From the aeroplane the terraced fields in the hills looked like the lines on a topographical map. Most of the settlements looked like they were on the flat topped montains and we wondered how they got their water. In the flat farming areas with grain crops we could see the circular areas where they thresh and separate the chaff and grain using animals. Many of the village houses had corrugated iron rooves and we wondered if the government provided some kind of assistance for the locals to be able to afford to use the iron rather than thatch.
The Lalibela airport is about 25 kms from the town of 8500 people. We took a van with 6 others and got off at a new hotel a short walk from the town centre. As the town has a short tourist season the locals charge the same prices as the hotel operators in Addis so that they can afford to keep going all year round. Our hotel was spotless, warm and had a great outlook over the hills.
Lalibela, according to our guide, ranks among the greatest religious historical sites in the Christian world. A local guide found us and we agreed to take two half days to see the sites with him.
King Lalibela returned here after 13 years in Jerusalem and it took him 23 years to get 11 churches hewn out of the volcanic rock, about 1,000 years ago. The churches are pretty close together in some parts and the second group of churches is a short walk down hill from the first. The churches are closed in the middle of the day for mass and the first one we visited still had a service going on but we were still allowed to wander amongst the worshippers and even take photos.
They are as impressive as the stone temples in Petra, Jordan, but these have been carved so that they stand as separate buildings away from the rock. Sometimes we had to walk through dark unlit tunnels to get from one church to another and at other times we crossed bridges that were constructed over trenches.
This is St George's church taken from the edge of the rock that the church was carved from. To the right is a ramp that goes down through the rock to the entrance.
Another view of St George's Church.
The tukul are traditional houses. This one is in the church complex and preserved as part of the World Heritage site. Some of the monks still live in these houses in the village. The cooking area is outside the building with only space for sleeping inside.
This trader was selling shoes made from car tyres.
When many of the villagers move to Addis, for the things the city has to offer, they continue with the way of life they had in the countryside. These sheep are herded through the streets looking for any thing to eat that they can find. Here they seem to be feeding on something in the rocks but I couldn't see anything growing there. At night, they pen them in their house or in a small section of a yard. They are looked after either by older folk or children. If all the children under 16 attended school in Ethiopia there would be hardly any workforce as they represent almost half of the country's population.
The tukul are traditional houses. This one is in the church complex and preserved as part of the World Heritage site. Some of the monks still live in these houses in the village. The cooking area is outside the building with only space for sleeping inside.
As our guide was a Deacon, his priest friend dressed up in his robes and displayed the processional crosses for us to photograph.
Saturday was the traditional market day so we watched the farmers coming into town in the morning with their grains and animals for sale. By midday you could hardly move for all the animals and sacks of grains lining the hillside.
This trader was selling shoes made from car tyres.
We have seen these colourful baskets used to hold food for weddings. They are woven from grasses and dyed with natural dyes from plant and rocks.
One night there was a big celebration at our hotel in the car park and we were invited to join in. The owner was celebrating the success of his hotel business and had invited his family, neighbours and other business people who had helped him. They lit a big fire on which they stewed huge dishes of goat pieces that everyone could help themselves to. This old man is an azmari or wandering minstrel and played a traditional single stringed fiddle instrument - he made up songs to make fun of the guests, politicians etc. A young boy sang unaccompanied and the locals gave him money to encourage him. Some of the women danced with the most popular movement being shaking the shoulders forwards and backwards really quickly to the beat of the music. The owner provided St George beer and at 10 o'clock everyone went home.
From Lalibela we flew onto Addis Ababa where we stayed again in the Ankober guesthouse. We ate at the Wutma Hotel where they had set up a big screen and laid seats out for the locals to buy a ticket to watch Arsenal and Liverpool play football.
The next day we visited the National Museum to see Lucy, a 3.2 million-year-old fossilised upright hominid discovered in 1974.
When many of the villagers move to Addis, for the things the city has to offer, they continue with the way of life they had in the countryside. These sheep are herded through the streets looking for any thing to eat that they can find. Here they seem to be feeding on something in the rocks but I couldn't see anything growing there. At night, they pen them in their house or in a small section of a yard. They are looked after either by older folk or children. If all the children under 16 attended school in Ethiopia there would be hardly any workforce as they represent almost half of the country's population.
While Ethiopia is not an expensive place to travel in, we found the tax on food confusing. Some places would charge us 2% for one kind of tax and then another 2% for another kind. The tax rates ranged from 4% to 26%. When we asked some Ethiopians why the tax varied they said it was just another form of begging and the government never saw any of these taxes, they just went into the restaurant/cafe owners' pockets.
