So if yesterday was Christmas is today Boxing Day?it was nice sleeping in. My poor roommate planned to take a shower this AM and we had no water. Couldn’t even flush the toilet. So much for getting excited about that. If anyone knows me you’ll know I’m an obsessive clean freak that needs to take a shower every night before going to sleep. It payed off since I had some water.
I started my day with a nice bowl of porridge and the strongest thickest coffee you can imagine. I think I’ve started growing hair on my chest after drinking that. Starbucks has nothing on this stuff. We got in the bus again and took a short trip to stop at our tour of some of the other historical churches and sites in the area.
The first church was St George, a very famous church in Lalibella where the roof and church itself is shaped like a cross. Overlooking the mountains this high up and seeing this cross in the ground is just a beautiful site of history. The inside of many of these churches are similar. It takes quite a hike down into them, through narrow passageways over uneven rock ground till you reach the entrance. There again you take off your shoes to enter inside. I’m amazed by the Ethiopians to be able to get to these churches given the complex uneven terrain and hiking it takes to get to them. Even the elderly make their way into the churches. But then again, most of the common toilets require them to squat to the ground so their balance and leg strength surpasses that the common American any day. They are acclimated to this lifestyle and climate, wearing their shawls to keep covered and the sun off of them. You’ll see many of them not even swatting away the flies and other unidentified bugs of Africa away when they land on their faces and body. Where here I am doing an interpretive dance trying to kill any speck of dust that resembles a bug off my body.
The climate is very dry and hot during the day. Once the sun is gone it becomes pretty cool at night requiring us to bundle up. Although Lalibella isn’t as high altitude as Mekelle you really do get tired fast. My lips and oral mucosa gets very dry so I’m constantly drinking water. Somehow I have miraculously avoided the squatting toilets and scopes out the few western ones in the area. I’ll work on squats when I get home.
Well I went off on a tangent again about the toilets. Back to the churches. We saw 60 minutes and Scott Pelley doing a story on one of the churches and some of our group members got a picture with him. I look forward to his excerpt and maybe a guest appearance by me in the episode haha. I’m kidding. If there’s one thing I couldn’t be it’s a celebrity. Everywhere I have gone so far I’m asked to take a picture or I see Ethiopians trying to take my picture. They were very fascinated with our group. No more paparazzi though please. I barely did my hair!
My favorite church was Bethlehem and Emmanuel. Once in Bethlehem have to go through the tunnel from hell to heaven to get to heaven and then the church of Emmanuel. It’s a very narrow, low set ceiling tunnel that is pitch black to walk through. And let me tell you it was a little bit scary. It felt like forever before we reached the light at the end and climbed up these ladder like steps to the top. The sun beaming down on my claustrophobic body was for sure looking like heaven to me. We explored the last few churches of Emmanuel and Abalibinos before heading back to grab lunch at the Lion King restaurant. Masses start at 12 and last 2-3 hours from which you cannot leave once you enter the church. Before heading to lunch we went to a few market stores to haggle for some goods we can bring for ourselves and friends back home. Got to prove we actually went to Africa you know. We met a group of kids who loved talking with us and asking questions about America. One was a 13 year old boy naked Yulios (again probably spelling that wrong) who wants to be a dentist and one day see Washington DC. He gave me a necklace with the cross of St George as a late Christmas gift and exchanged emails. I now have a pen-pal from Ethiopia.
We went back to our Lion King bar for lunch. I have been craving fruit since being here and was excited about their fruit and yogurt option. I eat fruit every day so I’m really missing a good apple. After lunch overlooking those amazing views of the mountains we hopped in the bus again to venture to the town of yemrhane kirstos where the church of yemrhane kirstos lies. It’s a long hike up the mountain when you get there which I must say felt very difficult and I was definitely winded. Do I even workout? Man I was beat by the time we got to the top. At the top there is a natural cave made from volcanic rock with a wooden barrier opening into the area that hides the church. It was quite an incredible site with bamboo floors. This was the only church made from wood and stone that we had seen. In each church an area hidden by a curtain which only the priests can enter. It holds the replica of the arc of the covenant. The original made from solid gold was stolen in the 90s and returned a few years later but resides now in Aksum.
Inside the church are also the remains of hundreds of pilgrims who made the trek to yemrhane kirstos church so they could die there. The remains of these human bodies are over 600 years old. Pretty spooky if you ask me.
The trek down the Mountain wasn’t as bad and the sun started getting low in the sky so it wasn’t as hot. We booked it back down the dirt roads to get to our favorite Lion King restaurant (ok it’s called Ben Ababa) to watch the sunset and we made it just in time. Even Scott Pelley was there, so I’m sure he thinks we are stalking him now. The views again were beautiful as we watched the sunset over the horizon through dinner. We even had the chance to watch the moon set over the hours we were there. The sky here at night has no words. I’ve seen my fair share of starry sky’s but here in Africa it’s amazing. I even saw a shooting star across the wide open sky.
After dinner we went to an Ethiopian bar with our guide Girma. I don’t know how much of this I should post or leave for the imagination but it was one hell of a time. Again our group was quite the noticeable crowd and we gathered at our own table in a very crowded bar. They have a gentleman playing a string like instrument (African guitar?) and a woman singing throughout the night. They only seem to play and sing one song over and over again. It was like hearing Despacito on repeat....oh wait that’s amazing! I got pulled up to make a fool of myself and try to dance with one of their guys to this Afrikan dance. I’m sure I looked like I was doing the funky chicken. The facebooks pages in Ethiopia are going to be blowing up tomorrow....I felt a lot of cell phones pointed in my direction. Honey wine is the local drink which came in these erlenmeyer flasks. The novelty was better than the actual taste. Much like the smells and some of the other things in Ethiopia I can’t quite describe its taste or compare it to anything else I have ever had. One of our group members befriended a group of young college kids who were very interested in our group. They had ordered a plate of tibs and injera and attempted to handfeed it to her and I.....very forward move. We danced and had a great time before heading back, taking some wonderful hot showers and heading off to bed.
It’s our last day tomorrow before heading back on the trip home. It’s difficult to get to these small areas because of their plane schedules. During Christmas the planes have more flight options, but quickly simmer down after. Sometimes they’ll have one flight to the main city of Addis Ababa every 3 days, so scheduling wise we have limited options and definitely can’t be on Ethiopian time that would cause us to miss the flights. Here’s to the long trip with long layovers home.
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