Blue Nile Gorge and a visit with Lucy and Ardi

Today was a good day, Dawn is feeling much better, and Afroland arranged another driver/guide, Meki, with a van to take us on a day trip to the Blue Nile Gorge/Falls and the Portuguese Bridge. Near the village of Bahir Dar, a two hour drive from Addis, we came to the parking area, we walked to this bridge, called the ‘Portugese Bridge’ locally as it was built by the Portuguese in the 17th century from limestone and ostrich egg. It is the dry season, so it is very dusty and brown at this time and the waterfall was a bit of a trickle. However, we have been to the grand canyon and this was an equally impressive experience.





Along the highway to this bridge, we met a steady stream of men, women, children, some herding scampering goats, a few cows and donkeys all walking towards Bahir Dar for the market. Some women carried open umbrellas to ward off the sun and others 50-60 lb bundles of fire wood. From time to time, we had to wait until a reluctant cow or donkey would be switched and prodded off the road ahead. This photo shows the typical landscape and scant greenery.



On the way back to the hotel we stopped into the Ethiopian National Musem to visit with Lucy and Ardi the oldest two homids, 3.2 and 4.4 million years old respectively, found in the ‘craddle of civilization’ in the Ethiopia’s Awash Depression.

We went out for dinner with 2 other Canadian couples from our adoption agency that are staying in our hotel. It was nice to connect with them.

Tomorrow we are in court, and we are planning for the worst and hoping for the best as there are some recent minor paper work issues affecting a few families. If we pass we will get to visit with Isaac as our son Thursday or Friday, if not we will be coming home and awaiting a 3-4 week delay. More details tomorrow, and please keep us in your prayers.