Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    We were advised by many who had done it to take a few days and explore the ancient ruins of Ethiopia.  This is supposedly the site of early Christianity and there are many items they would
like to share if they had a museum.  The Patriarch, Abuna Paulus, who we visited the last time we
were in Ethiopia, wanted the LDS Church to donate money for this cause.  He has since passed
away but his museum is in the process of being built.  So we begin our tour of Ancient Ethiopia.
    Our first sight as we went on a boat ride were the majestic pelican.

This is a typical fisherman on Lake Tana, one of the largest lakes in Africa.  They catch hundreds of fish daily.  Love his boat made of reeds.

We walked onto a large island in the middle of the lake, and
what a surprise.  There was a market for tourists right there!

His paints are made from natural plants in the area and he was
the painter of the products on the table above,

Grandpa is dealing with this young man to buy Frankincense and Myhrr to bring home.

Our first Ethiopian Orthodox Church to view.

The church is filled with Ethiopian Artwork.

An interesting item for their future museum.

 Modes of Transportation:  Walking. . .

All ages carrying things. . .

Riding. . .

Donkey Cart. . .

Buzzards at the local garbage dump.  Kind of looks like a scene from a Harry Potter movie.

And resting in a nearby tree.

The Blue Nile--their main water source.  The Blue Nile and the White Nile merge
together and form the large Nile River in Egypt.

Which ended in a beautiful waterfall.

   

Interesting faces            Working in the field. . .

The face of an intense boat driver . . .

By far the cutest "face" of all if you look very closely!
At least the cutest "cheeks."

The local villagers are coming for water at the river.  If you look closely at the mother's left leg, you
can see that it is very swollen.  This is a medical condition called Podiconiosis and it is caused by
them not wearing shoes.  Small particles of igneous rock, which is full of silicon and is all around the area, will work their way into the blood system and damage the cells.  This will only get worse until the woman can hardly walk.  The solution is to wear shoes.  LDS Charities is trying to pursue a solution to this problem by providing shoes and education.