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Published: December 24th 2014
Merry Christmas!!
Wishing all of you a very Happy Holiday season! We have spent the day touring the beautiful rock churches in Lalibella. There were 13 of them all carved out of the rock, so most of them sit below ground level. Absolutely amazing! I am beginning to think this entire country should be a UNESCO World Heritage site. Lalibella is the religious center and where a large Christmas celebration is held. But they are on a different Orthodox calendar, and today is only December 18, 2007. (As our guide told us, you come to Ethiopia you are automatically 7 yrs younger). So they will celebrate it on Jan 6
th. We considered coming here during this time, but now are glad we decided not to. There will be @ 150,000 pilgrims coming on foot to this small town of @ 35,000 people. They tell us many of the pilgrims will walk for 2-3 weeks to arrive here. Already some are in town. Tomorrow morning, I hope to get up by 5:30am to watch and hear the approx. 800 monks/priests chant their morning prayers. That should be a very special Christmas morning. I think I have taken about 250
photos today, but have not had a chance to review them, so that will be another blog. But I have downloaded quite a few from our 4 day desert trip that was absolutely amazing.
The 4 day desert trip was the other tour we booked thru ETT. There were 16 of us, mostly Europeans, with 6 Landrovers. We spent 3 beautiful nights camping out under the brilliant African night. With no light pollution the stars were amazing.
The first day was a hot and dusty 6 hour drive, arriving in Hamedel Ela. It is called the most inhospitable place on Earth. Very dry, dusty and not much greenery, the houses are constructed of Eucalyptus poles covered with a mud dung stucco. The Afar people live here, but the village consists of @ 25 homes. It has a large cell tower near by. And a very large joint venture with the Canadians, potash plant. So everything looks abit out of place.
Up early the next morning, it is a long drive to the base of the volcano, the last hour over the lava field. We rest and then by 5pm head out
on our 3 hour hike up to the volcano lava lake. It is a long hike over more lava fields and 2 of the hours with just our headlamps for light. But so worth it went we get to the top. Mother Nature is really impressive! It is @ 50 ft x 75 ft oval opening. And the lava just spits and bubbles and boils. It is amazing to see at night! We camp just above the volcano, a safe distance away, although it has not erupted since 1964. It is a dusty blowing night. We are awake by 4:30 for the 15 minute walk to see the sunrise. It is equally impressive in the daylight as you watch the lava rise up, almost like a cake, and then bubble out some seam. It is a long 3 hr walk back, for our breakfast. And then drive back to our campsite of the first night. For sunset, we see lots of camels coming in to town loaded down with their salt. Then watch the sun set on the beautiful salt lake. The water from Red Sea seeps into this area and it is covered with about 2-3 in of salt
water. The peace and serentity of this area was precious.
The next morning we see the beautiful sulfer fields with their vibrant colors from various mineral deposits. Then the last stop was going out to the salt fields where men were pulling up large pieces and then cutting them in @ 4kg squares and loaded on the camels. A scene that has been occurring for 2500 yrs. Hence the UNESCO idea. I want to get this posted. Again, Merry Christmas to all. Love E&M
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