APRIL 25, 2012 AXUM TO LALIBELA, ETHIOPIA

Wednesday April 25, 2012  AXUM TO LALIBELA, ETHIOPIA

We enjoyed hard boiled eggs and toast with wonderful fresh squeezed papaya juice (they make amazing juices here) before checking out for the AXUM airport.  On the way we stopped to take a quick look at 2 new hotels.  Again there is lots of new construction taking place in anticipation of the huge surge in tourism to Ethiopia (800,000 visitors in 2011 with an estimate of 1.2 million for 2012). The warmest months are April and May. Today excavations are still ongoing in AXUM discovering more tombs, stelae and the underground Palace of the Queen of Sheba.  AXUM is growing quickly and is a very important pilgrimage town for visitors from around the world.

The Consular Hotel (34 rooms) has decent clean rooms, the corner units are very large, prices $60 to $75 in current low season with better rooms than at the Brana. The rooms at the Brana hotel (28 rooms) are not as large but the food is apparently better here with a nice restaurant and lounge area.  We went on to the roof at the Brana - the scenery is amazing even if the door onto the roof is only 5 feet high - please duck!  The Brana plans to turn this into a roof top bar.  There are lots (maybe 6 stories) of stairs and no elevators.  We prefer the older Yeha because of its location overlooking the stelae park.

At the airport while we waited for our short flight to Lalibela (via Gondar), we took a quick look in the souvenir shop and we couldn’t resist a small wooden carving of The Queen of Sheba riding on a horse behind the King of Solomon with their guards around them - $120 USD no negotiating with this, but what a spectacular memory of our amazing trip!

 LALIBELA, 12th Century rock hewn churches named after King Lalibela

We departed at 1045am and arrived in Lalibela at 12:15pm .  Malcolm had advised us to sit on the left hand side ( a full plane all open seating) for the views and he was right - spectacular views of the area and especially the rugged Simien Mountains.  In Lalibela our driver for the day was Girard who picked us up in a 6 seater van.  Adane had to drive the 20 seat Coaster bus the 1000 Km back to Addis Ababa empty - a drive that would take him 2 days.  Within minutes we were on our way for the 25k (35 minute drive) out of the flat valley at 1900m where the airport was located up the side of the hills to the top where the town of Lalibela sits at 2615 m above sea level - does the stunning scenery ever end?  Everywhere we passed the hills are all terraced to prevent as much run off and washing away of soil that they can.  The villagers are all hard at work, gathering and carrying firewood and ploughing their fields.   It was lunchtime when we arrived and the Churches are closed until 2pm so we ate (fish and vegetable pasta) after checking in at the ROHA Hotel.  Again a 2 storey hotel in exactly the same design as the YEHA and GOHA.  These hotels were all built in 1993 by the Ethiopian government but each has since been sold to private owners.  They are extremely dated with bathrooms in huge need of replacing both for new fixtures as well as the useless plumbing systems!  

We were so excited to see the churches in Laibela - hewn out of the rock - there are 2 sets - the first 6 are the earthly group, symbolizing Jerusalem including the magnificent Bete Giorgis - we were to see these this afternoon.  The second set are the heavenly group and we would see those tomorrow.  We continued to gain altitude as we drove slowly over the cobble street through the town of Nakutola’ab with a population of 42,000 up to the earthly group of churches, where our first stop was at the museum.  The hills used to be covered in a jungle forest and wild olives but now there are very few trees around.  The area is now protected and no trees can be cut here which is why we saw the villagers (women!) climbing the long steep climb from down in the valley carrying up the large bundles of firewood.  We had also seen large numbers of children walking up the road and hills (many dressed in royal blue uniforms, both the pants/skirts and blouses/shirts).  The school is running two 4 hour shifts each day - a morning and afternoon shift because there are so many kids they cannot be accommodated all day at school - the government is promising to build more schools so that the children can go to school all day.  These children average 15km each way to school - some coming from as far as 42km (but they walk in once each week and go home each weekend staying with friends during the week).  Another interesting fact we heard is that in the children living in towns in Ethiopia popular with tourists have the lowest academic grade in the country.  They believe that these kids spend too much time trying to get money from tourism (one way or another) and are not focussing on their school work.

Lali means honey and bela means eater so the name of the town means honey eater, but it is named after King Lalibela who founded the town.  The next day we were to see huge amounts of honey for sale in the airport for the visitors to buy.  For the last several days, but especially on our ride from Simien Mountains to Axum, we had seen huge honey catchers in the trees (hollow tubes hung in the trees that entice the bees to build their hives there) and the honey is harvested twice each year.

The Museum contained ancient prayer sticks and crosses, celebration robes, the Parchment  under glass for protection and the wooden case with a huge key hole which was where the original Arc of the Covenant used to be kept for 900 years!  This wooden case is now encased in a newer wooden case for protection but the Arc of the Covenant is no longer inside - as mentioned yesterday, that is believed to be in the church in the St Mary of Zion compound.

The Ethiopian Flag is 3 colours (top to bottom) green, yellow and red.  Until Emperor Haile Selassie’s downfall there was a lion in the centre of the flag, this was changed to a star after Selassie’s downfall.  This star represents the equality of all nations of people and all religions living and existing in the lands of Ethiopia.

There were also traditional drums and we learned that for the 55 days prior to Easter the drums cannot be used so instead we saw the old wooden handmade guitars to be used during the services in these 55 days.   There are over 240 cross styes in Ethiopia - just imagine the fun the jewellers have making all these designs!  The Lalibela cross has 12 points across the top - 6 each side of the cross in the middle representing the 12 apostles.

Now you want to know why the churches in Lalibela were ever carved out of the rocks?  I certainly wanted to know, especially after seeing the small (maybe 10 inches) axe or trowel that 40,00 people worked 24 hours a day for 24 years to complete these 11 churches!  Well it turns out that Lalibela as a child was swarmed (his head) by bees.  Lalibela’s mother said that this was a sign that he would be King.  Jealousy from his elder brother resulted in him poisoning Lalibela who fell into a coma for 3 days.  When he came out of the coma, he said that he had been told to carve these Churches out of the rocks, and he had been told where and how to do this.  This would become the new Jerusalem.

There are 3 types of churches here - MONOLITH, which means that the church is free standing on all sides, HALF MONOLITH which means the church is connected to the rocks on 2 sides, and free on 2 sides, and CAVE church, which means it is built in a cave.  We walked up the hill and were astounded, and continued to be for the next two days.  In front of us (under a newly constructed high roof for protection from the elements) was the massive monolithic Bete Medanealem - the House of the Holy Saviour.  We looked down at it and to realise that this church, and all of the churches here, were carved out of the rock - it was hardly believable.  This free standing (11.5 metres tall, 15.5 m wide, 23.5 m long) church has 72 pillars (36 inside and 36 outside) and  is wonderful - the biggest of all the churches in Lalibela.  This symbolises the Temple in Jerusalem.  The pillars represent the 72 disciples of Jesus Christ.  We walked around the outside and then inside after removing our shoes - we could hardly believe that anyone could visualise this and start with solid rock and end up with a beautiful Church with stone pillars inside and out, and the necessary 3 chambers: first - chanting, second - Holy Communion, third - Holy of Holies where the Arc of the Covenant (or a copy) is kept.  Some of the outside pillars collapsed in the 16th century earthquake and have been reconstructed, but many are still intact - you must sometime in your life get to see this church!

Xebire Istelli - Amharic means “God Gives You” (say this when you have nothing to give someone, or instead of giving somebody something).

We came outside where Melkamu Marye was looking after our shoes, as he did for all of the churches and we gave him a small gratuity after the last church (50 birr each).  The second church is the oldest church - Beta Maria  - the most beloved church of King Lalibela  - was also monolithic at 11 metres high.  Outside Beta Maria was a fertility pool for those women unable to conceive and this was 11 metres deep.  There is also a shallow baptism pool outside used on January 19/20 each year for the Timket rebaptism ceremony.  Next was the half monolithic Beta Maskel, House of the Cross, then lastly the cave church Beta Denagil - House of the Virgins, entirely in the cave. Then came Beta Debrasinen (or Beta Michael) half monolithic and Beta Golgotta (only for men) and half monolithic.  These last two churches separated only by a wall of rock.  In each Church there was one or more Priests looking after the Church, and we walked around in socks and put on shoes as we went from one to the other.  Nothing I can say can describe to you the awe that you are in as you see these massive creations all carved with small hand tools.  You must go yourself!  After visiting these 6 churches, all carved out of the red volcanic tuff stone, all close together - we walked down to see St George’s Church also carved out of the rocks.  You come to this church from above, and in the middle of this massive red volcanic cliff there is a huge cross shaped church that has been chiseled out of the rock - unbelievably dramatic!  We walked down the long channel in the cut into the rocks as the entrance to the St George’s passing the small hoof holes cut into the side of the rock meant to represent St George’s horse climbing out.

It was now after 5:30pm and we were full of everything we had seen and could see a large rain storm approaching, we had ben hearing thunder for awhile.  Back in our van with Girard we drove up to the new MountainView Hotel (also used by Dinknesh),  Beautiful, in fact never ending views, of the mountains and ridges.  The hotel is very modern and built right on the edge of the ridge - very open with light streaming in from every direction.  They have 30 rooms here, and another 20 rooms slightly higher up the ridge - all with a lovely balcony with fabulous views and spacious.  The chef in the restaurant is from Jamaica!  We were ready to stay for dinner - but no such luck.  By now it was throwing it down outside so we had mint tea and coffee with the Manager while waiting for the rain to stop (Girard watched the soccer game!).

Then we called in to the Tukul Hotel which is right next to the ROHA hotel where we were staying.  These are all individual circular  cottages with straw roofs built in the local traditional Lalibela Tukul style, and all sitting on the edge of the ridge with balconies with great views  - but whereas the locals used the bottom level for the live stock and the top level to live in, the hotel has 2 guest rooms in each cottage, one on the bottom and one on the top level.  The furniture was wonderful - very nicely designed and with a modern Ethiopian feel to it.  We walked the 200 metres back to our own hotel accompanied by lots of school children hoping to chat with us (and get something!) after a wonderful day - more than ready to enjoy sundowners in the bar (local gin was available and excellent) followed by dinner in the restaurant - we all had fried fish and chips!

First I went shopping at the hotel souvenir store, amazing amount of items in a very small space, while Terry frustrated himself trying to use the internet (1birr per minute about $3 hour) but the response time was dreadful so he eventually gave up and joined the rest of us in the bar for a G&T!  The fish tasted very earthy (and has every time I have ordered it, so I decided this was my last time) and Malcolm told me this is since much of the fish is bottom feeding in the river beds and lakes.

We were in bed around 9 pm and even though the room was very warm (even though it did have a small fan - the only one so far)  we soon fell asleep after an unbelievable day.

Thursday April 26, 2012 LALIBELA to Addis Ababa the on to LANGANO

We had a full morning planned before we would head to the airport for our 60 minute flight back to the current capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.  We couldn’t have a shower, not enough water coming out of the shower head - but we made the most of it and managed to pack, eat breakfast and 10 minutes internet before we set off at 9:30am with Malcolm and Girard the driver for the second set of Churches, the 4 Heavenly Churches: Beta Gabriel Rafael, Beta Markorious, Beta Emmanuel, and Beta Abal Libanos (father of Lebanon).  The walk up the hill to start at Beta Gabriel Rafael reminded us that we were not at sea level, but we puffed our way to the top and entered  the church across a bridge that was  11m high!  It looked pretty stable so across we went without too much trepidation.  This was chiseled out to 10 metres deep which filled with sand over time.  Then it was excavated in the 1970‘s to the 10 metre depth and found a gold cross weighing 4.5 kg. There is another piece of history when a 7 kg gold cross was bought (or stolen) by a Belgian and taken back to Belgium.  This was reported in Belgium by someone, then UNESCO paid $20,000 USD to the Belgian to get the cross and return it back to Ethiopia).  It was said that he tried to melt the cross but this was not possible - who knows?  

From Beta Gabriel Rafael Church we went through a chiseled tunnel which had an amazing door so many hundreds of years old through to Beta Marcorious Church.  We first stopped into the bakery which used to have tunnels to all the churches - we then went through a 20 metre long tunnel to Beat Marcorious. The tunnel was taller than us in most spots, and a couple of feet wider than us with odd rocks and uneven floors and walls, and it sure was black in there!  Malcolm had a flashlight and by some stroke of good luck both Terry and I were carrying our tiny flashlights that we carry with us when we travel! During the morning we came out of holes in the rock, up very narrow steep steps and out of trap doors, Terry and one Priest had a laugh about Terry’s bald head and not wanting him to bump it on the low ceiling!  It was simply an amazing morning and the maze of tunnels, stairs, and chiseled out churches was yet again another very wonderful experience.  Each Church was quite different than the other, unique in their own special way.  The time just flies by.

Now it was time for the airport and our short flight back from Lalibela to Addis Ababa.  On the fast walk to meet Girard and our van with all our luggage in it, we passed a villager who was busy in his front yard weaving the cotton scarves and robes that we have seen everywhere.  We stopped for barely a minute and quickly bought one for 130 birr (around $8) and hurried to catch up with the others - no problem we were at the meeting point before the van!

The security check at the Lalibela airport was the same as usual - 1.  you don’t get to enter the airport grounds until you have had you passports checked by the guard (including the driver and guide) and he has also checked out the van, 2. you and all your luggage go through a very thorough security scan before you get into the airport, 

3. checkin and then go through a second security check (as thorough as the first one but with a pat down this time since the scan machine you walk through wasn’t working) before you get into the departure lounge!  Terry got to unload his entire electronics backpack - he asked what it was they were looking for but they didn’t know.  The fellow even tried to undo the end of the internet cable!

Soon we were boarding and on our way to Addis Ababa at 12:30, the ride was quite bumpy as we came in to land because there was a huge rainstorm on one side of the city.  On the plane (all open seating) I sat next to an Ethiopian lady with a small child who has been living in Virginia USA for the last 7 years and is currently back in Ethiopia for two months to visit her family.  Many of her family were also on the plane (priority boarding for children and a huge family of adults!) and none of them chose to sit next to the mother and child - that should have told me something!

Terry sat next to a fellow from Minneapolis who was visiting relatives.  He had not been to Lalibela but had heard it was interesting and wanted to know about it.  Unfortunately he was about to head home and would not get to see it.  Such a shame as we think it was the highlight so far.