Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, December 3, 2015

I love it here, I truly do.  It is a country full of contrasts: dirt poor to rich, clothing in tatters to the modern styles of North America, every type of head gear imaginable from beanies, to turbans, to ball caps, and transportation includes everything from donkeys, tuk tuks, public vans and buses to Toyota half tons.  Homes are windowless shacks made of skinny tree logs topped with tin roofs to 5 star hotels.  I feel sorry for the people I am interacting with.  So many want to talk and help, I mean honestly help, not like in Egypt where they just want to drag you to their shop and rip you off.  Here they seem truly interested in making sure you see the country they are so proud of.  

My morning began with a visit to Saint George Church-

where, as usual it seems, it was a day of celebration.  Once again, the right side is for women-

and the left for men.  Worshippers remove their shoes at the entrance, kiss the walls, the floor, everywhere, as they mumble their prayers.  It was renovated in the 60s.

My next stop was the market-

 which is a maze-

of everything imaginable from coffee bean stalls where there are 3 grades of unroasted beans-

to coffee pot stalls-

to spices-

to live chickens and eggs-

and more chickens (check out the plastic shoes)-

Down the used rubber tire street-

this man was making a water bladder that can be easily carried full to the village from the river-

There was a hole in the wall 'silver' shop that by the reaction of the vendor when I pulled out my loup, certainly wasn't silver-

These young men were enjoying playing soccer in a video arcade-

Vegetables are fresh but all that is available is cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, chilis, peppers and red onions- 

Woven plastic baskets were made right before my eyes-

and unfortunately the khat leaves (pronounced chat), a mild stimulant didn't do anything for me-

I'm not sure what it would be like drinking from horn wine glasses and cups.  They seemed kind of dirty.  The horse hair pompoms are used for fancy dress-

The market was super interesting and I had numerous guides - none wanting to sell me anything!  They just wanted to show me their great market and make sure I had seen everything there was to see!  Such a refreshing change!

Lunch was a delicious fish dullet that I ordered with bread rather than injera.  I even asked for a spoon.  The man sitting next to me laughed at that!

Tomorrow we're off to Addis Ababa but because of the distance, will need to bush camp along the way!

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Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, December 2, 2015

It was an 11 hour drive to get to Bahir Dar.  We're in a lovely area with beautiful plants and flowers, tenting for either 2 or 3 nights.  It will depend on which activities we do.

The country side around Lalibela is in a drought situation.  Agencies are providing food at numerous distribution sites. 

The rivers are very dry-

So is the land - there isn't much greenery-

One of the fairly rough roads we were on today :) -

Notice the cattle crossing!

It was very dusty passing through villages-

and in the truck- (the white is the dust outside)!

Students on their way to school.  They all wear uniforms and there were hundreds of them-

The views are spectacular-

More human swathers.  I know I've shown similar pictures before but I just can't wrap my head around the work-

Cultivating-

Building a road.  All labour is manual - for everything!

Ethiopian car wash!

Looking forward to seeing some monasteries tomorrow!

Lalibela, Ethiopia, December 1, 2015

Lalibela is known for its 13 Orthodox rock churches carved  out of the earth, dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries.   Apparently they were created in 23 years!  Hard to believe, but not if you know that real men worked on them during the day and at night, a celestial crew carried on!  Lalibella is the "new Jerusalem".  A pilgrimage to far away Jerusalem was out of the question so a second one was created here.  Most of the churches have three parts- the front is the Holiest of Holies  where the priest does his thing, the second part is the nave for communion and the third part is for chanting. 

The Bet Medhane Alem (House of the Savior of the World) is the largest rock-hewn church in the world.  There are 34 columns on the exterior and the window designs show Aksum as well as Greek influence-

The three tombs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are inside-

The top three windows in Bet Maryam (Virgin Mary) represent the Holy Trinity while the next row of three, below the cross, are for Jesus and the two sinners who were all crucified together.  The bottom left window is for the criminal who went to hell and the bottom right window has a window above it representing the sinner who made it to heaven after repenting for his sins-

Carvings on the pillars and ceiling-

Bet Golgotha is the only church I couldn't enter because women aren't allowed.  There are 12 carved Apostles in the niches in the walls-

The symbolic tomb of Adam and Eve-

The Bet Giyorgis is a 15 meter high plinth in the shape of a Greek cross-

Papyrus is grown for worshippers to wear around their heads, mimicking the crown of thorns Jesus wore-

Bet Merkorios-

can only be accessed via tunnels and trenches-

The Three Wise Men, from the 15th century, are a frescoe-

My favorite was the Petra of Africa - Bet Abba Libanos.  It's hypogeous - only the roof and floor are attached to the strata.  Legend says that King Lalibela's wife built it in one single night-

Worshippers are everywhere-

Today was St. Mary's Day so there was a big celebration with lots of drumming, chanting and singing-

The church area is now a world heritage site.  Three years ago numerous residents were moved from their homes to modern places with power and even running water.  They used to live in homes like this where the main floor housed the kitchen and the animals - donkeys, goats, sheep, and the top floor was the bedroom.  Typically a family of 5 lived here-

Paintings are done on goat skin-

Rubbing the leaves together on the black pepper tree make your hands smell exactly like pepper-

Huge poinsettias grow around our hotel-

Tourist shops are colorful-

and filled with masks and cross carvings-

Lalibella is a magical place.  It's the first time I've seen such devotion of Christians. Something missing though was the abundance of offerings - no money boxes or flowers or candles were burning.  It is hard to believe these huge buildings could have been carved out of solid rock.  

Tomorrow it's a long drive to Bahir Dar.