peoples that live there. They claim that Christianity came here from Egypt in the first century. Probably it was really several hundred years later, but still way earlier…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Ethiopian Emperors

Because of the mosquitos the other night, we started taking malaria pills earlier than we had hoped. The rest of our stay here is at altitudes over 6000 feet, too high for mosquitos. We had hoped to delay until we got to Uganda, but now we need to take them every day until a week after we get home. We spent the day today in Gondar, the third capital of Ethiopia. The first two, Axum and Lalibela are our next two cities. Somewhere along the line, a king established his capital here at Gondar and built a castle in 1638. Gondar is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so evidently…
More

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More

China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone. We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects. What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don't understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment,…
More

Not Like Other Africans

Ethiopia is unique among African nations in that it has never been colonized by Europeans. The Italians occupied twice and the British invaded, but no one successfully established a colony. Ethiopia has a very strong national identity that they trace back to the Queen of Sheba who they say gave birth to King Solomon's son and brought him back from Israel and established a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia. Many other African "nations" are based on European borders that are meaningless to the peoples that live there. They claim that Christianity came here from Egypt in the first century. Probably it was really several hundred years later, but still way earlier…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Ethiopian Emperors

Because of the mosquitos the other night, we started taking malaria pills earlier than we had hoped. The rest of our stay here is at altitudes over 6000 feet, too high for mosquitos. We had hoped to delay until we got to Uganda, but now we need to take them every day until a week after we get home. We spent the day today in Gondar, the third capital of Ethiopia. The first two, Axum and Lalibela are our next two cities. Somewhere along the line, a king established his capital here at Gondar and built a castle in 1638. Gondar is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so evidently…
More

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More

China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone. We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects. What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don't understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment,…
More

Not Like Other Africans

Ethiopia is unique among African nations in that it has never been colonized by Europeans. The Italians occupied twice and the British invaded, but no one successfully established a colony. Ethiopia has a very strong national identity that they trace back to the Queen of Sheba who they say gave birth to King Solomon's son and brought him back from Israel and established a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia. Many other African "nations" are based on European borders that are meaningless to the peoples that live there. They claim that Christianity came here from Egypt in the first century. Probably it was really several hundred years later, but still way earlier…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Ethiopian Emperors

Because of the mosquitos the other night, we started taking malaria pills earlier than we had hoped. The rest of our stay here is at altitudes over 6000 feet, too high for mosquitos. We had hoped to delay until we got to Uganda, but now we need to take them every day until a week after we get home. We spent the day today in Gondar, the third capital of Ethiopia. The first two, Axum and Lalibela are our next two cities. Somewhere along the line, a king established his capital here at Gondar and built a castle in 1638. Gondar is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so evidently…
More

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More

China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone. We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects. What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don't understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment,…
More

Not Like Other Africans

Ethiopia is unique among African nations in that it has never been colonized by Europeans. The Italians occupied twice and the British invaded, but no one successfully established a colony. Ethiopia has a very strong national identity that they trace back to the Queen of Sheba who they say gave birth to King Solomon's son and brought him back from Israel and established a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia. Many other African "nations" are based on European borders that are meaningless to the peoples that live there. They claim that Christianity came here from Egypt in the first century. Probably it was really several hundred years later, but still way earlier…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Ethiopian Emperors

Because of the mosquitos the other night, we started taking malaria pills earlier than we had hoped. The rest of our stay here is at altitudes over 6000 feet, too high for mosquitos. We had hoped to delay until we got to Uganda, but now we need to take them every day until a week after we get home. We spent the day today in Gondar, the third capital of Ethiopia. The first two, Axum and Lalibela are our next two cities. Somewhere along the line, a king established his capital here at Gondar and built a castle in 1638. Gondar is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so evidently…
More

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More

China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone. We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects. What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don't understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment,…
More

Not Like Other Africans

Ethiopia is unique among African nations in that it has never been colonized by Europeans. The Italians occupied twice and the British invaded, but no one successfully established a colony. Ethiopia has a very strong national identity that they trace back to the Queen of Sheba who they say gave birth to King Solomon's son and brought him back from Israel and established a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia. Many other African "nations" are based on European borders that are meaningless to the peoples that live there. They claim that Christianity came here from Egypt in the first century. Probably it was really several hundred years later, but still way earlier…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Ethiopian Emperors

Because of the mosquitos the other night, we started taking malaria pills earlier than we had hoped. The rest of our stay here is at altitudes over 6000 feet, too high for mosquitos. We had hoped to delay until we got to Uganda, but now we need to take them every day until a week after we get home. We spent the day today in Gondar, the third capital of Ethiopia. The first two, Axum and Lalibela are our next two cities. Somewhere along the line, a king established his capital here at Gondar and built a castle in 1638. Gondar is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so evidently…
More

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More

China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone. We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects. What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don't understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment,…
More

Not Like Other Africans

Ethiopia is unique among African nations in that it has never been colonized by Europeans. The Italians occupied twice and the British invaded, but no one successfully established a colony. Ethiopia has a very strong national identity that they trace back to the Queen of Sheba who they say gave birth to King Solomon's son and brought him back from Israel and established a Jewish kingdom in Ethiopia. Many other African "nations" are based on European borders that are meaningless to the peoples that live there. They claim that Christianity came here from Egypt in the first century. Probably it was really several hundred years later, but still way earlier…
More

Precipices and People

And on your left: certain death. Malas gained substantial status in our eyes today. He picked us up this morning for a ride to Axum, our next destination. During the ride he was more talkative, and though his English was rough, it was way better than our Amharic. We drove for the first hour out of Simien park down to the town at the bottom of the hill. He gave one of the workers, a very pretty (like most of the people here) young woman, a lift to the town. They were chatting all the way down. Once he dropped her off, he stopped at a restaurant to get breakfast…
More

Simien Mountains

This morning, a new driver picked us up for the next leg of our tour. This guy, appropriately enough, is named Malas ("bad" in Spanish). He smokes cigarettes, which has evidently damaged his olfactory system because he could use a shower. He's a scary driver, though I got more comfortable as I observed him for a while. Unlike Maria. We had a few close calls, but the only time he slammed on the brakes was when a kid threw a rock at the car. Other than that, our only complaint is that he looks at you to talk. Not a big issue because he doesn't speak English. And he got…
More

Ethiopian Emperors

Because of the mosquitos the other night, we started taking malaria pills earlier than we had hoped. The rest of our stay here is at altitudes over 6000 feet, too high for mosquitos. We had hoped to delay until we got to Uganda, but now we need to take them every day until a week after we get home. We spent the day today in Gondar, the third capital of Ethiopia. The first two, Axum and Lalibela are our next two cities. Somewhere along the line, a king established his capital here at Gondar and built a castle in 1638. Gondar is in a valley surrounded by mountains, so evidently…
More

Lake Tana and the Drive to Gondar

Another early morning, this one after a pretty bad night. Our cute little bungalow's bathroom smelled of sewer gas and we were plagued by mosquitos. No mosquito net. Mas and Tardi picked us up at the hotel at 7:30 for a boat trip on Lake Tana. Early on the morning, the lake was like glass. We first went to the Nile outlet where we saw a family of 4 hippos, fishing eagles, pelicans and other birds. Then we headed across the open water to visit an Orthodox monastery. The trip over took an hour. A mist hung over the trees on the shore, while we were in sunshine. It was…
More

Blue Nile Falls

We were up at 5 this morning for a 6am ride to the airport to go to Bahir Dar, an hour's flight north. The flight was smooth and we landed around 8:30. Bahir Dar is the home of Lake Tana, source of the Blue Nile which flows 900 miles north to Khartoum where it joins the White Nile and flows on through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The longest river in the world*. We are staying near where the river flows out of the lake. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, our guide Mas and driver Tardi took us on a ride, maybe 90 minutes over increasingly rough roads past…
More