Africa's Camelot (or was it Spamalot?)Nov 11, 2008
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Camelot! or was it Spamalot.....
The natives are restless...
The empress's abode
11/11/08
Gonder (or Gondar, depending on your reference materials), also known as the “Camelot” of Ethiopia, served as our last stop in this wonderful country. Surrounded by mountains covered with crops in a patchwork pattern, the city has some beautiful castles from the 1600-1700’s. We also took a day trip close to the spectacular Simien Mountains to check out the “bleeding heart” baboons in compromising positions. But perhaps the best part of our stay in Gonder was a visit to the Dashen Brewery, where we got an in-depth look at all the computer programming and automation of this huge production plant (churning out 50,000 bottles a minute!), as well as the environmentally friendly bottle recycling and waste water treatment systems. The beer itself was pretty tasty too. And they even get their hops from, you guessed it, Oregon!
By popular request, I thought I'd mention here that Ethiopia seemed to have hit an all time high in the bug/skin rash department. We actually began referring to the different cities by the skin ailments procured there. For example, Addis was where Christopher got a fungus on his back, Lalibela was where we got bed bug bites, and Gondar was where we got fleas. A whole lot of itching going on! Later, when we camped along the Nile in Sudan, we thought we had gotten rid of the fleas but I still thought I felt some tiny bugs crawling along my eyelids when i was asleep. Fran thought I was making it up. But I was vindicated later, when our friend Mazar told us not to sleep by the Nile in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, because there were bugs that crawl on your eyes at night. HA! A hollow victory nonetheless, as I'd rather have had it be my imagination than the infestation of little varmints on my eyeballs. Bring lots of bug spray!
