Many pilgrims ask to be buried close to the Lalibela churches. This was one on the Bete Giyorgis Church wall.
This is for the ones thinking that travel is like a ferry tale. Nice places, nice people, nice views and nice food.
We arrived in town very hungry. We couldn't speak a world of Amharic and they don't speak anything else. So we made a sign of being hungry and spoke the traditional words: Food, Bread, Rice, salad, etc. But the guy seam not to understand any of them until it came out the word "meat". Suddenly the guy stopped us and started to make strange hand signals. As we didn't know what it meant we said "Yes" and hopped for the best.
In Lalibela (Northern Ethiopia) can be found 11 churches carved directly in the stone. This churches where build by King Lalibela in the twelve centure as the new Jerusalem, in response to the capture of Jerusalem by Muslims.
The friendly guy brought us one tray with something like a towel covering it and direct on top of that a few bowls containing meat. We said OK and suddenly the guy flipped the bows on top of the "Towel" and left to the kitchen. We kept looking at each other until with our hands (Forks who need them?? hehehe) we started to eat the meat. Half way trough we realize the "towel" was a kind of bread-pancake that could be also eaten. Its name is Ngera and afterwards we realize that is the base of the Ethiopian cuisine. You rip a piece of the Njera and with it take some of what is on top.
The churches are carved from a single stone in amaysing sizes.
room is so short your knees hit against the rosted bolts from the next seat.
A priest reading the holy book (written in Ge'ez) for the pilgrims that visit the churches in Lalibela.
buses don't drive at night and because the city was very small and many buses stop overnight there, would not have place in the hotels for everyone. So we needed to find one as quickly as possible. Around one kilometer of marathon we found a hotel for us.
The desert if beautiful, but is hot, veeeery hot. Open the windows? No way! "Make you sick" Say the locals. The good thing is at every stop there are dozens of people selling every kind of food trough the bus windows. Cookies, mineral water, carrots, chat (a stimulant plant, they chew it all the time), sugar cane, corn, bananas, etc. Very handy! But rubbish bins are nonexistent, so they throw all the packeging and garbage on the streets ("for the goats" someone told me) or inside the bus. By the end of the trip there is dirt everywhere, on the floor, on the seats, and often on your lap (Usually not yours)!! Because they don't eat the whole plant of chat, just a few leaves, in the end of the trip you find yourself in the amazon jungle with all the remainings thrown all over the place.
Careful work in the carving of the windows of one of 11 Lalibela's churches.
two days from Addis Ababa to Lalibela. One day in Lalibela and three day to the border with Djibouti. This 5 days from 5 in the morning to 6 in the afternoon to run around 1100Km.
Ahhhh... it's so good to leave the bus and stretch the legs! So lets find a hotel.
We are half way between Ethiopia and Djibouti. Locals are a bit apprehensive with the conflicts between the two countries taking place in this area. There was some kidnapping a few weeks ago, so mercenaries take the bus to security (until we discovered that they were security, we were very uncomfortable with the 15 years old boy, wearing just a skirt and a machine gun, sitting on our side.) But all these tension doesn't change the people's habit of, on the hottest hours of the day, seating around chewing chat very confortable and relaxed. We think even the rebels must do the same, so no danger at this time.
wanted my bed outside. But why? - "Because with the heat you can't sleep inside the rooms!" - She was right, with open door and window I could appreciate the stars in a clean desert sky, but sleep? No way! Too hot!!
At the end there is something everyone has to agree: travel in Ethiopia is fun and can be "ridiculously" cheap!!
The holes are so deep that some churches have more than one floor and even bridges to access.
On the road north to Lalibela you think that time has stopped here since the 16th century. The locals leave in stone houses and agriculture is made using ox plows.
This is the traditional food in Ethiopia. Really good!!!
During the war against Italy colonization, the Ethiopian emperor kidnapped some missionaries and forced them to build a cannon. But the missionaries build a huge cannon that took almost all the army strength to drag it to the top of the mountain. After all the effort the canon exploded on the second shot.
Chicken not just inside but all over the roof!! But is not always like that. The chickens were for eastern commemoration.
Inside was just to hot!
Hi guys! It's been a long time since i met you in Zanzibar, and now am back in Australia. Just found your wed address! I'm glad you are still alive!! Will make sure i keep checking your blog for some laughs!!
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