Colours That Unite

We visited two monastries on Lake Tana this morning. Alice, a Chinese-Canadian girl from Calgary who had just completed a one year CIDA internship with Street Kids International, joined us for the half-day tour. She was backpacking around Ethiopia for a couple of weeks before returning home.

Matt and Christoph got to visit a third monastery, but because it was only open to men, we girls just lounged in the boat, waiting, relaxing.

Alice was going to Gondar as well so after our tour, followed by a tilapia lunch, we offered to give her a lift in Foxy.

It is always fun meeting other travellers, aid workers, or just foreigners in general. The stories which brought them to Africa are normally interesting and quite revealing about their character.

Alice asked me if Matt and I had experienced any racism so far during our overland journey for being a mixed-race couple. Her question took me by surprise because we have always considered ourselves to be just 'Bonnie and Matt', nothing more, and certainly nothing different. But of course, from outer appearances, we were obviously quite dissimilar.

I had to take a moment to think of an answer, but I told Alice that no, we haven't had any difficulty on our travels. In actual fact, being of different race has provoked curiosity and interest in us instead. We've generally found Africans to be quite forthcoming and will question our relationship, how we met, and how it is possible to marry outside "your tribe." If anything, we have been engaged in conversations we wouldn't have had otherwise if we were from the same country, background, or skin colour.

There was no electricity at Belegez Pension, which meant no hot water, which meant no shower. However, there apparently was electricity in some parts of town and desperately needing to get online again, we walked down the hill in search of an internet café. Since Addis Ababa, we have been trying to make an important online payment to the shipping company in Cape Town so that our stuff will get sent to Vancouver in time. The connection was hopeless though, every time we got the site uploaded, either we couldn't get passed the password stage or the power would cut off.

We resigned ourselves to defeat and went in search of food instead. It was around 9pm already so the only place that was serving food was the hippest bar in town.

We ate "pasta with tuna and vegetables" (the only quick option on their limited menu) while getting a little shell-shocked at our surroundings. One of the bar's patrons, an Ethiopian born and raised in Boston, was our self-appointed translator. We all found it incredibly strange to see him wearing a flat-capped baseball hat with rapper-style baggy pants and to hear his strong American accent. If you didn't step outside, you could have thought you were in a New York bar. There were disco balls and flashing red lights and an enormous speaker blasting R&B. Needless to say, we were totally underdressed with our dirty cargo pants and red Gortex rain jackets.

There were a few power cuts while we ate, which plunged everyone in complete silence and darkness, and only then were you reminded that you were in Gondar, Ethiopia.



Start: Ghion Hotel, Bahir Dar, ETH. 09:08
End: Belegez Pension, Gondar, ETH. 18:00
Distance Traveled: 172 km
Road Conditions: good smooth tar road
Average Speed: 63.6 km/hr
Max Speed: 94.8 km/hr
Temperature: cool, pleasant, chilly at night (comparatively)