Reunited in Gondar!

I arrived in Gondar on Saturday and was reunited with Gelane who has been living here for the last year.  Her cousin was graduating from nursing school at the University of Gondar and so her cousin's parents, sister, uncle, neighbor, etc were visiting from Addis for the occasion.  They immediately welcomed me into the festivities!  First we went to extended family's house in Gondar for graduation lunch.  "Fasting" is very common in Ethiopia especially among Ethiopian Orthodox Christians when praying for a certain outcome.  I was initially confused when seeing "fasting foods" or "Beyanatu" on menus in restaurants, but quickly learned that "fasting" means no meal until midday and then when eating - no meat or diary products.  Perfect for my vegetarianism, because Beyanatu is on most menus in Ethiopian restaurants and is an easy way to explain I don't eat meat.  So we had a delicious lunch with Beyanatu for those fasting and meat for the others....

We then went up to Goha Hotel on the mountain overlooking Gondar (the pic at start of blog is from there) for pictures and tea.  Like Lalibella and Aksum it rains here most afternoons and when it rains it is pretty cold but during the mornings it is usually pretty warm and sunny.  So the Ethiopian tourism commission likes to use the slogan "13 months of sunshine" since Ethiopia follows the Julian Calendar there are 13 months - though i am not sure that slogan works when over half of the day during this season it is overcast and rainy.....Also it is actually 2004 here!  And time is different with sunrise (or our 6 am) being 1 am and then the time going from there.  Most official tourism things (like flights, store openings, etc) use the Western dates and times but it is still a bit confusing in places like the hospital where sometimes both systems are used.

Interesting spellings are very common

On Sunday we walked around town, going to the market for some Ethiopian scarves, rather than live chickens which were also for sale....

We also went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant for dinner where several traditional dances were performed. Here is a video of the traditional Gondar dance....

On Monday I went to see Gelane in action at the hospital.  She taught medical students on the malnutrition ward.  Several of the patients were very severely malnourished - one was 2 years old but was the size, weight, and developmental age of a 6 month old.  Medical care is not free here.  For malnourished patients formula, plumpy nut nutritional supplements and some other care is provided but when diagnostic tests (blood tests, chest xrays etc) have to be done the patients' families have to pay first.  The prices are quite low, but for poor families with nothing, even the slightest fee can be too much.  There is some free care for very poor families, but they have to provide documentation from their  village leaders of the fact that they are destitute and if they are traveling a far distance to come to the hospital this can often be quite hard to get.  Often the resident doctors who are very poorly compensated (3500 Birr or about $200 USD a month) end up paying for tests out of their own pockets!

Today I went to the tourist attractions in Gondar.  The castle compound is the main attraction.  The first castle (above) was built by Fasildas  when he was Emperor of Gondar from 1632-1667.  It apparently took ten years to build.  The subsequent kings built other castles on the compound because they each wanted to have their own.  There was also a house for lions which were kept on the compound, steam baths and a "music hall".  I then went to Debre Birhan Selassie church which is famous for the incredible paintings inside.  There are more than 100 angels on the ceiling and they were painted 300+ years ago and have not been retouched but remain very vibrant for the most part.  Some more photos....